Tag Archives: The edge zones are adventures where you Go Light Your World.

The Edge Zones

My brother and I share interest in sustainable agriculture and helping others to live their lives with greater freedom and meaning. One of the concepts he has mentioned to me is about ‘edge zones.’ These are the areas where one terrain type meets another: a forest meets a meadow, a meadow meets a farm, a pond intersects both. The edge zones are always where you will find the most diversity, excitement, conflict,and resolution. Years ago, before realizing this principle, I had the idea that wildflowers would just grow and take over. Of course, I soon learned that the edge zone with my lawn would provide an ever creeping force and the battle requires constant maintenance, which I am not willing to spend a life on. And so it works out its own degree of resolution: some flowers, some weeds and grass, seeming content to live together.

There are edge zones in our lives, places where we intersect with various tasks and people. Like the zone between work and home, between home and vacations, between grocery shopping and relaxation, between personal time and family. What there should NOT be is an edge zone between our life faith and our life. Myron Rush would say, “We don’t have a secular and a sacred life; we have but one life to live, wherever we are. (paraphrased) We live by faith where and while we work, where we play, while we shop, when we visit people. There are people waiting in the edge zones of your life.

Like young Antouin, whom we met while waiting at the U of Iowa Cancer Clinic. He was sitting by himself, confined to a wheelchair, lonely, almost in tears. We chatted for a while and prayed together. There were tears of appreciation in his eyes when we left. Or young Jonah, 6, who needs a bone marrow transplant to survive an autoimmune problem. Prayers are asked that the right person will be found. His parents and brother don’t qualify — there are possibly 200 people who have signed up but none the match he needs. You can read Jonah’s story here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jonahkolesar

People like Antouin and Jonah are waiting in the edge zones of your life. Don’t miss them. Pray. Seek out others God puts in your path. The edge zones are adventures where you Go Light Your World.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2