You are not a box to be filled or checked off.  You are not even a box to be unpacked.  We are not social storage spaces, comprised of historical memories and future plans.  Our humanity cannot be contained by cardboard, human will or public opinion because we cannot be folded neatly, labeled and put away.  Despite our capitalistic sensibilities, we are not objects.

And our lives are not to be lived in the basement or even the attic of life but should be free to move about the house and the surrounding area.  We should come and go not like the latest fad but as humans growing and interacting with the outside world.  Our lives should be lived in the light of day, not in the damp darkness of spaces fashioned for suitcases, old photographs, books and broken bicycles.

It is so easy to forget what we have placed in a box, how long its been there, who gave it to us or why we have it in the first place.  We know what it is and where it is.  We value it so we won’t throw it away.  But, year after year, we forget to open the box, to take it out and use it.

What if we put our lives in a box?  What if we allowed our lives to be boxed in, categorized by friends, family members, our neighborhood and/ or society?  And what do we do once we realize our position and the impact this packaging has had on our spiritual posture?  The number of choices we determine will suggest whether we are really out of the box or if we have simply exchanged one for another.  “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8.36).  Get out of the box.  Do you have two options: either/ or or can you see more: both/ and?