“And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.” – Isaiah 54:12

Robert Frost, in “The Mending Wall,” declared that “good fences make good neighbors.”

He calls us to ask what we are fencing in and fencing out and to build such fences that promote neighborliness and cooperation.

Isaiah conveys a word from the Lord that seems to agree. He speaks of a day when there will be peace, righteousness, and freedom from fear. Security will be assured, and life will be pleasant for the people of God.

One characteristic of the walls of these ancient cities and Frost’s fences is that they were welcoming walls with open gates by day.

A day is coming, Isaiah says, when the walls and fences that really count, will need no surveillance, monitoring, or enforcement.

Until that day, we seek forgiveness of our trespasses and we forgive those who trespass against us.

We have all violated boundaries.

One of the features of such a day will be clearly defined borders or boundaries. There will be no ambiguity, no argument, and no confusion over what is whose and where one stands.

I crossed over into a neighbor’s yard out of necessity this very day. Yet, as I did so, I knew that without permission and agreement, I was trespassing. I would have been crossing a line I had no business crossing.

We really won’t have to worry about that level of arbitrary division between people in that day.

Isaiah’s prophecy anticipates the day when no one crosses the line of violation of another person’s rights and dignity. As one popular Christian song of the sixties put it, “We’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

What God will bring about as naturally as the rain in the righting of all things, we work very hard at today.

What will flow freely in the day of the Lord’s righteousness, we struggle for in this realm of time, space, and sin.

Lines of what is appropriate are being crossed all the time by some while others frantically seek to preserve them and protect what they perceive is their own.

In God’s new day, no one will have to protect his property, dignity, rights, or territory. God will take care of it all and it will be lovely.

Until that day, we shall have some fences. Let us commit to understanding what we are fencing in and fencing out. Then, let us commit ourselves to good fences of love and respect that make good neighbors.