Joshua 19:32-39: a reflection

32The sixth lot came out for the children of Naphtali, even for the children of Naphtali according to their families. 33Their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakkum. It ended at the Jordan. 34The border turned westward to Aznoth Tabor, and went out from there to Hukkok. It reached to Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west, and to Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrise. 35The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, 36Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, 38Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. 39This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

Another tribe, another boundary list: Naphtali's inheritance traced out from Heleph and the oak in Zaanannim, through nineteen named towns, its borders touching Zebulun and Asher and the Jordan. To us it is a blur of place-names. To Naphtali it was home, drawn with edges, their portion and no one else's.

Notice that each tribe received a bounded place. Not the whole land, but a defined share, with borders marking where it began and ended. Naphtali did not get Judah's territory or Asher's; it got its own, and its own was enough. There is a quiet gift in a boundary. It tells you what is yours to tend and frees you from having to possess everything.

We are not always glad of our boundaries. We look over the line at another's portion, another's gifts or circumstances, and grow restless with our own. But the God who assigned Naphtali its towns has assigned you a portion too, a particular place, particular people, particular work, with edges you did not choose. Receiving it as your God-given share, rather than envying the allotment across the border, is a large part of peace. Tend the ground that is actually yours.

Lord, you have marked out a portion for me with borders I did not choose. Keep me from envying what lies across the line, and help me receive and tend the place you have given me as enough.