This morning, as I walked my familiar path, something caught my attention.
Actually... it wasn’t just one fence.
There was a sturdy wooden fence stretching beside the sidewalk.
Beyond it stood a chain-link fence.
And beyond that, strands of barbed wire reached toward the sky.
Three different fences.
Three different barriers.
Three different messages.
As I walked, I couldn’t help but think about the fences we encounter in life.
Some are obvious. Others are almost invisible.
Recently, I experienced one of those invisible fences myself.
I spent hours wrestling with technology while trying to finish my book. More than once, I felt like I had reached a barrier I couldn’t get through. The frustration was real. I wondered if I had reached the end of what I could figure out.
Thankfully, I didn’t stop walking.
I asked for help.
I adjusted my approach.
One step at a time, I found my way forward.
That experience reminded me that some fences are real obstacles. They require us to pause, rethink our path, and sometimes ask someone to walk beside us for a while.
But other fences...
Those are the ones we quietly build ourselves.
“I’ve missed my chance.”
“I’m not good with technology.”
“I’m too old to learn something new.”
“Nobody wants to hear what I have to say.”
Those thoughts can become fences just as real as wood, chain link, or barbed wire.
As I continued walking, I noticed something else.
The fences stayed where they were.
But so did the path.
The path didn’t end because a fence existed.
It simply continued in the direction it was meant to go.
That feels like an important reminder.
We all encounter barriers. Caregivers do. Families do. Professionals do. The individuals we support certainly do.
Some barriers are placed in front of us by circumstances we can’t control.
Others are built from fear, doubt, past experiences, or the stories we’ve begun to believe about ourselves.
Not every fence can be removed.
But not every fence has to stop us from moving forward.
Sometimes the invitation isn’t to tear the fence down.
Sometimes it’s simply to keep walking the path that is still open.
Today, I’m grateful for the reminder those fences gave me.
Not because they represented limitations...
But because they reminded me that even when barriers exist, possibility still does.
Maybe that’s the question worth carrying with us today:
What fence have I allowed to keep me standing still... and what small step could I take to keep moving forward?