WoW - Room for Margin


My darling girl,

Isn't it just so 21st Century that a matter of weeks before giving birth to you, I would receive a new job title at work that allows me to better live out my passion of sustainability by becoming our co-regional leader?  It is, it's really a wonderful thing that women are rising to leadership positions.
Through this new role I realized that the idea of margin goes beyond Christian thought and is important in all aspects of our lives.  I will start with the former, though.

If society is in a similar state when you read this as to when I write it, the idea of being busy is glamorized and actually seen as a status symbol.  If you have to decline an invitation because you are busy, it's like saying you are too important to take part in this person's less important activity.  It also demonstrates that you can balance success in many different forms, leading to a full life.  The problem is, busy-ness does not equal nor define a full, quality life.

You can research accounts of monks, nuns, and hermits of many religions to find that the ways in which many people define their worth in their busy-ness is actually the opposite of what they should seek - silence and solitude in order to seek their God.  What comes to mind is verse I Kings 19:11-13:
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

I want you to spend your life seeking the Lord in different ways, but remember to leave the margin of time to hear His still, quiet voice in your heart.  Community is super important, discipline and challenges are important, but there is absolutely nothing that replaces the steadying, peace- and life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and seeking Him on a daily basis.

Now getting back to the world and our secular roles - we also need to leave room for margin here.  That may mean letting a younger co-worker fail (or be inefficient) for a while, and developing a relationship to help them grow.  It may mean saying no to activities in order to not burn out, and therefore allow a better balance to pursue your interests, and also importantly, to appropriately support the efforts of those you truly want to support.  Spoiler alert: everyone has a different threshold of what balance looks like to them.  Make sure you're spending daily time with the Lord, and from there you will discover what your balance looks like.  

Margin is also important when it comes to finances.  Money is often or may always be tight.  Prioritizing tithing is required in order to make it happen, it is simply a discipline.  But it is also important to leave room in your budget to buy a nice meal for a friend coming to town, buy a nice gift for a friend getting married, or sick co-worker, whatever it may be.  This way you can be responsible with the resources entrusted to you, while still paying it forward.

Also leaving margin in your schedule allows your spirit room for peace.  For example, if you are booked back-to-back with meetings and activities, it will make you impatient when a friend may reach out for a conversation, instead of taking time to listen to them, and possibly leave a positive mark on their day.  Similarly, road rage is at its worst when we feel rushed, so if you leave five minutes early, you leave margin to not get angry at every inefficient move of those around you.

I love you and I want you to do your best to practice daily what is required to be the best YOU, and so that your heart and mind will be in the best position to hear from the Lord.  Blessings and grace to you.

Comments

Popular Posts