How can we hear God with no margin in our lives? If we are so busy that we are hurrying from one activity to the next, multi-tasking all the while, where is the down time where we mull over what God is teaching us? The busy junk that takes up our time crowds out the most important priorities, which are down time with God, down time with our spouses, and down time with our kids, when we can talk about things that matter and do things that energize us.
This summer I read a book I had been meaning to read for years–Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard A. Swenson, M.D. The medical doctor who wrote the book took a year “off” to go to Africa, where he performed over 500 surgeries. For some strange reason, he felt rested and like he was on vacation. That’s because people in rural places in third world countries have something that we lack: margin. They sit beside the street and watch the sunset and talk to a neighbor in an unhurried way. There is no stress. Sure, people don’t have enough to eat, but at least they have deep relationships with other people and have lots of leisure time.
When the author of the book returned to the United States, he once again re-entered the hurried, stress-filled world of high pressure. He decided to cut back to part time as a doctor so that he could actually live a real life instead of working continuously until he plopped into bed every night. He and his wife decided to live on a smaller income on purpose so that they could breathe.
Every so often we must ask ourselves what is crowding our lives. Being without a plan is one reason that people never get around to doing what they really intend to do. Without a plan, the day fills itself up automatically, and often nothing of value is accomplished. What else squanders time?
- Constantly checking e-mail or Facebook.
- Not dealing with conflicts between children at the beginning. Letting the conflict escalate and not dealing with heart issues. (You can do this right by throwing yourself upon God, asking for wisdom, and taking whatever time it takes to do it right, releasing the other items on your agenda as not as important. God will always come through and give you help if you throw yourself upon Him for real, wanting His wisdom and not your own. James 1:5)
- Not deciding ahead of time what you will do first, to make sure it gets done in your day.
- Kids’ activities, maybe too many. Ask God before signing the kids up for sports, instruments, or other lessons. Only God knows if the child needs it, or if relaxing down time is of higher value.
- Doing our chores in a haphazard manner so that they take up our whole day instead of just running in the background on auto-pilot because of good habits that have been established.
- Spending time on the phone during the day that is not related to a home business or an emergency. If you call back anybody near the end of the day when you are fatigued rather than during your productive time, the phone call will energize you instead of stealing the time you should have spent with the Lord or doing what you know you ought to be doing.
These are just a few things I thought of off the top of my head that might flush our time down the toilet. We are accountable before God for the time He has given us. Why is it so crowded? Let’s start by crossing off everything that doesn’t matter and begin again with more space on our calendar.
(Stay tuned for Part 2, where I discuss the equation: Power minus load equals margin…)
Tags: Christian Living, margin, Organization, rest, time
This spoke to me. I try to balance computer time with truly being present in my time with my kids.
I do, too!
I am new to your website. I absolutely love it!
I noticed this hurried way of living just by traveling down South to visit my husbands family in North Carolina. We live in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. The first thing I noticed is that I was always rushing to get things done. My husbands family took their time and did not rush.
Thank you for posting this. A reminder every now and again is great.
I grew up in a Hispanic culture where people did not hurry at all. It was culture shock for me to move to the U.S. and see how everybody lives like chickens with heads cut off!
I love this! I work really hard to stay focused; I even go to the library to keep me from answering the phone.
Quiet really helps me to stay focused, too. I think constant noise is one of our problems as a culture, and one of the reasons we are so tired!
We cause ourselves to be so busy we frequently feel overwhelmed and stressed. Of course that means we get tired quickly, wonder why we feel so exhausted. Why can’t we just sit and do nothing. I mean no TV, no radio, no internet. Seems like that’s especially hard these days.
It’s almost like we feel guilty for doing nothing. But we’re actually more productive when we build rest into our lives.
I 100% agree. Margin is needed and it is about priorities and protecting time.
Yes, we must only do what Jesus wants us to do and not spend our lives being so busy that we are exhausted.
I need margin more! Good tips you’ve given! I’ve never been to a 3rd world country for an extended time, but I would love to live unhurried. Thank you!
I would LOVE to live unhurried…
I loved this book and read it many years ago. It really helped me and helped my homeschooling, too 🙂
It was really eye-opening to me, and I agreed with it so much!
Hi Susan,
I just recently found your site. You are such a blessing and encouragement. Thank you!
I find myself always rushing to get things done. Since my husband left the kids and me, I have had to get a full-time job away from home. We are still homeschooling and I am trying to monetize my blog so I can work from home and be with the kids again. I have put the book you mentioned on hold at the library. We definitely need margin!!
It sounds like margin is in short supply at your house!
We can find so many things to occupy our time but for some reason we have little to no time left for our Creator. As children of God we have to make it a priority to make room for Him above all else.
Amen!
Margin could be many of our One Words. Especially mine. Too busy to enjoy life is a miserable place to be.
So many of us live “too busy to enjoy life.” Something needs to change…
This is a great reminder. We moved from a very busy metropolitan area to a rural area and it has been hard getting adjusted to the less-rushed style of life. I like slowing it down and enjoying all that God has given us.
That sounds wonderful!