Margins

          When I write reports I’ve never been good with setting margins or knowing the correct amount of spacing for my headers and footers.  That’s why I was so thankful when I started using a computer and these were preset for me.   As a Writer we’re always told to us to leave more white space.   You know shorter paragraphs or anything else that shows more of the blank space.  Nothing turns a reader off more than a bunch of words crammed together on a page. 

          This week, I was thinking about white space and proper margins when it comes to our daily lives.   Have I been structuring my days to make sure they are aligned as they should be?  Do I allow adequate time for family, work, prayer, friends, meditation, and rest?   It’s so easy for me so fall out of bed and jump into the demands of life cramming something into every second of my existence.   That type of unbalanced living would resemble a sheet of instructions we might receive when purchasing something that has to be assembled.   If I’m not careful I know my life will start to look like a bunch of mind-numbing words stuffed together on a small sheet of paper which could have even been written in another language.

          Margins help us evaluate our capacities.   By apportioning our time in the correct amounts we can set realistic boundaries for our time and activities.   What types of margins have you constructed for your life?   Are they expanding your sense of freedom, health, and sense of well-being?   Even people in ministry have a problem with getting the margins right.   Above all else, let’s not forget Andrew Bonar’s warning:

           “One of the gravest perils which besets the ministry is a restless scattering of energies over an amazing multiplicity of interests which leaves no margin of time and of strength for receptive and absorbing communion with God.”