The conditions of modern-day living devour margin. Modern Christians pack their lives so full of activity that they have no margin at all. The result is stress, poor relationships, and a lack of intimacy with God. Marginless living also leaves us empty and joyless. It commonly diminishes our physical, emotional and spiritual health. It also diminishes our leadership effectiveness.
Dr. Richard Swenson describes it this way:
- Marginless is fatigue; margin is energy.
- Marginless is hurry,; margin is calm.
- Marginless is anxiety; margin is security.
- Marginless is culture; margin is counterculture.
- Marginless is the disease of the new millennium; margin is the cure.
In our coaching we help church planters and ministry professionals improve their ministries. But we also help them BALANCE their life! Part of balancing life is learning to build more "margin" into your day and your week. Here are some facts about time -
Your time is limited. You only have 24 hours in a day. Yet, all your time will be spent doing something! You can't save it, store it up for the future, or postpone. Time happens! And you can't stop it. As a result, somebody is going to determine how you spend your time! It may be your congregation, your leaders, your community contacts, your family, your friends, SOMEBODY!
My encouragement to you is to set limits on your workday! Yes, easier said than done. But we must all realize that everyday has limits. If you don't set limits for yourself you will soon discover that there is no margin, no space for rest, reflection, or relationships. The 3 R's (rest, reflection, and relationships) are what give us energy, purpose, and joy in life. But they are only found in margins.
Build margin into everyday. If you need help, get a coach!
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1 comment:
Glenn,
I think a lot of planters find margin hard because of the pressure to succeed. That's been an achilles heel for me. It's partly psychological (obsessing with success, maybe out of the fear of failure), and it may be in part due to our models for planting. If we judged Jesus by some of our big church planting models, we might say he didn't succeed in gathering a very sizable community. We DO have to gather people, but the Gospel has to be a rich reality inside of us, out of which we are making good relationships and disciples, not just a call to do it big, fast, and flashy. In the list in your post, I was particularly intrigued by "Margin is countercultural"-- wow, yes! Both because the culture has lost margin with everyone living helter skelter, and also because if my heart is rooted in God's secure care for me, then I am free to live counter culturally in this particular way-- He loves me, I am secure in that love, and the big-picture outcomes do not all depend on me. So I can leave the plant behind for an evening and take a walk, read a book, or take my wife on a date. Thanks for these posts. They're good.
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