Learning to Live with Margin

Genesis 2:1-3 & Exodus 20:8-11

What is a margin?

1.the space around the printed or written matter on a page.

2.an amount allowed or available beyond what is actually necessary: to allow a margin for error.

3.a limit in condition, capacity, etc., beyond or below which something ceases to exist, be desirable, or be possible: the margin of endurance; the margin of sanity.

4.a border or edge.

What is a margin? 1. the space around the printed or written matter on a page. 2. an amount allowed or available beyond what is actually necessary: to allow a margin for error. 3. a limit in condition, capacity, etc., beyond or below which something ceases to exist, be desirable, or be possible: the margin of endurance; the margin of sanity. 4. a border or edge.

• Empty spaces bring clarity to life
• Margin is the space that exists between our load and our limits.
• What does it mean to leave ‘a margin for error’?

The Command to Live with Margin

Genesis 2:1-3

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Exodus 20:8-11

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

The Command to Live with Margin

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Example of Christ

• Matthew 14
• Same story is found in all four gospels.
• Jesus teaches us that it is okay to have limits.
• It is essential to carve out margins in four areas of our lives: emotional energy, physical energy, time and finances.
• Christ was still busy, but it was in the context of limits.

The Danger of NOT Living with Margin

• Burnout, or Compassion Fatigue
• Chronic overloading is often what we do when we forget who God is.
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The Benefits of Living with Margin

• A joy-filled life.
• Time to serve others.
• Healthy living.
• Quality relationships.
• Availability to God.
• “In the spiritual life, the word discipline means ‘the effort to create some space in which God can act.’”  Henri Nouwen

Have you lost your joy and passion?

Do you suffer from dread?

Are your relationships strained from stress?

Do you wish you could check into a hospital just to sleep?

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt 11:28-30)