Margin

I’ve been working through James Bryan Smith’s The Good and Beautiful God and enjoying it very much.  In fact, I think our small group is going to go through it together starting in October.  But one of the disciplines (or “soul training exercises”) he encourages is to create more margin in our lives. 

I’ve posted on the lack of margin before.  There are times when there is NO margin– when family is sick, or your house is on the market and you have two toddlers, or you’re on bed rest  and your husband is deployed, or you’re out of work and the car dies… And there aren’t easy fixes for those times.  That’s when the rest of your community needs to come around you and bless you with practical gifts– meals, and drop-in laundry help, or babysitting-without-a-payback. 

Thank God, our family isn’t in the midst of any of those times right now.

But I find that when things are good, I tend to fill the edges of my days so full that I can’t be the hands of Christ by making a meal or sitting vigil by a hospital bed.

We paid off our car recently, and instead of putting every dollar of that payment into an account for the next one, we’ve hired a cleaning lady.  Not because I can’t clean my house, or because I oughtn’t to be cleaning my house… but because right now, a little less cleaning means I am able to spend time being creative, and to serve our community in other ways.  And because I don’t do those things when my house is a mess.

I am certain that this will not be a lifelong season– or even a very long one– but I am grateful for the extra margin in my days right now, and for the blessing that it is to live in a house that’s clean(er)… and that I didn’t spend all day cleaning.

Do you have margin in your life right now?  How has the body of Christ served you?