Richard Swenson provides a helpful insight and corrective in his book, Margin. The primary meaning of the word margin (it share a common origin with mark) is a border or limit. It has come to denote the area surrounding something (as the margin on a page, usually blank). We reflect this concept in the phrase, “margin of error.” To marginalize something is to push it to the borders or outside.
Swenson urges us to recognize the value of the margins of life. Rather than pushing one’s self to the absolute limit, consider the value of maintaining a margin. The margin is the space that exists between our reality and our limit. It is a reserve for meeting unanticipated situations and stressors. Today, one-third of Americans claim to live in extreme stress; nearly half say stress has increased in the last five years. Most of us live life to the limit with no available margin. Living lives “filled to the brim,” we do not have the emotional, physical, financial or time reserves essential to handle unexpected events in our lives. We operate on “overload,” drawing on all of our resources and even beyond our resources, in the same way that one can overload an electrical circuit so much that it eventually fails.
Swenson concludes that we must restore the reserves essential to handling the unexpected stresses of life. This requires adjusting our point of view. In a world that is driven by success and pushes capacity to the maximum, the biblical model provides a clear alternative. God gives rest, not only eternally, but in the present. Our world seems to thrive on commitment overload, information overload, technology overload, activity overload, choices overload….the list is almost endless. Protecting the emotional, physical, financial, and activity margins brings contentment, simplicity, balance, and rest. Most important, it makes us available to fulfill the purposes of God in our lives and in this world.
Christians committed to the purpose of God in this world cannot afford to live life without margins. Margins help us maintain a store of energy, vitality, and confidence so that we can seize the moments God provides.