Recently I read a book that has provoked a lot of thinking on my part. The book gives a head-on look at how we all tend to live our lives without margin! We fill up all our time - we possess all we can - we give ourselves no margin emotionally - etc.. It was a very thought-provoking book! It has prompted me to consider how I live my life! Also, I will probably preach a short series on gaining "margin" in our lives.
Living without some margin in your life will eventually leave you broken down. I can tell when my "margin" is gone! It becomes a struggle for me to preach! I begin to "dry" up prophetically! The week to week preparation becomes a grind - a task - a chore! When I have physical, emotional, and spiritual margin, I begin to preach from the "overflow!" From the overflow, preaching is not a task or chore - it becomes a decision of what to preach from the overflow of ideas and insights.
Inevitably, when I am able to preach from the overflow, I am also able to live in the overflow! There is a cushion of time - of energy - of spirit - of emotion - of intellect - because I have lived with some margin in my life!
As I was watering stuff around the house this morning, I thought a couple of times about getting the sprinkler and hooking it up! Nothing wrong with that - but if I had done the sprinkler - I would have immediately set out on another task - multi-tasking we call it! That is ok from time to time - but I chose to hold the nozzle and water the stuff myself - while thinking about the development of messages I want to preach over Palm and Easter Sunday! It was 40 minutes well spent!
Live with some margin in your life! When you do - you will be able to live from the overflow!
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