(My View from the Fourth Pew) "Leave a Margin"



     Remember back in our school days when the teacher would tell us, "Don't write in the margins."?  You had to be careful to not start a long word before coming to that red line, or a least had to be proficient at using hyphens.  Who knew that life was like this piece of notebook paper?

       Last week, while my family and I were on a church retreat, we visited a church near our camp.   The sermon was very good...but the point I remember most was when he said, "We need to leave a margin."  That really resonated with me.   We fill our lives with a lot of "busy", and usually don't have a lot of margin. 

     I told my preacher husband last week I was going to blog about leaving a margin.  He laughed...we both knew we needed to do better in this area.  I thought about it throughout the week-- about what "leaving a margin" meant for me and my family.
     There are practical applications.  I think of this especially when it comes to raising children/teenagers.  They need to be bored sometimes.  This is a glorious thing.  It means they are not over-stimulated or too busy.  They have time to think and to dream.  I was proud that I may have accomplished this...just the other day one of my boys was outside staring at the dirt.  He had some margin in his life. 

     "Leaving a margin" has great spiritual implications.  We need to leave a margin so that we are quiet and unhurried enough to hear from God.  I'm not really referring to having our daily quiet times (which are vital).  I'm talking more about having empty space on our calendar and in our head.  Time where we can sit and gaze at the lake, or watch our children run through the yard.  Time to just take it all in, and to hear that still, small voice of God.

    

"After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone..."   Matthew 14:23

Just Pitching My Tent,

(In a world that is not my home)

Letha