I thought you said ‘Margarine’

Margin. It’s a healthy thing. So why do we habitually spread ourselves too thin?

I’ve been munching while thinking about why that is 🙂 See if you relate to some of these musings …

Compartmentalizing

We’re adept at compartmentalizing. The picture in our mind looks like this –

What-a-great-start-to-the-morning-with-perfectly-buttered-toast-and-jam-and-hot-coffee!

We take a tasty bite and convince ourselves that we’ve got plenty of margin in our Pie of Life.

A quick graze through the memory file assures us we’ve got all our ducky little compartments in a row.

‘Outta sight, outta mind.’ (Never mind that our memory isn’t as good as it used to be)
‘A place for everything and everything in its place.’ (Stacked higher and higher doesn’t count)
‘If I can close the drawer, it fits.’ (Just disregard the time it takes to wrestle open the drawer)
‘Don’t move the piles on my desk! I know where everything is.’ (X-ray vision required)
‘There’s a tiny bit of white space here. Of course I can fit it in today!’ (followed by loud sighing)

It’s not long before the toasty picture in our mind resembles this –
More margarine will not help.

More Butcher Paper, Please

As long as there are trees, there will be plenty of toilet paper and to-do lists. God forbid we ever run out of the former! But when that pen of yours is wielded like a margarine knife spreading life’s moments r-i-i-g-ht up to the edge, trust me. You don’t need another roll of butcher paper.

Instead, it’s time to recognize that often what looks so good on paper doesn’t flow as easily. Life is not meant to be lived continually slathering more margarine on top of a never-ending list of to-do’s. When is enough of ‘one more thing’ enough?

We are sturdy people, but don’t forget there is a straw that broke the camel’s back. It isn’t one more project or one more commitment that threatens to do us in. Ironically, it’s often the smallest thing that gets on our last burnt toast nerve. Though seemingly composed on the outside, we may be throwing a hissy fit and  the margarine tub on the inside.

Life is full of the need for flexibility. But when we have ‘one more thing’ crammed in the drawer that barely closes, Margin can become our new best friend. Margin allows for flexibility to be utilized when necessary. Margin also helps meeting the unexpected or newly necessary with less anxiety resulting from already being in a too overwhelmed state.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

Believe it. A margarine-kind of approach to life is not the same as the original. Just ask Bessie the Cow.

Or Jesus. He understood better than the rest of us the need for healthy margin.

Today, his Holy Spirit is alive and well to inspire, guide and motivate us to a life of appropriate boundaries and borders. He even knows the best places to install the gates that let other people and things come and go – and when it’s time to latch the gate for a while.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” ( Mark 6:31 NIV)

It’s a safe bet Jesus didn’t serve them margarine. Just perfectly buttered toast with jam and hot coffee.

~ Nancy

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