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Yes, you read that right, my husband broke his foot. On the 4th, right before the BBQ and birthday party for our daughter, with our families.
The breaking his foot isn’t what is most important here. What’s important is our reaction to these unexpected things, when they happen, because they do happen.
Margin. Margin is important. Maybe you’re not familiar with this term, so here’s the definition described by Dr. Richard Swenson who says in his book, Margin, “margin is the space between our load (our tasks, roles and things we do) and our limits.”
I’m just starting to dig into this book and am loving it so far. The book subtitle is Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.
My gut reaction when Lucas broke his foot (when we didn’t know if it was a sprain or break), was thank God we have margin. See, we’ve been working hard to create margin in our lives. Taking our lives from stressful to stress less (as much as possible), by making our schedule have space in it, so we can drop everything to help our family and friends, so we have time to relax, so we have time to do what we want (whether that’s a long walk or a concert in the park), so we have time to handle the unexpected as they happen, because friend, they will happen.
Because of his broken foot, I have extra chores around the house and extra driving to appointments. I’ve got space in my calendar to do these things, but it’s because I’ve intentionally created space.
So why does this matter to you? I think margin is so important to all of us! We run our businesses, manage our family lives, have friends and family who need us, homes that need stewarding, health that needs attention and so much more. Does that list leave you breathless like it leaves me breathless?
Here’s the thing – when we start living according to our priorities and leaving margin in there for the in-between times, we’re able to live life to it’s fullest – enjoying the freedom we have in Christ, for HIS glory.
Burnt out, out of energy, stressed, overwhelmed, overscheduled, and tired is the norm in a lot of life circles. And yes, we can’t avoid all of it all the time, there are times for extra push, but let’s stop doing these things on the regular. We have far too much joy to encounter and lives that we can spend running in the freedom of doing what we love and enjoying time with those we love to be running on empty energy tanks all the time.
Are you interested in living a different way?
Here are some action steps you can take:
– Find time in your schedule and schedule in rest
– Create space between events on your schedule to travel/drive (plan accordingly for construction which is it’s own season here in Minnesota/Wisconsin), look for things in your schedule that you can decrease if you need to have extra time, and decrease the number of things you try to do in one day
– Identify your (and your family’s) priorities
– If you need help with your priorities, and creating a schedule around them, find out if my Productivity Intensive is right for you – the intensive is an in-depth assessment and implementation will help you love your business again and allow you to be present with the people you love.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We’ll deep dive into what makes you light up, fills your heart and identify your priorities and how you can live them out.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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After 2.5 hours, you’ll walk away with a schedule that you love and have your mission and vision statements to give you a clear direction of where you’re going and what direction you need to take your business. If you want to schedule time on my calendar to see if this is right for you, click here.
Friend, I hope you take the time to make more margin in your life, so you can live fully in the freedom and joy you have in Christ.
