Like many people, I often suffer from hurry sickness. I write my to-do lists, rush from one appointment to another and chargrill my dinner because I’m simultaneously making a phone call and sorting the laundry. As church leaders, my husband Mark and I know that ministry demands are never-ending, and as someone who has been travelling, preaching and writing for around 30 years whilst juggling family life and other deadlines, I have often felt like there are not enough hours in the day.
But here’s the reality, whether my well-organised diary likes it or not: we all have limits. Indeed, the research I have conducted over recent years on resilience, wellbeing, and spiritual formation tells me we all have limited resources, physically, emotionally and mentally, and there are consequences when we live consistently at the end of those limits. Of course, we all have hectic seasons, but when living to the edge of our resources becomes normal, we are not living a sustainable (or arguably a biblical) life.
Limited Resources
So, increasingly, I have been challenged to consider what it would mean to live with more margin in my life. Margin, if you like, is the space between us and our limits. It is the bandwidth we each need to deal with the pressures and opportunities we face. It is the capacity needed so that we don’t melt down when one more thing gets added to our list! I know I am living without margin when my messages and emails mount up, I scoot past the neighbours because I don’t have time to chat, or I don’t prepare as well for the forthcoming service. I’m sure I am not alone.
