“I have no peace. I have no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble keeps coming.”
Job 3:26
Margin! We all need it. However, too often we feel as though we’re too busy to slow down and carve it out. I'm not sure about you, but when someone asks me how I am doing, I will generally say, “I’m busy, but all is well.” Do you often feel rushed, stressed, frazzled, in a hurry and sense there’s never enough time to get where you need to be or do what you need to do? I suspect your challenge might be that you haven’t built in enough margin in your life. That’s certainly was my experience in the past. And it’s an awful place to live!Listen closely: we each have 24 hours a day, 60 minutes an hour, 86,400 seconds per day. You have limits. How you choose to manage and balance that time is up to you. You have physical limits. You have emotional limits. You have mental limits. You have spiritual limits. You have boundaries. Whether you’re an organizational leader, coach, scout, student, executive, etc. - you have limits! How you build margin into your life to manage those limits is your responsibility. If you’re not managing those limits wisely, warning lights will begin going off. What are the warning lights? Stress, physical pain, sickness, fatigue, self-centeredness, loss of joy, loss of peace, loss of patience, loss of gentleness, loss of kindness, irritability. The reality is that you have not built margin into your life. Because, if you don’t, you will burn out. It’s not a matter of if—but when. You were not created to work seven days a week.The truth is that you cannot cram your life and schedule full of things that are not important and do not help you accomplish your purpose in life. And that includes resting. I encourage you today to ask God to give you the wisdom to recognize your limits. Then start building margin into your calendar. Say “NO” to some good things—or even fun things, so that you can say “YES” to the best things. Remember, if you don’t manage your time and calendar—someone else will. Build margin in your life and in your calendar. Margin is that space between your load and your limits.As the old saying goes: “If Satan can’t make you bad—he will just make you busy.”Love God. Love People. Live Sent.Be Worth Being,KevinSUBSCRIBE TO "OVER THE HUMP" DEVOTIONALKevin Burrell has worked in professional baseball as both a player and MLB scout for the past 42 years, and currently serves as an area scouting supervisor. Kevin was drafted in the 1st round of the 1981 free agent amateur draft (25th selection overall), and played ten years of professional baseball with four different organizations. He and his wife, Valerie, live in Sharpsburg, Ga.
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