NOTES ON MARGIN: Margin is the space between your load and your limits… It’s a reserve, a buffer, an amount allowed beyond that which is needed. Overload is the opposite If you spent 80% of all you earned you would have margin If you spent 120% of all you earned you have not only overload, but a deficit. Today, people are spending not just 120% of their money, but their time and energy as well. We are a marginless people. Marginless is flying from Little Rock to Denver with a 2 minute layover in St. Louis. Book example - If a margin we’re left out of a book… publishers would save all kinds money. If you took a ruler, you would find that the typical amount of area in a book given to margin is between 40 and 43%. But, without it the book would be considered chaotic and aesthetically displeasing – like a lot of our lives! There is NO JOY in living a marginless life. And people don’t like living this way and they DO like having margin. Our relationships need margin to be nourished, healed and revitalized. PROBLEM: We are encouraged to “maximize” everything in our 21st century American culture… But before long, our marginless lives bring us into overload and everything in life becomes a burden. Hyper active at work Hyper active in ministry Hyper active in parenting Hyper active in marriage It leads to something more than burnout… it leads to What was ministry for Jesus – it was ministering to the person in front of him. Would Jesus carry a appt. book? Would he carry a beeper? Look at Psalm 23: God demands holiness not exhaustion. He demands we center our lives on relationship not task.