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Making Room for Margin

Fresh out of seminary and ready to take on the world, I accepted the invitation to my first pastorate with a “looking up to see bottom.”  I should have known it would be a challenge when the church secretary pulled me aside as the men of the church helped us unload our earthly belongings, sighed, “Pastor, we’re looking up to see bottom.”  

I quickly discovered it would not be a quick fix. The community was in a state of decline about as bad as the church.  In fact, the church reflected the community it was called to serve and not in a good way. The Apollo Space program had ended and half-finished houses under construction lined the community. The church was in a state of disrepair. Pealing paint, overgrown bushes, and unkempt lawn were telltale signs of discouragement and demoralization.

“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”                      –Theodore Roosevelt 

My wife and I stepped in to serve when no one stepped up. We would show them how to care even if it meant cleaning toilets, painting classrooms, and lawn care if no one else did. It probably needs no mention but Satan had a way of reminding me, “Is this what you get for seven years of higher education to work in the lower forty of the vineyard?”

“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

–John C. Maxwell

I quickly discovered that if the leader doesn’t care, the people won’t care. What I had not yet learned is the level of stress in the Maxwell mantra: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

I’ve written about this in It Only Takes a Spark. I mention it here because I cut my teeth in ministry in a small church struggling financially without realizing how the morale and stress of the leader is  intensified. There seems to be a fine line between stress and over stress. I quickly crossed it and as always happens, it affected me physically. In my early twenties, I developed unexplainable chest pain that landed me in the hospital twice in my first two years of ministry.

This was back in the days patients were often hospitalized  for days while a diagnosis was sought. After days of poking and prodding it was determined that I had costochondritis (chest wall pain syndrome), a condition that is commonly linked to anxiety-induced chest pain. It involves cartilage inflammation connecting the ribs to the breastbone and can cause tenderness and stiffness in the chest.

Self-care is ministry.

I spent countless nights sleeping in my rocker recliner before the condition subsided. I knew I had to reduce the over-stress in my life. John Wesley’s words on God’s call as a “readiness to do anything, to lose anything, to suffer anything,” did not to lessen the strain of leadership.  I needed margin, pure and simple!

I had not learned to reframe ministry to include self-care as Anthony J. Headley intimates in his book “Reframing Your Ministry.” Self-care is ministry. I needed to reframe, to  shift my perception and meaning, to change the way I think and feel. Doing so I created margin by including self-care as ministry.

It’s not stress but distress that leads to burnout.

Negative stress hastens the symptoms of burnout. Anyone can become burned out when the hydrants of pressure are wide open. There are too many ministry casualties. Only one in ten who start out in ministry make to retirement. Was I one of the lucky ones? Luck had nothing to do with it. Not only did I have to be attentive to the spiritual, mental, and physical disciplines; I had to continually apply preventative measures to my inner world to keep myself spiritually, emotionally, and physically well.

Trying to serve God in your own strength and in your own way is “off-center leadership.” We must rely on divine resources. They’re available from God, who promised sufficient power to accomplish significant work. Stay close to Him. He will provide daily spiritual refreshment and margin to match the mandates of ministry.

“Margin is the space between our load and our limits.”

–Paul Chappell

Margin is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating.” (from The Burden Bearer: Who’s Carrying Your Load?)

Aaress Lawless defines margin as “The gap between rest and exhaustion. Many days that gap is a millimeter in our lives. We push, push and push, trying to achieve more, only to grow more and more exhausted as the days fly by. As a result of this breakneck pace, our health, relationships, and even our work suffer.”

Spiritually, this means a DQT (Daily Quiet Time) to begin each day from the strength gained in your secret place. This meant working up some “spiritual sweat” to free myself of everything that burdened me. Also, it meant getting rid of every encumbrance, every association, habit, and tendency that impedes godliness (Heb. 12:1).  If we are to excel, we must strip ourselves to a lean, spiritual, mental, and physical nakedness. The call to godliness suggests that we should direct all of our energy toward godliness. Toil and agony are called for if one is to be godly.

No discipline, no vital ministry.

A successful Christian life and ministry is “a sweaty affair” according to R. Kent Hughes in Disciplines of a Godly Man. “No manliness, no maturity!” Something a non-binary culture struggles to understand. But for followers of the Way, Truth, and Life, “No discipline no discipleship! No sweat no sainthood!” (pp.16-17)!  And I would add no discipline, no vital ministry!

“Margin is your breathing room.”

Physically, margin means some form of exercise regularly. Your body and nervous system are a trust from God. Treat His property well. You need a release valve. Exercise, walk, swim, or run for your life. Some have found that 30 to 60 minutes a day to nap, go for a walk, read, garden, relax.

Even my iWatch encourages me to take a minute of “Mindfulness” in which to first of all to intentionally “Breathe.” “This strengthens your focus by noticing the cool breath as you inhale and the warmth as you exhale.” Give yourself some breathing room. “Margin is your breathing room.” Take off five minutes every hour to catch your breath.

Desires have a way of pushing the limits to just a little beyond our reach.

Financially, if you think the more you make the more you have to spend, there will be never enough. Desires have a way of pushing the limits to just a little beyond our reach. Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace helped us a lot, especially in building up an emergency fund for unexpected and at times catastrophic and unforeseen events.

Before we ever heard of Mr. Ramsey’s plan, my wife and I decided never to put more on a credit card than we could pay off at the end of each month. We tried Ramsey’s cash budget plan for awhile, drawing out what we intended to spend on monthly necessities but eventually got away from it. For what it’s worth, we were tithers. The first ten per cent went to God, but a second ten per cent went into savings or retirement investment funds.

I know people who spend every dollar they make or tie up most of their expendable income in payments for things they cannot afford in an ever-illusive pursuit of maintaining an image they cannot afford. Then they wonder why they have nothing left with which to be generous. They live by the felonious assumption that if you make a certain amount of money you must drive a certain automobile and have as many toys as you can put on credit.

What would it take for you to declutter your life of material things? It just might be the margin your busy life needs, especially if you’re always rushed, frazzled, and feel that there’s never enough money to get where you need to be and do what you need to do.

If you are desperate for financial margin and need breathing room in your budget begin by making a budget. Downsize is not a dirty word. Nor downgrade. “If you have too much of your net worth tied up in things that are going down in value, it’s a drain on your budget—and your margin.”

Don’t push your body, schedule, mind, and budget to point where there is no margin. We all need unscheduled time to use in any way we want to refresh and replenish ourselves. One small emergency, unforeseen expense, or sickness could destroy us. Leaving margin is key to not being crushed when life does not go according to plan.

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