BREATHABLE MARGINS
While every summer is supposed to be a restful break, for most of us it gets as busy as the rest of the year—just different, right? And as the school year kicks off this month, it’s already time to buckle up and get into gear for the next nine- or ten-month cycle of frenetic chaos! Especially in the context of so much activity, scheduling, responsibility, pressure, and busyness – in addition to the emotionally draining challenges and controversies over tons of issues in our lives and culture.
So, yeah. Right. Okay. Mount up. Lock and load. Sound the trumpets! Tallyho! Charge!!!!!
(Oh man, do I have to? Uggg.)
I know the feeling, my friend. But wait. There’s hope. There are ways to navigate all this. And the first way is to realize, admit, and embrace the reality that:
Our hearts simply need more breaks;
we just don’t take them, right?
(That’s the admission part)
Like wider margins in our totally jammed do lists, vision boards, frantic schedules, or guilt-driven expectations. I love the classic adage that says we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a week. The same can be said for a week and a month…and for a month and a year. So, there is plenty of space for wider margins throughout the year. Really.
Like breathing space from suffocating social media, news streams, and excessive projects, events, and obligations. Maybe our need to feel socially and globally informed is hugely overrated. Those feeds are usually exaggerated, misleading, and just plain wrong anyway. And maybe our activities can be transformed from a lung burning race to a fresh air stroll. As a side note, one of our sons- who is a fitness and health trainer- tells me walking for forty minutes or so is way better than running or jogging. Wow! Great for our bodies, and our lives.
Like white space in our cluttered view of life. Gifted graphic designers instinctively know that the value of white space in an ad or cover is as important as the fonts, photos, and graphics. Edge to edge content is abrasive graffiti on paper, on screen, and in our brains. Do some light reading, laugh more, and take regular breaks from the mind-bending obligations of real life. One of my mentors put it this way:
Divert daily.
Withdraw weekly.
Abandon annually.
In my world that would be a daily quiet time with the Lord, a weekly time of worship with a church family, and an annual getaway to let Him debrief the past year and prepare me for the new one.
Like panoramic views of the in-our-face challenges that all of us are confronted with throughout the year. Take a few big steps away from the fray to talk to a pastor, counselor, therapist, and trusted friends and family to help you get perspective on a longer timeline for those things. And literally get away from it all for a few days to take in the beauty of nature and the wonder of wildlife. It’s amazing what a literal panoramic view can do for our souls and mental health.
So, there it is, my friend. A gentle reminder and several ways to give yourself a break, a real break…regularly…deeply…gently… and gratefully. Life is too short to let mind numbing graffiti strangle your tender heart.
Busyness is not a badge of honor or proof of our importance and value in this life.
It is toxic.
It poisons hearts, steals peace, and rips relationships—every day that we give in to it. So don’t be seduced. Say NO and breathe more – daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Ahhhhh…
Breathing in wider margins with you,
Pastor Mark
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