You may have had that hair-raising experience of standing too close to the edge of mountain trail only to lose your balance or feel the ground shift beneath your feet. Thankfully you scrambled backwards and out of the danger zone before you went over, your heart pounding all the while as you consider the accident that you just narrowly averted.
This relates back to building margin into your schedule and your life.
How about this scenario instead?
Ever find yourself running to catch a plane because the minutes you used up at home really were meant to be spent at the airport?
We did that once when close to 40 of us were headed for our first ever cruise. I imagine people still talk about the herd that raced through the building that day, strollers, luggage and backpacks a-flying as we attempted to maintain civility and composure on the dead run. Not recommended, by the way, as a genteel and relaxing start to your tropical getaway. 
The lack of margin in your life can bring surprising, pervasive and even crippling results when you actually slam up against it and then over the edge.
Today I am sharing a true story with you, a cautionary tale of a man who made decisions that left him no margin and in a decidedly unexciting place.
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Bill, which is not his real name, of course.
He had his whole life ahead of him, as he was a footloose and fancy-free, young, not yet 30 year old adult.
He worked at a job that wasn’t particularly satisfying, so he would take his ample paycheck every week and enjoy his life, because he felt he deserved to be happy. He would buy CD’s, go out to eat, attend concerts and have lots of fun until he ran out of money. When the rent or other bills were due, he’d do his best to scrape together what he owed, but he never planned ahead to take care of these responsibilities.
He carried on his carefree lifestyle until one day his car needed its yearly inspection and registration to be legal. However, there was a slight problem: the vehicle needed some work in order to pass inspection and he couldn’t afford to have it done.
So he made the logical choice, well, at least to him.
“What are the odds”, he asked himself, “that I would be caught for not taking care of this?”
I don’t think he bothered to ask himself that other important question: What could happen if I don’t take care of it, and I am willing to pay that price?
Bill continued on his merry way, until one day, dear readers, you guessed it. Our hapless young man was pulled over on a minor traffic violation-the very work he didn’t bother to have done-and was ticketed.
Now, Bill wasn’t particularly concerned. After all, it was just a little ticket amidst the flurry which must get issued every year, and which he didn’t have the money to pay anyway.
So he made the logical choice, at least to him.
He threw away the ticket.
The system noticed his lack of response and sent him a lovely invitation to appear at court.
Bill was busy, he had his job that he couldn’t just leave, and besides, since he couldn’t afford to pay the original ticket, he certainly didn’t have the money for the fine the judge would now levy upon him.
So he made the logical choice, at least to him.
He skipped court.
Well, Bill hadn’t realized how much he’d be missed.
The judge issued another invitation for the young man, only this time it was for him to spend time at that exclusive local resort known as the county jail.
Bill had seriously underestimated the sum of his decisions to this point, and sadly soon found himself in jail and eventually without his job.
I would like to tell you that this story has a happy ending, but alas, it does not.
I am not sure of how or where Bill ended up, but I do hope he was able to take the lessons learned and apply them to build plenty of margin in his life.
If not, then at least I hope you will take Bill’s gift to you, the parable of his life lived without margin, and find ways to create margin in yours, whether in money, time, energy, trust, responsibility, or wherever.
He may have felt he just had bad luck, but what he really had was a complete lack of planning, so remember dear readers:
Prepare today for what you will need tomorrow.
and:
The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Proverbs 21:5
Today’s challenge: How and where are you building margin in your life? Please share so that we can help one another with ideas and encouragement!
Sharing at No Ordinary Blog Hop
Image credit-Seyemon
What a great analogy between the margin of a cliff and the margin in our lives. I want to have margin to hear Him, to connect with the ones for whom my heart beats and to make the most of each gift of a day I’m given.
Agreed, Shannon! To be still is a wonderful gift we give both to our selves and to Him!
Wow! “Bill” perfectly illustrate the importance of margin. I have to say that I’ve worked hard to build in margin and of course, it’s still a work in progress. But this post has me thinking I should work a little harder! 😉 Thanks, Kim!
Be sure to give yourself grace, Beth.
I have found that creating margin takes constant vigilance on my part. If I allow margin in one part of my life to slip, I know it can cause a landslide in other areas. Baby steps, baby steps, stillness, prayer, listening and following are the answers for me.
Twitter: SUSZYCUE
says:
Oh my gosh, I needed this one today. I am trying to build some margin into my priorities for the day. If I get up and do prayers, scripture reading and etc. before I turn on the computer; my day goes much better. I am working on trying to choose better or best of the items to complete in a day and not just be addicted to my emails, blogs and etc.
Thus, far I have a little wiggle room; but I do need a bigger margin to be more successful in my day.
Thanks for an enlightening post; I loved it.
I am so glad you came by for a refreshing drink of encouragement! I, too, am much better off if I don’t pass GO, ie, the computer, and just head straight for my devotional. I had said to someone today that more I take the time to pray, listen and follow, the better my day goes. And when it doesn’t, well, at least I have a solid foundation.
Another great post on this topic! Thanks.
I think that in order to get margin, you need to be able to live intentionally so you can realize where you need it. And you need to be able to say no to yourself and to others, so you’ll be able to say yes when it’s really important.
Point well made, Annie Kate! I have come to learn, the hard way, unfortunately, that I think being unintentional leads to distress in all parts of my life, while being intentional is at the very heart of creating margin. I call it my framework of freedom!
Hi Kim,
Wonderful story and great question.
Here’s another question worth pondering: How can you develop a system where the margin takes care of itself?