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With debit card in hand I ventured into Amazon.com. Only a book lover will understand the great fiscal risk I was taking. Do you have any idea how many books are on my wish list?? However, the mission was simple, and executed perfectly...get in, purchase the one recommended book, and get out! I DID IT! I purchased only the book "Margin" by Dr. Richard Swenson. With his permission, let me give you the gist of it....his Rx.
"Overload is not having time to finish the book you're reading about stress. Margin is having time to read it twice. Overload is fatigue. Margin is energy. Overload is red ink. Margin is black ink. Overload is hurry. Margin is calm. Overload is anxiety. Margin is security. Overload is the disease of the new millenium. Margin is the cure.
As a physician, Dr. Richard Swenson sees a steady stream of exhausted, hurting people coming into his office. A majority of them are suffering from an uncontrolled societal epidemic: living without margin.
Margin is the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits. It' s something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. As a society, we've forgotten what margin is. In the push for progress, margin has been devoured. So we feel distressed in ill-defined ways. We are besieged by anxiety, stress and fatigue. Our relationships suffer. We have unexplained aches and pains. The flood of daily events seems beyond our control. We're overloaded. In Margin, Dr Swenson provides a prescription against the danger of overloaded lives. Focusing on margin in four key areas-emotional energy, physical energy, time, and finances-he offers an overall strategy for health that involves contentment, simplicity, balance and rest.
If you yearn for relief from the pain and pressure of overload, take a lifelong dose of margin under the care of a specialist. The benefits of good health, financial stability, fulfilling relationships, and availability for God's purposes will follow you all your days."
Overload is not a sustainable lifestyle in the long run...even if it was, who would want it?? Certainly not me! THAT is living dangerously! As we begin working our way through this book, I hope to blog about our family's progress in creating margin. Due to some carefully guarded boundaries, our situation is not as bad as it could be...but it's a long way from where we want it.
Let me share how Dr. Swenson ends his emails, "In His will there is peace." (Dante) That is surely the fundamental starting point to this journey. Romans 12 verse 2 (NIV) says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."
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