Each year, the pace of our society the pace of our lifestyles speeds up. The result is that people get on overload in their lives. If that overload continues for too long, they’re going to crash, in one way or another. Here’s some overload stats for you. People now sleep 2 and a half fewer hours each night than people did 100 years ago. The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his desk. We spend 8 months of our lives opening junk mail and two years of our lives playing phone tag. We are a stretched to the limit society. We are chronically rushed, chronically late and chronically exhausted. You may feel like Job did in NLT Job 3:26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes.
Areas of overload include too much activity, too much change, too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure, too much information and an overall hurried lifestyle. All this overload leads to stress in our lives. Last week we talked about some of the effects of stress: loss of joy, less productivity and an inability to hear God. What is the solution? We need to learn how to slow down the pace of life
This week we want to expand on how to slow down. I want to talk about developing margin in your life. Margin is breathing room, margin is having a little reserve, margin is not being stretched to the limit. Here’s a definition of margin: the space between my load and limit.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 18, 2005 message entitled Developing Margin In Your Life
That’s me and my wife in a nutshell! We’ll have to listen to that message!