6th Mar - What the Bible Teaches About Leaving Margin in Your Life
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One thing I often tell my kids is to, “Leave margins in your life.”
What I mean when I say that is: don’t push everything right up to the edge. Don’t fill every minute of your schedule. Don’t stretch yourself so thin that there’s no space left to breathe.
Because when life is right on the line, that’s where stress lives. That's where you'll run late for things, miss seeing what God is doing and where pressure builds. That’s where small things start to feel overwhelming.
I think life works better with a little space around the edges.
Interestingly, we’ve also been looking at the story of Ruth at church recently, and it reminded me that this idea of leaving margins isn’t just good life advice - it’s actually a principle God built into the way people were meant to live.
It shows up in the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz, and once you notice it, you start seeing how powerful and clever of God eaving margins really is.
Ruth’s story doesn’t look like a miracle story.
No burning bushes. No seas splitting open. Just ordinary people doing ordinary things.
Ruth goes out to gather grain so she and Naomi can survive. The Bible says she “happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.” (Ruth 2:3) It sounds like coincidence… but when you read the whole story, you realize God was qently weaving everything together. (He's good at that :)
Boaz notices her. He protects her and makes sure she has enough to eat.
But here’s the cool part: Boaz isn’t doing something unusual. He’s simply living the way God had already instructed in His word.
Years earlier, God told farmers not to harvest the very edges of their fields.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field… leave them for the poor and the foreigner.”- Leviticus 19:9–10 (NIV
The edges of the field were meant to stay unharvested so people in need could gather food. And in Ruth’s moment of need, that space became her provision, and the beginning of her and Boaz's story :)
I think that principle can still speak to us today, because we can all live with a tendancy to live with no edges left.
Our calendars are full. Our finances stretched and our energy levels often severely depleted.
We push everything right up to the line. No margins. No breathing room.
But that’s where stress lives, and it's sometimes why we miss opportunites and the things God is doing around us. Or have the space to help someone; to pause and hear from Jesus.
God didn’t design us to live constantly at the limit. He knows we sometimes go hard for a season - but long term, He invites us to live freer and lighter.
To leave room.
To breathe.
To notice the ways He’s working, often quietly behind the scenes.
Leave Edges
When we leave edges - little pockets of space in our time, our finances, our schedules - we suddenly have:
Room to notice.
Room to respond.
Just like the edges of the field in Ruth’s story.
As we tell our kids all the time, “Don’t come right up to the margins.” Leaving no room - that’s where trouble usually starts.
Plus sometimes the most beautiful things God does don’t look like miracles.
They look like ordinary days… where we just happen to be standing in the right field, taking hold of what God has already set up for us ahead of time.
Action Steps
Create space in your schedule. Leave small pockets of time each week that aren’t booked. Make margins and then protect them.
Leave financial margin. Even a little room in your budget allows you to see opportunites, and give or help when someone needs it.
Slow your pace. Not everythings needs to be rushed. Take time to slow down, pause and reflect.
Watch for the gentle knudge of an opportunity. When life isn’t frantic, you’ll start to notice where God may be inviting you step into something, where he has been working on your behalf behind the scenes, or where you can help someone.
Bible Verse
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field…- Leviticus 19:9–10 (NIV)
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” - Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
Prayer
Lord, thank You for how you lead me and how you always have things all planned out. Please help me not to live rushed, stressed, and stretched to the limit, but to leave margins in my life - space to breathe, see what you are doing, to notice others, and time to hear Your voice. To trust that You are always at work, even in the ordinary moments of my life. In Jesus' name Amen.
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