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
I got my dream Bible for Christmas. My daughter and son-in-law knew I was anxious for a Bible with wide margins. I love to write insights that come to me as I read, and most Bibles have small margins. I wanted the NLT red-letter version, nice imitation leather with a distinctive design, AND with two-inch-wide page- lined margins. A challenging list. I found many Bibles but none that had them all, especially not wide margins. I was thrilled when I opened the gift box and there was the Bible. The cover was right, everything else was right, and the margins were lined, two ¼ inches! I could hardly wait to start, and my margins are giving me joy and blessing.
For me, it is not just Bibles. I think all of life works better with some space around the edges. When we say things like, “Leave yourself some margin,” we mean do not take everything as far as it can go. Don’t push everything to the limit. Don’t fill every day of your calendar, every minute of your day. Don’t spend every dollar you can. Don’t stretch yourself so far that there’s no space left to breathe. At the edges is where stress and chaos live. That is where problems deepen and multiply, where rash decisions are made, where relationships tear and tangle. That is where you will run late for meetings and events, you will disappoint and let people down. You will become so overwhelmed as the pressure builds that you will completely miss seeing what God is doing. At the edges is where insignificant things become overpowering.
Not surprisingly, there are numerous accounts and teachings in the Word about leaving margin – leaving room. A beautiful romantic story is told in the book of Ruth about Ruth’s hard life as a widow, trying to provide food for her and her mother-in-law. She went to the fields of a rich landowner named Boaz and gathered the grain from the harvest fields left lying along the edges. He told his workers to take exceptional care of Ruth, but the absolute best part is that Boaz (who later married Ruth) was already doing this because he was a godly man, and it was God’s instruction to his people to take care of the poor.
Making sure we retain margin and do not take everything to the edge is still the way today. We have money, time, and energy to help the poor, to do God’s work, even to hear from Him. It is the way our lives have impact and significance. It is in the little pockets of room we keep in our schedules, our finances, and our energy that we can breathe. We have room to notice, respond, make a difference. Margins are where life is not frantic and miracles begin.
- Lord, help me slow my pace and grow my margins so I can make the most every opportunity You send my way.