I am a father, a grandfather, I lead a technology team, I am the founder of Heartstone Journey, I am working on various projects and I am a leader in the men’s ministry at our church…just to name a few things I do. I seemingly have been managing my work-life balance a bit better and not feeling overly stressed these days, but God started to reveal that I need a bit more margin in my life to unplug.

Recently I had an opportunity to head outdoors for some ice fishing with the guys from the men’s ministry. I immediately went into what I had queued up for the weekend and focusing on the needs of others. At first glance, you might think…”What’s wrong with that,” right?

I got off the phone with one of the guys sharing that there is a 90% chance I will be there, still holding out on that 10%. I then jump on a call with my better half and frame up the story; the outing and my conversation that I had with my friend. After a bit of a pause this is what she comes back with, “You pour so much into your kids, your ministry’s, to me and others that you leave no time for yourself. You need to put aside all the stuff you have planned for the weekend and go!”

That hit me like a ton of bricks and really made me think about the real margin I had in my life. That night I made the decision to just go and hang out with the men and unplug. It was awesome!

Check out this excerpt from “Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives” by Richard Swenson, M.D. He describes margin this way:

Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating.

Margin is the opposite of overload. If we are overloaded we have no margin. Most people are not quite sure when they pass from margin to overload. Threshold points are not easily measurable and are also different for different people in different circumstances. We don’t want to be under-achievers (heaven forbid!), so we fill our schedules uncritically. Options are as attractive as they are numerous, and we overbook.

If we were equipped with a flashing light to indicate “100 percent full,” we could better gauge our capacities. But we don’t have such an indicator light, and we don’t know when we have overextended until we feel the pain. As a result, many people commit to a 120 percent life and wonder why the burden feels so heavy. It is rare to see a life prescheduled to only 80 percent, leaving a margin for responding to the unexpected that God sends our way.ⁱ

I stepped into the scene of this picturesque landscape of the sun slowly rising above the treeline exposing the outline of the pond we were going to fish on. A handful of us guys met up at the boat ramp, loaded up the four wheeler, sled and headed out to the bob house to our fishing spot.

First task was to fire up the heater for our retreat from the brisk winter wind. In no time we punched a handful of holes trough the ice with our auger and we set the jigs to begin catching our fish. I then paused to take in the awesome picturesque landscape painted by God Himself while enjoying the hypnotic smells of maple bacon, seasoned venison and eggs wafting from the bob house.

As my buddies and I soaked up the fellowship of the outdoors we remembered that time in the Bible when Jesus was hanging out on the shore after His resurrection, waving His disciples to come in and join Him around the campfire for breakfast (John 21:1–12).

It’s amazing how casually Jesus enters this scene. Remember, this is the resurrected Lord…the Ruler of the heavens and the earth. Keep in mind that recent events have been overwhelming — the triumphal entry, crowds shouting “Hosanna!” to Jesus being tortured, crucified, put into a tomb and being raised from the dead. What blows my mind that in the midst of all this craziness of life, Jesus pauses and invites his buddies for breakfast around a fire. Talking about creating margin in one’s life.

[Show slideshow]

Here is what I learned from ice fishing that day. Margin is not something that just happens. You have to fight for it. It seems that everyone wants a piece of you and no one seems to appreciate that there is only so much of “you” to go around. If we don’t buffer in enough margin in our lives our lives will become overloaded and we will burn out.

Do you have enough margin in your life?

Are you focused more on striving?

What will you do today to start building that margin in?