Have you ever made notes in the margins of a book or your Bible? Whatever you read inspired an idea, you heard some great insight, or you did some extra research to support the printed content and you just had to write it down? I have a few friends that have more info written in their margins than there was printed on the page! They just feel the need to capture what is important.
I’ve been marinating on what that looks life in our everyday lives. Think about each day as a page of a book. We write our story by filling in the things we do throughout the day. Each page includes have-tos, a few want-tos, and maybe a couple of get-tos. We may all have the same 24 hours each day, but some of us cram in as much stuff into each day as we can. But when we can’t fit it all in, we tend to start filling in the margins. We fit stuff into evenings, weekends, and mornings before the schedule gets underway. If everything in the margins is so important, why isn’t it part of our daily story?
This thought has made me re-evaluate my daily story a bit. What am I spending time doing? Is it still my “best yes”? We get so used to our daily schedules that we fail to consider if they are still serving us well. Are we considering how we are using our time or just going through the motions? Then when truly important things come up, they have to be fit into the margins because all of the rest of the time is taken. Seasons change. Priorities change. Commitments change. But are we modifying the pages in our book to reflect those changes? Maybe it’s time for the stuff we are fitting into the margins to be a priority in our daily stories instead.
We are surrounded by opportunities and relationships if we choose to pursue them. Maybe it’s time to rewrite our stories a bit? Maybe we should be holding space throughout the day for the things we’ve been squeezing into the margins. Who knows, God may be writing a whole new chapter…
Be blessed,
Jennifer
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12