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| Melinda Viergever Inman |
Leaving
Margin
With more than twelve million books on Amazon and a
continual barrage of tips from experts about the ever-changing marketplace, we
often pack our lives too full. We're constantly drafting, editing, designing,
marketing, pitching, polishing, and readjusting our entrepreneurial efforts.
We're rising at 4:30 a.m. to write before waking the
children, getting them off to school, and then heading to work. Insert a packed
homeschool schedule into that scenario, if that is your norm. We're working
past 11:00 p.m. We start all over again the next day.
We're also completing a marketing course, so we can cram in
as many promos and giveaways as possible. We're building “real” relationships
on social media. We're participating in webinars to learn how to work with our
distributors more effectively. We're staring at our computer or phone screens
more than at the people in our lives.
When our schedules allow no margin, we sigh with irritation
when one of our children calls. We respond with impatience when a small child wakes
from a nap “too soon” or when a loved one's needs derail our work plan. We're
short with our husbands. We have no energy to deal lovingly and patiently with
the typical events of family life.
Day after day, we need everything to go exactly as planned.
When it doesn't, we may feel that those we love are “interrupting,” rather than
comprising the most central and significant focus of our lives. We have no
energy left in our tanks. Our priorities are skewed. This is evidence that
something is wrong. Our lifestyle cannot be maintained.
We discover this when catastrophe hits. The bump in the
usual schedule can be anything: typical family events, a broken arm, a
long-term illness, an accident, loss of our vehicle for a time, a beloved
grandparent passing, a friend or child who needs focused attention. This is
life. These things happen.
As I encountered this recently, I was reminded of a favorite
passage from Psalm 127:
Unless
the Lord builds the house,
those
who build it labor in vain.
Unless
the Lord watches over the city,
the
watchman stays awake in vain.
It is
in vain that you rise up early
and go
late to rest,
eating
the bread of anxious toil;
for he
gives to his beloved sleep.
If I'm working without enough sleep and my schedule is
packed, when the disaster comes, and it will
come, there is no margin, no extra space that provides reserve energy or time.
Then I cannot function at the optimal level when my family needs me, and my
body cannot continue for long in this manner. If I've allowed that schedule to
be the norm in my life, I've forgotten several important things:
- God watches over my career as a writer.
- I labor, but God creates my success—that’s His responsibility.
- I watch over the market, but the Lord protects and promotes my efforts.
- God created my body to require margins and rest.
- God gives sleep. Because He loves me, He guards my interests as I do.
- It is vanity to neglect what is essential. That lifestyle cannot be maintained.
- God and family are a higher priority than my work.
Recently, I had to reassess and make some changes back
toward balance. I needed to make my margins wider and give more space in my
life.
How
about you?
Love
takes action: The Creator God establishes the cosmos and shapes a man. Adam
rises from the dust. Envious, the powerful angel Lucifer despises him.
Oblivious to the threat, Adam is captivated by his strong, intuitive wife Eve.
In the Garden of Eden, they enjoy abundant food, gorgeous vistas, and
intriguing challenges, including their budding love and passion. They have it
all!
But
Lucifer’s deceptive brilliance tricks them into disobeying God. They eat the
one forbidden fruit. Their innocence is shattered. Their unity with one another
and with God is destroyed. Death will follow. Lucifer’s jealousy threatens
mankind’s tenuous beginning. But God is merciful. What astonishing promise does
He make? How will Adam and Eve survive—broken, shattered, and separated from God?
Melinda Viergever Inman was
raised in a storytelling family. There her roots were sunk. During years of
relocation, tragedy struck. Wounded and heartbroken, Melinda forsook her roots
and ran from herself and from God. A journey of trial and heartache brought her
home again. A prodigal now returned, she writes with passion, illustrating
God's love for wounded people as He makes beauty from ashes. Fallen is her second novel; Refuge, the sequel, is her first.
Melinda shepherds women in prison ministry and writes inspirational material at
http://melindainman.com/blog/. With her family she is involved with Mission
India/RIMI, rescuing orphans and providing theological and job training for
impoverished students.
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