How to Choose Best Over Good

The article below by Vanessa Burke is featured on www.streamingfaith.com in the Life and Faith category of the News page, 06/2010.

Do you find yourself late for most appointments and meetings? Are most of your mornings rushed? Do you often not write down your schedule and subsequently forget many things you need to do? If you answered yes to any of these, you need margin in your life. Simply put, margin is the difference between what you have and what you need. Recently my Bible study group learned principles of having margin from a lesson by Craig Groeschel. Since studying this life changing topic, God has shown me what life is typically like with no margin and how life can be with margin.
As you go about making daily decisions, whether to go here or there, participate in something or not, allow your kids to do this and that, what are the questions you ask yourself? Like many of us, you determine that if it’s a good thing, you should go for it. I challenge you to look at it a different way. Consider I Corinthians 6:12 (Amplified): “Everything is permissible for me—allowable and lawful; but not all things are helpful—good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things…” Many things you do and activities you get involved in are good to do, but are they the best things to do?
One Saturday morning I had a ministry leadership training class at church. However, the night before, I decided to watch a movie … and then another one, both very long, and it was quite late when I finished. I finally convinced myself to go to bed, and because I realized I didn’t have much time to sleep, I set my clock for just enough time to get dressed before I would have to walk out the door. Naturally, the next morning I was very tired, so I cut the alarm clock off and fell back asleep … “Oh my God! I’ve overslept!” I lamented as I realized I had about 30 minutes before I needed to walk out the door.
Class was due to begin at 9:15 a.m. At 9:12 I screeched into a parking spot, hastily gathered my things, slammed the door shut and began running into the church. “Oh my, where are my keys?” I thought as I was running. “Did I blindly throw them into my purse?” I managed to run fast enough and arrive panting at the door of class at exactly 9:15. After getting the last of the coffee, now lukewarm, I stumbled to a seat in the back and checked my purse. No keys. Great.

This domino turmoil began when I failed to build in margin for the day. I should have stopped at one movie; set the clock for more than enough time to get prepared in the morning; and planned to arrive at least 15 minutes before class began. Had I done this, I would have gotten enough sleep, leisurely gotten dressed and arrived early to class, relaxed. Most likely I would not have locked my keys in the car. What’s the lesson? I had no margin. Because of poor planning, the difference between what I needed and what I had was negative. As a result, the day was a bit crazy and somewhat frustrating.
Such can be the days in which you build no margin. They are stressful, and stress can take on mental, physical and spiritual consequences. Just ask Martha when Jesus came to visit Mary and her (Luke 10:38-42). Martha was obviously stressed as she was distracted with many preparations. In fact, she was so stressed that she complained to Jesus about Mary just sitting. However, Jesus made it clear that it was in fact Mary who was doing what was best. I’m certain whatever Martha was preparing in the kitchen was necessary and good. My goodness, Jesus Himself was in the house! Why wouldn’t she take care to prepare what was necessary for Him? However, what was best at that moment was for her to spend time with Jesus first. Mary got that. In my example above, had I built in margin to spend time in God’s word before going to class that morning, the clock would have been set earlier, I would have gained wisdom and knowledge for that day, and I would have been spiritually prepared and relaxed for come what may.
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. The very next weekend, I had some free time on my hands. I remembered that I had agreed to attend a dance recital of my son’s oldest friend on that Sunday at 3 p.m. It was a good thing to support. However, after remembering the margin principles I had learned, I asked myself, “In light of everything I need to do, is this decision wise? Is it the best way to spend my time?” The answers compelled me to cancel plans to attend the recital.

That weekend I cleaned, organized and got some much needed relaxation. I had previously planned to attend the 12:30 p.m. service on Sunday and go straight to the recital afterwards, but with plans changed, I went to the 8:30 a.m. service instead. With about 7-8 hours of sleep, I awoke earlier than my clock did. I was tempted to pray while still lying in bed – yeah right – but remembered that trick never worked good, so I sat up, turned on the light and proceeded to pray. I began by telling God how much I adored Him. Within the next few moments the words of a song about adoring God came pouring out of my spirit! I couldn’t find a pen fast enough.

On the way to church I picked up one of my Bible study members. During the drive, my passenger revealed to me that on this particular morning, she had taken my challenge from our last Bible study to get up early in the morning and spend time with God, instead of leaving it to chance during the day. She had one of the most wonderful times she could remember praising the Lord that morning. As we excitedly talked about our great God, I missed my exit on the highway! Well, the alternate route added about 10 minutes more to our commute, but because I had built in margin, we were still able to arrive with seven minutes to spare before service began.

After church, I prayed with a young lady at the altar whose countenance was visibly lifted when we were done. I knew it was one of those divine appointments. Later I was treated to breakfast and heard an incredible testimony that I can’t wait to write about. What a beautiful day in the Lord. In fact, the entire weekend was not only beautiful but productive and full of blessings – because I had margin. All it took was me deciding what was best over what was good, and then planning my schedule so that all things could be done on time, with enough extra time built in if things didn’t go as planned.

Having an incredibly busy schedule doesn’t make you important. But it sure can make you crazy with no time for yourself or your family, a disaster in the making. Developing a schedule with margin will allow you to live a better quality of life. You will have time to help those in need; time to really stop and listen to your children; time to be interrupted; time to spend with people you love; time to rest, relax and reflect; and ample, quality time with God.

In addition to scheduling margin, there are other areas of life where margin should be created, including resisting temptation. With an appropriate amount of margin, you will establish practices that maintain a certain distance from the temptation. You can’t walk on hot coals thinking you won’t get burnt if you never get close enough to even see the smoke.

Another way of defining margin is: the amount available beyond what’s necessary. This definition immediately reminds me of the concepts I learned about financial margin. What does that look like? In a nutshell, it means having money left over at the end of the month. With financial margin you are able to help those in need; do some of the things in life you enjoy doing; give to causes and organizations you believe in without stress; and instead of anxiety over your obligations, you can have financial rest and peace. How do you get financial margin? Very simple: earn more or spend less. Instead of allowing society to dictate what you purchase, use wisdom and establish a budget. You can live without many things you buy.

Without margin, you are rushed, late and often overwhelmed with life. With it, you are relaxed, you use wisdom, and you are prepared for most if not all things that come your way. Now, I could get used to a life like that. Couldn’t you? Give your life a huge lift today. Develop margin.