Fuel

Are you struggling to find margin in your life?

Let me rephrase that: Are you struggling to find passion, creativity, and spiritual clarity in your life?

In his book Anam Cara, John O’Donohue tells a story about a European explorer in Africa who hired some native Africans to help carry his equipment through the jungle. They didn’t stop for three days. At the end of the third day, the hired hands stopped and refused to move on. The explorer asked why, and one of the African natives said, “We have moved too quickly to reach here, now we need to wait to give our spirits a chance to catch up with us.”

When you don’t have margin in your life, everything else suffers. It is hurried complexity that takes the life out of life. And yet it is the simplicity of abiding in Christ that puts the life back into life (John 15:1-11).

“Recovery of the Sabbath is the most crucial and most demanding covenant command (spiritual discipline) now to be faced in the technological society.” -Walter Brueggemann

God fills the empty spaces. Having margin in our lives brings renewed passion, creativity, clarity, and purpose.

That’s why God commanded us to take a Sabbath. The word Sabbath means “to rest from labor” and “to catch one’s breath.”

Are you struggling to find passion, creativity, clarity, and orientation of purpose? It may be time to slow down and carve out some margin in your life. It’s time to let your spirit “catch up” to you. That may mean taking a break from social media, internet, and technology.

In addition to practicing a weekly Sabbath day, we need to discover how to continually rest in Sabbath-moments by taking spiritual breaks a few minutes each day. By keeping the discipline of a Sabbath we can have our passions renewed and reoriented with Christ, a deep inner tranquility sustained by union with God and intimacy in prayer.

We need pauses… we need margin… we need renewed spirits. We don’t get that renewed passion by violating the covenant command to find rest. Find it, or burnout. There’s not another option.

Dustin Neeley of the Acts 29 network reveals five hard truths church planters must learn if they want to faithfully carry out their calling. These are great truths not only for church planters but for every missional leader of any ministry organization. Here are quick links to each post in the series:
1. Be Resilient

2. Be Yourself

3. Think Hybrid

4. Kill Your Stress

5. Lead Your Family Well

Good stuff!

According to this article, 14 Surprising Signs You’ll Live Longer Than You Think, I should live to be 100. In addition to the typical exercise and diet habits, here are some of the other factors to longevity that are suggested:

Your Mom Had You Young

My mother was seventeen when I was born. Theoretically, that means I came from the “best” eggs. Thanks Mom!!!

You’re a Tea Lover

Oh, yeah. I drink it all day long. In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those who drank 5 or more cups of green tea every day had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease and stroke.

You Really Like Your Friends… (This one is great)

“Good interpersonal relationships act as a buffer against stress,” says Micah Sadigh, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Cedar Crest College. Knowing you have people who support you keeps you healthy, mentally and physically: Chronic stress weakens the immune system and ages cells faster, ultimately shortening life span by 4 to 8 years, according to one study. Not just any person will do, however. “You need friends you can talk to without being judged or criticized,” says Sadigh.

You Embrace New Challenges

The article states: “People who consider themselves self-disciplined, organized achievers live longer and have up to an 89% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s than the less conscientious, according to two studies. When you’re good at focusing your attention, you use more brainpower, says the lead researcher in both studies, Robert S. Wilson, PhD, a professor of neurological sciences and psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Yes, there is hope for the Type A.

You Don’t Have a Housekeeper

‘Nuff said.