Thursday, April 26, 2012

Svenson: what is margin?

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.   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. (loc.975ff)


Positive margin status is what we call in science an “unstable state,” one which spontaneously decays. Margin flows toward overload, but overload does not revert to margin unless forced. (1122)


Margin

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