I can remember learning to set margins on a typewriter in my high school typing class. Can you?  I was recently preparing a message for a breakout session for a women’s event and came across an interesting tidbit in an article about margins. 

Margins haven’t always been about neatness. (Have you ever had a teacher take off points for writing in the margin?).  According to the article, margins were often used to create space around the page because even if the edges were damaged by mice, the important message in the center would still remain intact.

Doesn’t this make for an interesting analogy for life? Full schedules, constant digital noise and notifications, relationship tensions, mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion, and the list can go on. All the things that “chew at the edges.” If I’m not mindful, those things won’t stay on the edges. They’ll start eating the way into the center. Soon my peace, priorities, purpose, and relationships that truly matter are in danger. 

It just so happens that April is National Stress Awareness Month, an annual campaign started in 1992, created to bring awareness to the modern stress epidemic. God’s Word is filled with teachings about the importance of space, rest, boundaries, and  limits. 

Exodus 20:8 -10 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work,  but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.

Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

If I know creating margin, space, and boundaries are needed to protect the important stuff, why can it be so difficult to do so?  Why may we feel we have to fill every space? 

The world’s influence sends messages like, “Busy equals important.” “Full calendars equal success.” “Slowing down must mean we are falling behind.” If we aren’t vigilant, productivity becomes tied to our personal identity. Rest and quietness become uncomfortable, foreign. 

Another interesting point I read is over time margins became more than protection, they became places of engagement. Scholars and scribes used margins to write notes beside the text. Teachers wrote corrections in the margins of student papers. Editors made revisions there. It became a space for reflection, correction, and growth. 

“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” Psalm 1:2-3 NLT

Without margin, space, and quietness for our hearts, there’s no space to listen. No place for God to speak. For correction. For growth, reflection, or even gratitude.

Margins in our lives don’t equate to laziness or wasted space. They are protection for the things that matter most.