Theme: Make Positive Margin

Verse: “But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10: 41-42)

Most people have heard of the “Miracle on Ice”, the U.S. Men’s hockey team’s victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics. At the time the Soviets were the world’s dominant hockey team having won the four previous Olympic gold medals and 13 of the previous 16 World Championships. In the 1980 game, Team USA scored to take a 4-3 lead with exactly 10:00 remaining in the game. The Soviets had rarely been in this position. After a potential game-tying goal rang off of the post, the Soviets appeared to panic. The margin they were accustomed to playing with was no longer there. Over the final minutes the Soviets shot the puck wildly and failed to pull their goaltender to gain an extra attacker as the seconds ticked away.

What’s the point? The Soviets had lost their margin and it affected how they executed in those final 10 minutes.

With margin in our lives, we make better decisions and reduce our risk of burnout or breakdown. But what kind of margin are we talking about?

First, there is time margin. We often fall into the trap of believing “activity equals achievement”. We schedule our days until there is really no more effective room. Then, when something or someone tries to put another “important” thing on our schedule, our life starts to unravel. We need to learn to say no to some good things to ensure we have time for the best things. With time margin we have more energy and enthusiasm for life.

Then, there is moral margin. That is the space between how we live and a sinful action. It’s not uncommon to see how close we can get to the line without crossing it. It’s kind of human nature. God, however, wants us to put a lot of distance from temptation (The Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil). With no moral margin, one small mistake can lead to disaster. To use a baseball analogy, He wants us up 12-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning, rather than leading 1-0 where a walk followed by a hanging curveball ends the game on a sour note for our team. With moral margin, we reduce the risk of emotional meltdown.

The challenge for the week (and the rest of our lives) is to examine the margin in our lives. Take action to create the proper space for life to happen to us without it unraveling our world.

Have a GREAT Week!

Adapted from True Competitor by Dan Britton and Jimmy Page