Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives

I frequently use this book as a resource for care-seekers who are always over-loaded and are losing out on important things that they want. Dr. Swenson has such a great way of helping the reader identify where in their life they need to seek order in their priorities. Power-Load=Margin.

Overall, this book is an easy to read discussion on the problems many people face in today's society. He makes it clear that regardless of personality, upbringing, or status, all people suffer from stress in life; it just may be different for each person and have different symptoms in each. The author is very clear up front with his ideas of how "our faults demand a glaring prominence of their own" despite the perceived wonders of progress. Dr. Swenson appears to firmly believe that many of the stresses in our lives are self-inflicted by the desire for "material and cognitive status."He is also not afraid of directing the reader to the Christian understanding of what true wealth and power are as they emanate from God, not from our own feeble efforts. This is demonstrated well in quoting William Wilberforce's statement "Above all, measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men." Where Dr. Swenson really shines is his prescriptions for restoration of emotional energy, physical energy, time, and finances. Instead of providing the reader with a range of solutions only an academic could relate to, Dr. Swenson gives prescriptions that address our common problems and are easily implementable. Again, Dr. Swenson is not afraid to bring his Christian faith into the mix of solutions. He even goes to the point of humorously asking whether Jesus might have used a pocket calendar to illustrate how "God never intended for time to oppress us, dictating our every move." These Christian ideals also make their way through the author's discussions on the other aspects of emotional energy and finances. For example, in one of his stronger statements, the author emphasizes, "wealth is not a primary objective of the spiritual life." Although the book provides a wealth of information and warning on lack of margins and the benefits of having them in all aspects of our lives, there is little discussion of how these ideas can play out in a life of pastor or his work. This is not to say there are no connections to ministry as the concepts themselves would seem to be very applicable regardless of the situation; however, there does not seem to be a concerted effort to tie these concepts to areas in ministry. Further discussion would need to be had in connecting the many beneficial notions Dr. Swenson presents beyond the individual to a larger entity such as a church body or evangelistic ministry.

"Marginlessness is the disease of the new millennium; margin is its cure," according to Richard Swenson in this book. Progress has given us unprecedented affluence, education, technology and entertainment, but this has not led to more contentment and fulfilment. Progress has brought with it the pain caused by incessant hurry, urgency and debt-fuelled anxiety.According to the author, the problem is pain caused by progress, problems, stress and overload. The prescription for treating the disease is margin: margin in emotional energy, margin in physical energy, margin in time and margin in finances. If we have the courage to stand against the flow and follow the prescription, the prognosis is health through contentment, simplicity, balance and rest.Doctors always tell us to rest and relax, but who has time for that? If you want to get ahead in your career, you have to put the hours in; if you want your children to have good prospects in life you have to send them to good schools and run them round to sporting events and music lessons; housing and schooling are really expensive - how can you really expect to get margin in your life?The real message of the book is likely to be unpalatable to most readers: to cultivate margin in your life, you need to make deliberate decisions not to pursue some of the goals that you probably currently hold dear. Perhaps you need to reduce your work commitments and go part-time. Perhaps you need to live in a smaller house. Perhaps you need to do less, so that you have more unstructured time to serve others. This is a gentle and encouraging book with a very tough underlying message.

This book has tremendous value in our crowded world. The whole idea of margin is simply not allowing events and circumstances to overtake your ability to cope with it. Whether it is physical, emotional or otherwise, margin is the difference between what you can comfortably handle and your maximum. Too many issues in America end up with negative margin; that is when you have more on your plate that you have ability to deal with. This condition creates major stress, leads to psychological meltdowns, fatigue, and ultimately drugs, alcohol, and other coping mechanisms that all are unhealthy. Learning how to create margin by saying “no”, making boundaries, simplifying lives, and eschewing covetousness in all things is a lifelong learning exercise and this book gives an excellent beginning to understanding these simple principles in a very Biblical account of Godly living. Highly recommended to all readers who seriously wish to live a calm, vital, joyful life.

Brilliant book, not just filled with what you should and shouldn't do in life, but with LOVE. Real live that speaks to the heart especially of those who live with pain, sickness and the emotional grief that comes from that isolation. Swenson speaks from the heart not just of a doctor, but as the channel of God's own voice to challenge and to comfort.

Great

This book was recommended to me by a friend and it is helpful and thought-provoking.

Brilliant book. Really glad I bought it.

This is a fantastic book! Life changing truths that have been outworked first by the author - giving the book credibility. Its easy to read and full of application. Everyone needs margin - sadly most people don't realise it!! On the back of this book I have made `margin' my top priority; margin for what matters most to me, not those around me but for `me'. If I get this right it will benefit those around me anyway. Margin needs to be my best friend who provokes me when I'm about to overcommit on my limits and refreshes me when I don't overload.As someone who manages in a large company that is performance and results driven (causing high pressure points), who is part of a team responsible for the oversight of a middle to large sized charity/school (racking up 65-70 hours a week for 2 years), and in the midst of this has a young family with 2 babies, my life had become void of any such `margin'. I first heard the message presented by a pastor by the name of Craig Groeschel who spoke from this very book. As a result I sort out to get hold of the book. Anyone seeking to achieve great things with their life needs to read this book so that they can actually review `at work cost' do they want to continue pursuing what `they think' is important and then way up the cost!! "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul [or that which are most valuable to him; my faith, family, friends, loved ones, recreation etc.]