Book Review: Margin

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard A. Swenson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overall, I really got a lot out of this book.

The premise of the book is that we are living in a society that for the most part is stressed because we are living beyond our means in the areas of our emotional, physical, time, and financial capacities. "Margin" is that space between what our limitations are and how far we push ourselves. In general, most of us tend to spend more money than we have, commit to more activities than we have time for, our push ourselves beyond our physical and emotional limits.



When we consciously decide to step back and live with margin in all areas of our life, our stress levels decrease and we have more peace. We also allow room for God to use us. If we are stretched to (or beyond) our limits, there is no room to follow God's call.



I really appreciated the chapter on contentment. I really feel like we are always overextending ourselves because of a lack of contentment. We may purchase something because we think it will make us happy, or push ourselves to do more because we think it will bring us fulfillment.



I did have a bit of difficulty getting through the first part of this book which spends a bit of time quoting statistics about society to prove that we are overcommitted, stressed, and depressed because of a lack of margin in our lives. Personally, if I didn't already believe that, I wouldn't have picked up this book, so I could have skipped a lot of that. It is worth pushing past that and onto the rest of the book.



"Margin" has made me think and evaluate and pray about the choices that I make each day. I want to consciously live with a certain amount of margin in my life because I want the peace that comes from that. I also really want to be available for God to be able to use me wherever He desires. I don't think there is any greater calling and purpose for us.


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