“Well Done”
But if I'm honest, I'm afraid to shift them gears, to change them lanes.
But I know You've gone before me so I can trust Lord, You blazed that trail kicking up that dust.
Do you know what “margin” is?
When I was in school, “margin” was the blank space on the side of my papers where I doodled because I wasn’t focusing on what the teacher was saying.
This week, in our staff devotional time, I was reminded that “margin” is the space I can leave for God to be at work in my life.
There are probably endless reasons for it, but the short story is that as a people, we are busier than ever before.
Think about your life, just even this week alone. I’m going to guess that you can find a dozen things that have been competing for your time. Now, look again, did you leave any space for God to be at work in creative and fun ways?
I watched this unfold in my life on Wednesday.
Amanda and I have a long-time friend of the show named, Charlie. He lives in an adult foster home and has been calling us regularly since we started as a morning show in 2014. Perhaps you saw our recent photos supporting him at the Special Olympics of Michigan Summer Games.
This week, Charlie was at summer camp and Wednesday was the camp talent show. I went a couple of years ago and Charlie rocked it singing for KING + COUNTRY “Middle of Your Heart”, his all-time favorite song.
He invited us again this summer.
Well, this week has been busy and after wrestling with not feeling great most of the day, I had resigned to go home after the show. I knew it would probably disappoint Charlie, but I was comfortable writing it off as “not feeling great”.
Enter Amanda. We drove separately to work that day and on the way home she called, we chatted, I loaded up the camp on my map, and if I took the next exit, I could still get to the camp with 2 minutes to spare.
So, she went home (for other responsibilities) and I went to camp.
Have I told you who great my wife is? She’s the best and helping me walk through life.
I showed up and the talent show area was full of people, so I opted to hang in the back of the crowd.
Well…that didn’t last long.
Charlie was on the hunt for me. He found me and in front of the crowd invited me to come sit up front and through bucket loads of excitement shared with his friends that I had arrived.
Now, here’s something about me…I’m not a “spotlight person”. I like to point it on others, but to be in it, makes me very uncomfortable.
So, there I sat, just behind the campers and over the hour that followed, I watched act after act boldly take the stage to perform. Each one, their own unique bright spot on an already beautiful Michigan evening.
Then, Charlie and his “friend who is a girl”, stepped up to perform *NSYNC “Tearin’ Up My Heart” and it was a blast to cheer and support our friend.
Now, if you’re wondering about the creative way that God worked in this “margin”, I can’t quite give you a full answer…yet. See, that’s the thing. We can make the space for God to work, but God also works in His own time.
What I can tell you, is that I felt something working in my heart and I recognized that I was reflecting on our “margin” message and couldn’t help but feel like it was all working together.
And maybe, just maybe, it was all so that I would write this blog to encourage YOU to be mindful about creating “margin” in your own life and if that’s all it ever is, I’m happy I took the next exit.
~Jeremy