Margin by Richard A. Swenson

Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the bank because you were ten minutes late dropping the kids off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from the gas station- and you forgot your wallet.
Margin on the other hand, is having breath left at the top of the staircase, money left at the end of the month, and sanity left at the end of adolescence.
Marginless is the baby crying and the phone ringing at the same time; margine is Grandma taking the baby for the afternoon. Marginless is being asked to carry a load five pounds heavier than you can lift; margin is a friend to carry half the burden. Marginless is not having time to finish the book you're reading on stress; margin is having time to read it twice.

After the fiasco of the morning that I tried to stay in my pajamas and purposefully relax and enjoy my life and children instead of herding them in the direction they must go for he day. I picked up this book. Ray had to read it for some of his doctoral studies and thought it really applied to us. I don't want my children to grow up thinking that they were herded through their childhood, school, or life.

That last sentence about not finishing a book hit me particularly. I often don't finish books because I don't have time. I have filled my time so full that I can't catch my breath, minister to others or hear my children, much less be the help meet that I want to be to my husband.

Is God pro-exhaustion? Doesn't He lead people by the still waters anymore?

I know that God does still lead by the still waters, He does want us to be quiet and listen to His voice, He does speak in a gentle whisper. I cannot hear Him if I am running through my house and my life at break neck speed. 

As I look at the goals for the past year and set new ones for this year, I will be praying for that which causes me to sit and be still and listen.