If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. 

                                     -Benjamin Franklin

If you're like me, you have a vision of what you want this summer. But here's what ends up happening...time goes by. Before you know it, the summer is over and there is so much that never happened.

Planning helps you be thoughtful and intentional about the time ahead. Planning takes your vision from an idea to reality. 

Here's How You Can Plan for the Season Ahead

Set aside 30 minutes to spend time with God. Put this commitment on your calendar and keep it as you would any other appointment.

Questions to Ask as You Plan Your Summer

• God, what is your vision for me over these next few months?
• What do you envision for my life, my family, my leadership? This can include things like your relationship with Him, your physical health, mental health, emotional...

How can you actually make margin in your life and leadership? What’s the actual process? How do you figure out what you need and what should you do once you have the vision? In this episode I share with you the margin maker framework to take the guesswork out of it.

The Margin Maker Framework

Caring for your SOUL: Ruth Haley Barton describes the soul as the truest part of you. Your relationship with God, your understanding of your whole self, and focusing on who you are becoming are all aspects of the soul and help you define your priorities. 

Reconnecting with your CALLING: Your God-given passions and desires help shape the role you play in the body of Christ. Reconnecting to the call God has placed on your life helps you rediscover your priorities.

Shifting your MINDSET: We make decisions based on what we believe. Oftentimes we are stuck because of fears, lies, and limiting beliefs. When we go beneath the surface we can see that there are...

Robert Swenson defines margin as, "the space between our load and our limits." The problem is...we are constantly pushing our limits and it eventually takes a toll on our soul, our family, and the people and places we lead.

5 Guiding Principles to Making Margin

• You are loved by God without limits or conditions (not based on what you do).
• Jesus came so that you can have life and life to the fullest (you are not the exception).
• You were made for margin.
• Who you are becoming matters more than what you are doing.
• The degree of your intentionality and how purposeful you are in your decision-making will determine the degree of margin you will have.
  

More Things We Covered

• The epidemic of busyness.
• The role of the pandemic.
• What we have in common with rubber bands.
• The margin in the life of Jesus

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Welcome to the first episode of the Margin Maker podcast!

The intention of these first few episodes is to give you a vision for what you can expect on this journey. If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you will get notified each time a new episode goes live.

Who is this show for and what is it designed to do?

This show is specifically designed to help Christian women leaders slow down the pace and create healthy boundaries so that you can have time for what matters most in both your personal life and your leadership. The fact is many of us don’t think much about making margin until we start to feel like things are going off the rails a bit. And thankfully God gives us plenty of warning signs that we are extending ourselves beyond our limits and not living and leading as the women He has created us to be. 

Red Flags That You Need Margin

• You are worn out from trying to do it all. 
• You feel the fatigue of the relentless pace.
• You find...

"Margin is the space between our load and our limits." -Dr. Swenson

We all need margin. We were built for it. We need margin from things like being in change, constant activity, overwork, noise, running around, the news, and social media.

We also need margin set aside for things like rest, relationships, play, silence, God, eating uninterrupted, processing our feelings, and moving our bodies.

We want margin but sometimes we struggle to make it a reality in life and ministry. Here are some reasons why.

4 Mistakes Ministry Leaders Make When Creating Margin 

They don’t have a vision. They know they can’t keep doing it the same way but they don’t know what they want and if you don’t know the target, you’ll miss it every time.  

They rarely evaluate. They rarely reflect and see if they are living into that vision. Did they honor the commitments they made to the things that mattered most? Did They spend their time the way...

Planning time off...is that hard for you? Is it hard for you to intentionally take chunks of time and set them aside, designating them as time to step away and not be in charge? Is it hard for many people, including for me!

Most of us have a hard time being intentional about looking at the months ahead and carving out space to step away. We'd rather get to a season when there is a lull...things slow down and there is calm after the storm. We wait until everything is checked off the list and taken care of...and THEN, then we'll decide to take time off. The problem is, that time rarely comes! There is always something. The only way that most of us will have time off is if we plan it in advance.

Have you planned your time off? Do you have time set aside that will look different from the regular pace of life and ministry? Now's the time. Decide when you will have time off. Mark it off on your calendar now. Even if it is two days here, three days there...whatever works for you,...

Do you have space between your load and your limits? Do you wish you had a way to increase your capacity in ministry? There is a way to do just that, but I've got to warn you, it's counterintuitive.

Make Margin

Margin builds capacity. The more margin we have the better we are as leaders, spouses, parents, friends, and neighbors. We become wiser in our decision-making.

Making margin is one of the most powerful and courageous things we can do to thrive in life and ministry.

Join the waitlist for our new Margin Maker workshop. It will give you the strategies you need to get the margin you want!

Do you have space and margin built into your every day? Most of us don't. We believe that if we create space and margin, we will miss out on the opportunity to do or produce something valuable. We feel guilty if we have unscheduled time and we violate the God-given rhythm of space and margin in the name of doing something great for God.

Here's the thing:

Space and margin are essential for your life and leadership. 

In this episode, Jen dives deeper into the reasons we refuse to create space and what happens when we finally do. She also gives a pro tip on how to create this buffer within your day-to-day.

More from the Episode:

God works in open spaces. He speaks, gives us ideas, sets up divine appointments and opportunities, and expands our vision.

Space and margin doesn't just happen. It starts with you. It's a decision that you make and a discipline you integrate. 

Creating space and margin is dependent on the mindset that says:

• I am valued by God regardless of what I do...

There are unlimited people and things that compete for your limited time, energy, and resources. You try and do it all. You want to be helpful. You want your life to be impactful and significant. So you try...you try really, really hard to do it all. And maybe you even can for awhile.

But eventually, you realize...you just can't keep it up. Many women will resign themselves to the lie that if you can't do it all you just don't have what it takes. It keeps them stuck in the dysfunction rather than living and leading in the freedom of God's truth.

In this episode, Jen talks about the importance of mindset, breaks down this lie that is holding you back, and gives tips on what to do next.

A few years ago, I knew that I was in danger of burning out. I was working full time in pastoral ministry. On top of my responsibilities at the church, I was coaching clients, completing all the requirements necessary to maintain my coaching credentials, serving as associate staff for a national organization, and I was helping my denomination build a disciple-making culture. These were all good things, but the amount of work was crushing me.

At the same time, God was inviting me to create space and margin to nurture some other pieces of me. I sensed a need to have bits of time that were unspoken for woven in my week. It was a way to let my life breathe. I wasn't sure what I was going to do in these cracks and crevices and had a hard time justifying using precious time in this way. Space to breathe is a necessity, but I struggled to carve out this healthy rhythm.

I was afraid.

I knew I couldn’t keep up the pace. Honestly, I didn’t want to anymore. But I was afraid that if...