In graphic design, there’s a term called “white space”. Good design leaves plenty of room for white space in the margins and throughout the piece - space where there is nothing but paper showing through. White space is restful to the reader’s eye and evokes a non-busy, non-overwhelming feel to the publication. White space is an important design element that invites the reader to keep reading.

We need white space in our lives too. With the holiday season in full swing, our personal white space (if we ever had any) shrinks to near zero. Like no other time of year, the holidays leave us exhausted with our emotional and physical reserves depleted. Not only do we have our usual commitments like homeschooling, but are are barraged with shopping, baking, getting the house ready for guests, decorating, play or choir practice and let’s not forget the parties. (Why does everyone have to have a party in December?)

Before we know it, almost as if it writes itself, the calendar fills and lo & behold there is no time for family or to mediate upon the Reason for the season. Sigh.

I do have hope to offer, however. Several years ago I read a book that to this day, impacts decisions I make in a significant way.

Noticing an increase in depression, back pain, migraines, anxiety, chronic fatigue and other ailments, Christian medical doctor, Richard Swenson, began to research why. In a nutshell, what he found was that people are living overloaded lives.

His book, which is actually two books in one, Margin/The Overload Syndrome **(see note at end), examines why people are worn out: they have no “margin” left in their lives. How did we get here, where have the white spaces of life’s margins gone? What we can do to stop the runaway freight train of a frenzied lifestyle?

Dr. Swenson scrutinizes the demands of a fast paced society, the inevitable stress it produces, and the subsequent toll it takes on us physically, emotionally and spiritually.

“Life is a journey, but it is not a race. Do yourself a favor and slow down.”

” Calendars today are so crowded…that there is no space to pencil in a friend. As a result, long-term friendships are vanishing and neighborhood identities are fading.”

“The clock and Christ are not close friends. Imagine what God thinks of us now that we are so locked into schedules that we have locked ourselves out of the Sermon on the Mount - it is hardly possible to walk the second mile without offending one’s pocket calendar. We jump at the alarm of a Seiko but sleep through the call of the Almighty.”

Our frenzied and cramped lifestyle leaves us no time for leisure. And when we do take time for a “sit on the porch” (remember Andy, Barney & Aunt Bee just sitting on the porch…ahhhh) we feel lazy.

If there is a blank space on our calendar, saying “no” is especially hard. “Sure I can do that. Nothing’s penciled in on the calendar.” But to take back control of the time we’ve been given, we must learn to say “no”, even to some of the good things - we just can’t do it all. We need to define our priorities and let them determine our “yeses”.

“Constant activity is a characteristic of our age. If we are not active, we feel slothful. If we are not productive, we feel guilty.”

“Busyness is not a synonym for Kingdom work. It is only busyness. Especially be on guard against the urgency we see in so much of life’s flow. If this urgency regularly erodes your time for relationships or rest, reevaluate…”

“It is not easy to say no. In life, [like a restaurant buffet], our plates fill up sooner than we realize. In attempting to be sociable, we try to accommodate everyone’s invitations. In attempting to live a full life we taste every experience. In attempting to be good parents we try to give our children more opportunities than we had. In attempting to be compassionate we want to help with everyone’s problems. In attempting to be good providers we accept extra work assignments.”

If your life feels out of control and at the mercy of the calendar and expectations of others, if you have precious little time to spend with family and friends or if God is taking a back seat because you just don’t’ have the time, please read this book!

**Note: There are actually two versions:

Margin/The Overload Syndrome is two books in one. Dr Swenson’s first book Margin contains the results of his research. I found it absolutely fascinating. My husband said he felt like he was reading a textbook . If you’re the kind of person who likes to know all the “whys” of something, this is the book to get. I do need to mention, however, that the print is very small.


The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits is the second book by Dr. Swenson. If you couldn’t care less about the why’s and just want to know “so how do I get off this speeding train?!?!?), this is the book for you. It covers every area of life and offers extremely practical and doable suggestions to take back control of the precious gift of time.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.