MARGINS

 Typing 101 teaches the fundamental need for margins in the written word.  Without these margins, we would have a page filled with run on words which would become difficult to not only read but understand.  No delineation causes us to loose the flow and tone of the written word.   Margins and paragraphs are a necessary tool in understanding the written word.  Look at this story below as if it is on one page and the first letter on the left is at the edge of the paper and the last letter on the right is at the other edge.  The story takes on a flat monotone.


There is an interesting concept in the financial world of Margin Trading.  Investors are allowed to buy stocks based upon a percentage of the assets they currently hold.  Investors are borrowing the funds to buy a stock based upon the assets the brokerage firm holds for them.  They are borrowing the funds from the brokerage house and will pay interest on the investment.  


These are only two examples of margins in the world we live in.  There are margins in the art world, margins in sewing, margins in the gambling world, margins in polling--on and on.  There is a required margin in my neighbor of green space between houses.  Probability is filled with margin of error.  Margins are an important concept in the world.


Yesterday I heard an excellent teaching from The Word with reference to the gleaming in the margins required in the scriptures.  This is referred to in more than one book of The Bible.  God requires us to leave the "edge" of the field for the foreigners, widows and orphans to gleam.  Without this provision of the owner, some might starve.  It is a sharing of the blessing of the harvest with the least of these.  NOW remember, those who are allowed to pick behind the harvesters are required to do the work of picking even though they bear no cost of the produce.  Remember Ruth who picked from the field of her mother in law, Naomi's kinsman?

Our pastor reminded us our treasures, talents, and time are the fields we are blessed with that we should be allowing margins in.  A margin of our time, talents, and treasures should be set aside for the foreigner, child, and widow--the least of these in our midst.  This is not a suggestion, this is a requirement to live the full and abundant life God intends for us.  I am taking inventory and considering what margins I am leaving for others with what I have been blessed with.  What are my margins along this trek through this world?

When you harvest your fields,
do not cut the corn at the edges of the fields,
and do not go back to cut the ears of corn that were left.
Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes
that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen:
leave them for poor people and foreigners.
I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:9-10



3 comments

  1. What a great question to ask ourselves, Loralu. What are we leaving at the margins of all our blessings? We should be mindful of those who can also benefit from the riches God has given us.
    Blessings!

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    Replies
    1. I think we all could benefit by a little self examining, Martha!
      Blessings!

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  2. Good point but ... to whom are we leaving the margins? For instance, how much money should I give to charity at the cost of depriving my family of the benefit of the money I am giving away? Say, I give £1000 to charity. Is this too much? Should I have given less and given the difference to my family?

    God bless.

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Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!