[Seasons: Spring XVI]
Like a train, momentum picks up on the farm in spring, and if you’re not ahead of it, it can steamroll you. There’s no margin for time in summer, which is why planning and efficiency in spring is so important.
Another thing happens in spring due to the high demand on efficient execution: unaddressed problems are revealed. Anything left undone from previous years hides under the slow moving winter fog, but as soon as spring breaks and the last frost is in the rear view mirror, all problems are exposed.
On our farm, it is simply impossible to address every problem, smooth out every hiccup, and address every inefficiency. Spring reminds us of this. Despite my best effort, I’m always behind on chopping wood, weeding, and replacing dripping spigots. Always.
Life also has seasons that pickup momentum, expose our unaddressed problems, and threaten to run us over. How do we build margin in? And if there’s just no way to do it, how do we foresee the coming summers and build in the margins of time before they get here?
I don’t like the trite answers here. I tend to think it’s more than simply taking time off or scheduling in vacation. It seems deeper. More complex. Perhaps something that gets at the heart of me feeling alone in my to-dos, isolated in my chores.
Spring needs margin. My life needs it too. Yours?
