Margins

Have you ever seen one of those very old letters, written in a day when both paper and postage were costly, even a luxury? The writing covers the page from one edge to the other. In some cases the paper is turned 90 degrees and the writing continues perpendicular to the first paragraphs.

Cover the back of the page in the same way and you’ve managed to convey a great deal of news on one sheet of paper, while at the same time making it nearly impossible to read.

One of the greatest “inventions” in printing and letter writing is the margin—the white space around the edges and between paragraphs that makes reading a pleasure and understanding, possible. Our lives need margins as well. We are not invincible. No matter how hard we try, we cannot do it all.

Today we remember John Donne, poet, who died in 1631. This message is adapted from “Beyond above and Beyond” written by Karen G. Bockelman in the April 2016 issue of Gather magazine.