On Jewish law and resource management

There is an ancient Jewish law in the book of Leviticus that says: "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you."

And so I was thinking about that. Other than the obvious philanthropic intent, why leave the margins? Why not simply harvest the whole thing and give a certain amount away?

It occurs to me that the law is worded like that because developing a habit of leaving margin is important. What if what works in fields and on pages works in life?

What if we've missed something if we live in a way that uses everything up completely?

And so I started imagining what life would look like if we left some around the edges. Would there be time unscheduled, food left on our plate, money in our accounts? If we did that, would we have more to share?

 It occurs to me I need to think more about margin.