Whitespace. It’s the space on a page left unmarked. Untouched. Whitespace makes art beautiful.
Whitespace is an important concept taken from the world of art and design. Whitespace is not blank—it breathes beauty and gives the eye a place to rest.
Without it, clutter takes over the art. Our souls are canvases too, longing for quiet and beauty.
Just as beautiful art needs whitespace, we need whitespace: spiritual whitespace. Our souls need rest. To find balance and beauty.
Spiritual whitespace makes room—room in our hearts for a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, room in our lives for rest, room in our souls for rejuvenation. This hunger for beauty, for space for the soul to breathe, resides within each of us.
My story is really every woman’s story. Because every woman has felt burned out and tired. Every woman longs to dream, to feed her soul and rest. Everyone longs to move beyond coping and surviving. Yet we often put ourselves to the side, numbing the stillness by doing rather than by becoming vulnerable and real.
To the artist, whitespace is paramount. It’s a term used in visual arts to convey a very important element of design. It enables objects in a composition to exist at all, and it breathes beauty.
God is the Artist and Architect of the soul. He doesn’t use up every single possible space on the canvas. When God looked at what he was holding—after placing his lips and breathing into the dust—he saw something come alive.
Something he never, ever made before.
It’s what God sees, looking into your heart and mine today. He is making something beautiful out of you.
A Beautiful Journey
God uses spiritual whitespace the same way an artist uses whitespace to imbue artwork with an indelible aesthetic quality—whether it be a painting, the still of a photograph, or a well architected home.
God uses whitespace in our lives to reawaken our souls with rest. When we make room for spiritual whitespace, we step into the beautiful journey of letting go to discover what’s really worth holding on to. To slow. To savor a moment. To enjoy a conversation. And renew an intimacy.
Let’s uncover our stories. As we do, let’s find the spiritual white- spaces in our souls and in our schedules to hear Jesus speak more tenderly than we’ve ever heard him before. Because the kind of beauty I am discovering—the creative act of spiritual rest—is found in places of brokenness.
When we step into whitespace, we are no longer holding on to our old ways of coping, managing, and doing. We are only holding on to Jesus.
He’s there. Even though I don’t want to go there. In the whitespaces.
Our soul awakens. To rest.
With him.
For resources, ideas and encouragement on making time for you and rest, read Finding Spiritual Whitespace by Bonnie Gray. Visit Bonnie at FaithBarista.com for everyday encouragement.
Used by Permission from Finding Spiritual Whitespace by Bonnie Gray (Revell, 2014).
