Whitespace

I had just finished reading chapter 10 in Tonya Dalton’s new book, “The Joy of Missing Out,” when I saw on Facebook this quote by Elisabeth Elliott;

Rest is a weapon given to us by God.

The enemy hates it because he wants you

stressed and preoccupied.

 

Chapter 10 of “The Joy of Missing Out” is titled “Harmonize Whitespace.” On these pages of her book, Tonya reminds us that whitespace is necessary for life. Whitespace is necessary for us to thrive. She wrote, “In reality, to be truly productive we need to give our brains a little space to plan and explore—some unstructured time.”

Whitespace is essential for another reason—connection. And not just to connect but to be enabled to connect. Whitespace helps us cultivate in our own lives “love, happiness, and compassion” so we can extend those same feelings to others. Tonya quotes John Maxwell who said, “To bring out the best in others, I first have to bring out the best in me. I cannot give what I do not have.” Perhaps that is why Jesus commanded us to love others just as we love ourselves.

We need the whitespace in our lives to rest and be refreshed, not just for what is obvious—our bodies but also for the inner workings of our brain. Our brain needs times of rejuvenation—times of quiet and stillness.

It is in the whitespace where we slow down and savor life. It’s from there we can rise up—because we’ve given ourselves moments of nurture. This whitespace, in fact, makes us live more. This echoes the subtitle of Tonya Dalton’s book, “Live More by Doing Less.”

Perhaps that is why David wrote in Psalm 4:4b (NASB), “meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Selah.” The word David used for “be still” is “damam” and it is used again in another of David’s Psalms. He writes, “Surely I have calmed and quieted [“damam”] my soul; Like a weaned child [resting] with his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me [composed and freed from discontent].” (Psalm 131:2 AMP)

Do you struggle with stress? Are you so preoccupied you are running on empty and have no defense against the enemy’s darts?

Of course, I’d suggest that you do what David did. Meditate on the Lord God and lean into Him.

And then my next suggestion would be to consider learning from Tonya Dalton how to have joy and live more by doing less. Her book, “The Joy of Missing Out,” is available now for preorder.at https://www.readjomo.com/ from several of our favorite online retailers. And there’s bonuses if you preorder.

P.S. Love this cover! Doesn't it just speak to how we are trying to do "more"?