How much white space is there in your life? You know. Margin. A space without anything in it.

In writing, it’s good to have white space. As contradictory as it may seem, white space draws our attention to what’s important. The same can hold true in life.

Ifwehaveonecontinuous stringofletters, onerightaftertheother, it makes it extremely difficult to comprehend what was written, doesn’t it?

In life it is equally important to leave a little white space. A little margin. If we don’t, we may end up a cluttered, jumbled, unintelligible mess just like that sentence above.

From my observations of our society as a whole, I’d say most of us run full-throttle, barely taking a breath before jumping into the next thing on our to-do list. I know I’m guilty of doing that time and time again.

I leave little white space.

But when we look at Jesus, we see he deliberately took time to go off by himself to talk with his Father. He set an example of putting the press of life to the side for a moment, to reconnect with what was important. He set aside time to recharge, so he could face the next item on his agenda.

Jesus built white space into his life. By doing that, he was able to more fully accomplish the things God wanted him to accomplish.

So how do we create white space?

In writing it is suggested we:

• Use 3-5 bullet points.
• Increase line spacing.
• Shorten sentences.
• Break up paragraphs.
• Avoid justifying our documents.

Let’s see how we can fit those five things into our life.

In life maybe we should limit how many bullet points we commit to at one time. I’m still learning but saying no, even when I want to say yes, has been the biggest way I’ve found to keep myself from adding too many bullet points.

Perhaps increasing the line space between tasks will increase white space. We can expect the unexpected and add a little more time to our chores, tasks, or errands.

Instead of shortening our sentences, what about shortening how much we try to cram into a 24-hour period of time?

Breaking up our tasks, just as we break up our paragraphs, makes things more manageable.

Now the last point. Avoid justifying our documents. The definition for justify is: show or prove to be right or reasonable. Oh, boy. How much white space do we waste trying to show or prove we’re right, or even reasonable?

There you have it. Five ways to build white space into our day by looking at how it’s done in writing.

What ways have you found to build white space into your day?

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But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. Luke 5:15-16 (NLT)

You can find my June Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

Sandy

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