White Spaces

I saw the calendar on the wall.
I knew that it was THE calendar.
I knew it was her lifeline.
I knew it was her life mapped out.

I saw writing on every square.
I saw different colors everywhere.
I counted the colors, which were the same number as her children.
There was not an inch of space left.

I felt like I was looking at a Jackson Pollock painting.
Pollock, the artist who splashes everyday paint on canvases.
Pollock the abstract, expressionist artist.
However, this was no Jackson Pollock painting; this was all of their activities.

I was exhausted just looking at her calendar.
I knew that if I turned the page to another month, it would be the same.
I knew without even looking.
This calendar is not unique to her family.

I always loved a quote from Anne of Green Gables.
Lucy Maud Montgomery put it so succinctly.
Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.
I venture to say, tomorrow is always fresh, with no writing on the calendar squares.

Is that even possible? A young mom asked me once.
Can I really live like that? She continued.
Like what? I asked her.
Still, she replied.

Still.
Even the word is quiet.
The psalms, which were meant to be sung, have a musical notation.
Selah.

Selah occurs 71 times in 39 psalms in the Old Testament.
Its meaning is unsure.
Its primary meaning is thought to be a musical interlude.
It is most likely a signal to pause.

The mother was asking if it is even possible to pause.
The mother was asking if it is possible to be still.
The mother was asking if the hamster wheel she was on can be stopped so she can jump off.
Schedule stillness, I answered.

Schedule stillness.
Two words.
Easy to remember.
Words that I often thought should be on a sign displayed prominently in the house.

When I suggested that she schedule stillness, she looked at me as if I had five heads.
How do you schedule time to do nothing?
That cannot be productive.
That seems like a waste of time, she said.

I offered her a scenario.
I knew that she enjoyed music.
What would happen if there were no rests in a piano piece you were playing? I asked her.
I could tell she was imagining how terrible the music would sound.

I knew that she loved to read.
What would happen if there were no periods at the end of a sentence?
Would you understand what you were reading if everything was lumped together?
I could see that the examples were beginning to break through her confusion.

No periods to end a sentence.
No musical rests to pause in music.
No traffic lights or stop signs to let one direction go safely while the other waits.
No nighttime to end the day so that another day can begin.

No pause.
No stillness.
Continuous motion.
Frenetic activity.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,  but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

We tend to put ourselves in a category.
We say that we are either a Martha or a Mary.
In reality, we are probably both.
We may have a tendency towards one more than the other.

Martha was in a constant state of motion.
Things needed to be done.
Preparations needed to be made.
There was no time to sit.

Mary, on the other hand, sat often.
It was where she sat that was important.
Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to every word He said.
Mary knew that things would get done, but only after she did what was most important.

Jesus recognized that and praised Mary for her choice.
Jesus never condemned Martha.
Martha was the one who made her home lovely for Jesus and the others.
It was not Martha’s busyness as much as her lack of stillness that was the problem.

Stillness is not idleness.
It is listening instead of talking.
It is being quiet instead of always moving.
Stillness is spending time with Jesus first before the busyness sets in.

In our fast paced culture, you hear the same complaint.
There is no time.
We each have twenty-four hours in a day; no more and no less.
It is what we do with that time that matters.

Our calendars should not look like an abstract paining with multiple colors and markings.
At least it should not look like that on every square.
Schedule stillness.
Treasure the white spaces.

Those white spaces are not unproductive.
In fact, those white spaces are a gift.
The white spaces allow you to breathe, relax, read a book, or take a nap.
The white spaces are an invitation to stillness, which is necessary for our well being.

Schedule stillness.
Be quiet for a portion of your day; rejuvenate, and refresh your soul.
Be still so you can listen to God whispering to your heart.
Treasure the white spaces, so fresh, so clean, so inviting.