Rest and Whitespace

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”  - Isaiah 30:15 New International Version (NIV) During the season of Lent we spend time doing repentance. Repentance literally means to turn around and go in a new direction. We begin Lent on Ash Wednesday with a smudge of ash in the form of a cross. This ashen cross reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Repentance gets real when we have ash on our foreheads. We tend to take death seriously when it stares back at us in the mirror. What about rest? Is that a part of your Lenten discipline? The Lord says, repentance and rest is your salvation. Sometimes, repentance is our main focus during Lent. When was the last time you focused on rest during Lent?  I don’t do rest very well. How about you? Do you rest faithfully? Do you sit in quietness? Do you trust that God will be faithful? I know God is speaking to me, when God says in Isaiah 30:15, “you would have none of this rest and quietness stuff”. Is God speaking to you too? Is God waiting for us to notice our need for rest and quiet? Do you need to practice rest this Lent? Do you need to be intentional about quiet time with God? Rest in God and quiet intimacy with God leads to salvation and strength. I want these things in my life, and I would guess that you do too. Would you consider more whitespace in your life? If you’re tired of being tired, if you’re exhausted from being exhausted, then you need the strength that rest and quietness with God can offer you. I know what it means to work long hours. I know that when I lose whitespace, I am not resting in God. We often believe that whitespace is just blank space. But in art, whitespace is an important element of design. It enables the objects in a composition to exist. Whitespace breathes beauty. God is the Artist and Architect of your soul. God is using spiritual whitespace in our lives to reawaken our souls with rest and quietness. When we make room for spiritual whitespace, we step into the journey of letting go to discover what’s really worth holding on to. We need to slow down, to savor moments, to enjoy conversations and renew intimacy. When we step into whitespace, we are no longer holding onto our old ways of coping, managing and doing. We only hold on to Jesus. In the whitespaces, our soul reawakens to rest with God. I need whitespace. I need rest with God. I need quiet to hear God’s whispers. I need God’s strength to keep living. Will you seek quiet and practice rest this Lent? Is your life in need of God’s quiet whispers of trust and strength? Join me this Lent as we look for whitespace, for strength, for salvation, for rest and quiet in God. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” - Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in Confessions