A HEAVENLY COFFEE BREAK
"But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." Luke 5:16 (NLT)
If your calendar is full you really don’t have any options, do you? If you want to say yes to something tomorrow, you have to be able to say no to something today.
God’s divine appointments most often happen in the white space.
Worship takes place in the white space. Worship is a dedicated time each morning, but it is also a time of built-in margin between every project and every appointment when you can relax and renew in His presence. Think of it like a heavenly coffee break. This will never happen on its own. You have to schedule nothing the same way you schedule something.
Oswald Chambers said, “You should keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.” That's good. Read it again!
White space in your life is essential if you want to have time for relationships. I remember a day when I mapped my time out for almost every second. Mike asked if I wanted to sit on the front porch and rock with him for a little while. My first response was "No." My day was planned. And it was planned tightly. I knew I would never get it all done if I pulled away for even half an hour to just rock. Conviction from the Holy Spirit came almost immediately. I dropped everything and went outside. My soul and our relationship were refreshed. The plans I had for the day were my plans and not God’s plans.
White space in your life is essential if you want to have time for creativity. Creativity can't thrive in the midst of stress. Creativity requires an atmosphere conducive for reflection. Regementation without relaxation will never produce something beautiful. It will only produce the practical and the predictable.
White space in your life is essential to hear the still, small voice of God. Noise, clutter, and busyness block out the whisper of the Holy Spirit. White space should be quiet space. It should be time to renew. Nothing should be scheduled in the white space. Just space.
If I were to write without a differentiation between paragraphs it would be difficult to read. Your life needs to have some space between each event. When you go out of town, don’t schedule something the day before or the day after. Don’t go from one appointment right into the next. Even Jesus sought to withdraw to a quiet place to pray when He was drained. You must do the same.
