One not-so-fine day I woke up to catch my computer deleting all my photos. One by one, gone. Y’all. That’s a stinkin‘ sinking feeling. My son’s birthday party? POOF! My daughter’s graduation? GOODBYE! Our family’s Christmas brunch from last year? DELETED!
I knew I should have heeded the warnings, but alas, I’m not good at slowing down for preventative maintenance like that. If I can stuff more in and keep going, I will.
My computer had been telling me my startup disk was full for ages, but I was “too busy” to figure out what I needed to do about it. Hitting “OK” to get that pesky error message to go away allowed me to get back to all the more pressing things on my to do list.
Procrastination is my middle name.
While I thought that postponing clearing out that overloaded startup disk until a more convenient season would buy me more time, It didn’t. It just complicated my life and stressed me out later on. You always pay extra for procrastination. I hoped that simply shutting my computer down for the night would solve all its problems. It didn’t. The next morning all I saw when I opened my computer was a white screen where my photos should have been.
In my panic to restore everything, I pushed ALL THE BUTTONS, googled “SOS! WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH!” and “SEND IN REINFORCEMENTS! WHERE ARE MY PHOTOS?” like a crazy woman. I was hoping beyond all hope that some really smart guy at Google would offer me the right answers.
When the solutions felt too complicated for my non-techie brain, I sat down in defeat to eat some chocolate.
Nothing helped (well, the chocolate helped me a little, but it didn’t bring my photos back).
As a blogger, the worst possible business move is to lose all your photos. As a mom, you are supposed to protect every single memory stored in that computer. Potentially losing your son’s first day of school photos because you were too busy to delete old files or empty your computer’s trash bin is almost an unthinkable parental mistake. I was feeling all the guilt and all the stress.
Fortunately, this disaster ended well, offering me more than just a restored computer. After finally taking the time to free up space on the startup disk, my photos miraculously returned safe and sound. BLESS! But even more than the relief of seeing my life and loves once again flash before me on the screen, the calamity hit me in the head with a not-so-subtle reminder I needed to hear.
God is good at keeping me in check.
Just like I needed to heed the early warnings to free up start up disk space on my computer to avoid calamity, I must get better at building intentional white space into my day. I’m a doer. I thrive when I’m busy checking things off my list and doing as much as possible, until it all crashes in around me.
My soul craves slowing down and paring down to simply be, no amount of “doing” will ever satisfy. I need that quiet time, that free white space to re-focus, to re-boot, recharge and rejuvenate my life and my soul.
Freeing up more white space to BE is my challenge to myself this summer. Might it be yours, too? Let’s make it happen.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. {Psalm 42:1 }
Melissa,
I’ll take an “order” of whitespace without the “side” of panic :). Sometimes God has to stop us in our tracks in order to get our attention to slow down and/or give attention to details we are always too busy for. One way I’ve been enjoying some “white space” is by playing around on a blank canvas at Shutterfly to create a collage of all the beautiful doors and doorways we saw on our recent trip to Montreal. I’ve seen the “door collage” idea done by others, but this time it was so much fun because I was the photographer, the editor, and designer behind the finished product. Waiting for it to come in the mail…have a frame ready. Just that simple act of taking a blank slate and creating something beautiful was one of the best gifts I could have given myself. **Granted there was nothing ready to eat when dinnertime rolled around lol, but that’s the price of the creative process…or at least that’s what I told my husband 🙂
Blessings,
Bev
Bev, the price of creativity maybe the true meaning of “starving artist.”
I know your collage is beautiful and inspirational. Imagine a title, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” , but truly we need to take time to feed ourselves on the living word and drink up that living water and enjoy the “white space”, the canvas of the Holy Spirit.
As a new retiree with lots of white space that is already being sketched upon, I will try to take my own advice.
Blessings to all the doers! Peace. Be still.
Joyce,
Love the title!!! Thanks for completing my collage!
Blessings,
Bev
I love that idea so much, Bev! Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend!
Good morning, your white space comments have touched my heart and soul this morning as I watch the sun rise over my son’s home in Texas. We are staying with his family after the sale of our home of sixteen years, after the anniversaries of both my Dad and FIL’s passing within eleven months of each other in that home in the past 21 months. Our lives have been in a caregiving/doing mode for so long that white space is a distant memory. As a Mom and Mimi at 58 years old, may I heartily add my “yes & amen!” to your thoughts? As certainly, the same message has passed from generation to generation over the course of this God given time on earth, “being” His son or daughter is so much more (less?) than “doing” all that assaults our daily opportunities. Receive His Love well first, to love yourself well in order to give from a fullness that only our Father God provides as we rest beside those still waters and green pastures that He promised to lead us to as we follow Him. It’s amazing how beautiful that white space becomes! Blessings on you and yours! Happy day, Cathy
Blessings to you, Cathy! Thanks for your encouragement and inspiring words.
You are talking to me! Sitting seems sinful. God inspired rest when he stopped creating and just sat back to admire it. He set the example during the first week of the world. He used you to remind me again that rest is more than not work. It is the space to enjoy the gifts we have been given.
Melissa,
I oh so relate to your words. As an empty nester life is good. Life with my man after 42 years is rich. But ridiculously hectic. “How did I have time to raise my kids?”, I wonder some days. Actually my life was filled differently those days. I’ve been devouring Bonnie Gray’s “Finding Spiritual Whitespace”. I am determined to live into the whitespaces of my life. First, I’ll need to find them. Thank you for the reminder that God can & will slow us down if we’ve surrendered to Him. And sometimes, it isn’t pretty. Blessings & Rest.
Melissa, thank you. I’m not naturally a doer and fight guilt regularly that I’m not! In an effort to “prove” to myself I’m teaching my kids the “right way” to live (aka DO), I ignored my 7-year-old son’s comment that he was thinking: “You can think while you put your clothes away!” He obeyed, but the pained look on his face ripped me in two. He’s a thinker like his mama, and thinking is just as valid and necessary as doing. We reconciled, I asked forgiveness, and I thank God that, just as you said, God knows how to keep us in check. Though initially it may be painful, what a blessed gift!
Our small group completed a study about creating margin in every area of our lives – time, finances, relationships… And it makes sense. When you open a book with pages that look dense and heavy, it discourages reading. But when there are margins and white space on the page, finishing the book seems so much more possible. I believe we often mistake a life that is busy and hectic with God’s plan for a life that is rich and full. Sometimes the richness is quiet time with those who matter – including Jesus – and we can be full of joy, contentment and gratitude.
And, btw, PHREW! about the pictures. I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened in the end.
Blessings to you all, xoxox
Thank you, Nancy! 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful and restful weekend.
Mary, I am so grateful to the Lord for His grace in this lovely message. As I find myself in the Do space that has left me dry and lacking sleep, I realize that while I ask the Lord for what He needs me to do every day, I’m not stilling long enough to hear Him. Its hard to be obedient when you don’t know what the Lord is asking. He knows all that we have to do so much more than we do, how to go about it, and asks to be involved in every space of our lives. I get what Bev said about the bring brought to a halt :P. So today I beg Him to help me slow and not panic if it all doesn’t get done, because He will make a way to ensure it does 🙂 May we each “Be still and know” today, resting in His lavish and tender loving whitespace of His presence.
Balance. My soul craves balance. It’s different than white space or maybe not. But, I’ve had a lot of white space and a lack of doing because of sickness. Being leaves an emptiness too. I breathe in and out again. Fill up and empty. At this moment of emptiness a little doing is in order. Balance. Stop and go. Work and rest. Simply balance. Blessings to you may you find your balance amid a bit of rest.
Thank you for this amazing reminder to slow down. I am also a doer and have been doing a lot for many. This month is definitely a white space month.
White space. Time sitting on my porch swing. Time to just dream a bit. To listen to creative juices firing up. Sitting still with arms around loved ones. No music, no talking, no electronics, just the fireflies to awe us and distract our thoughts. Yes, I need a little more white space. In the end I will be less stressed, less frazzled, less crabby. The call to rest is loud and clear. Thanks for the reminder.
Melissa,
I craved white space back in 2014-2015. Working full time and caring for an aging parent is difficult and can take its toll on you. I was stressed out and crazy. Thankfully God heard my cry and allowed white space into my life. Now I’m more relaxed and doing more with my church. God calls us all to rest and be calm.
Praise God the pictures came back!!!
Blessings 🙂