Blank Space

The Christmas stuff is all down, or at least mostly down. I’ve felt so squished by all the plunder that I couldn’t wait to get it out of the house. Now I am standing here looking at an awful lot of blank space. It didn’t seem blank before Christmas … how odd! Now, as I stand with my hand contemplatively rubbing my chin in an attempt to remember what was on that big empty wall, for the life of me, I can’t recall. Maybe it was always blank and the absence of a huge tree in the house gives the illusion of void. That big blank space was staring a hole through me, and I through it. I walked away and went to the refrigerator for a glass of ice water knowing it would come to me, but it didn’t. I washed a few loads of laundry, each time passing that empty place, but still … nothing!

I decided this would be an opportunity to forget what used to be hanging on that wall but, instead, do a new thing. It is, after all, a new year. I suddenly felt confusion leave the room and I saw opportunity walk in. I was going shopping! I didn’t have to keep the same thing in the same place in the same way.   The welcomed sense of freeing myself from what had been was replaced with new possibilities as to what could be. I was excited. As I reached for my purse and keys, I gave pause as a tiny little voice said, “Do you really need to go buy more stuff?” I looked around my big house and thought not.

My first instinct is always to fill in all the blank spaces of my life. I’ve never been one of those people who have empty rooms in their house for years because they haven’t found the right sofa or the right table. By the time these people have finally decided, two years later, I have already moved and am setting up a new house with new furniture. My philosophy is to “get er done.” Even when I don’t know what to put in those spaces, I still find myself filling them up. I don’t know why I can’t just wait for the best thing instead of settling for anything?

God probably isn’t too concerned about my blank wall, but He is very concerned about my blank heart, my blank giving, my blank mind and my blank spirit. He wants our hearts to be filled with His Holy Spirit. He wants our lives to be filled with generosity toward others. He wants our mind to be his mind. He wants my spirit to reflect His to a lost world.

When we clutter our walls, our house, and our heart with random meaningless junk it leaves no room for Jesus to come in and guide us in doing what He has called us to do. This first week of 2018 is a great time to DE-clutter, not just our house, but also our lives. So, this is the year Jesus moves in and rearranges our furniture, sweeps out the dust bunnies, opens up dark rooms we have kept locked, and puts something awesome in that huge blank space on our wall.

So for now I am leaving that wall blank and am relieved in the freedom that brings me. I will wait and see what treasure my Interior Decorator, Jesus, finds that is just perfect for my life.

 “Store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven not on Earth.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

 “Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”   (Luke 12:5)

 Just Jesus,

Sheri