what coloring taught me about empty spaces

 A friend sent me a "just because I love you and want to encourage you" gift last spring. A coloring journal. It took me several months to do anything with it. I started with the cover and that is all that I had touched in a year until Friday night when I pulled it out again and colored the first inside page. This isn't coloring like I remember coloring as a child. This is more intense. Intricate. Time consuming. And yet it is what I remember because of the pure satisfaction of creating something beautiful. Along the edge of the picture I wrote "Sometimes the need to create something beautiful is relentless. Tonight it was both that and an escape. Friday 3/5/2021".

Today I was drawn to pull out my journal and markers again while I waited for the day to warm up enough to enjoy some back porch swing time. I went, of course, to the next page because isn't that what you are supposed to do in a book? Work your way from beginning to end in an orderly fashion? Filling up the pages as you go along?

I had no idea of what colors I would use where in the design. It's a little overwhelming to make all those decisions because once you commit, you can't back out. (Yes, I am serious. Decision making can be a struggle for me. Even in coloring.) I began this morning intending to use all of the colors in my arsenal to fill up all the tiny, empty spaces. Because that's what we're supposed to do. Fill everything in. Use variety. Leave nothing blank. If we don't, it is not finished. It is not complete. We have failed. 

I started with pink. Then chose blue. One area, one line at a time and before I knew it, pink and blue were the only two colors I had room for. I finished with adding a deeper shade of each to add dimension and some dark green for contrast. I left a lot of empty. I like it. The blank spaces add value and dimension to the filled in places.

Life lesson: I need "empty" (i.e. not completely filled with activity) spaces in my life. They add not only beauty, but balance.

I flipped through the book when I finished that page and got a crazy idea-maybe next time I'll skip ahead and use my markers to fill in these pages. There is no legal or moral rule that says everything in my life has to be completed "in order." Flexibility keeps us from snapping and breaking. And maybe I'll do it today while I am enjoying the 60 degree, sunshine filled afternoon on the porch swing!

Sometimes doing nothing, 

leaving space,

pausing,

breathing,

is the most productive and important work we will accomplish all day.

“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. 

*Selah."

Psalm 46:10&11

*Selah = pause or rest