The Value of Creating White Space in Your Life

By Lisa Jordan @lisajordan

One of the first writing rules I learned was to be sure there was plenty of white space on the page. At that time, I wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but as I grew in my craft and my abilities, I learned it meant having a good balance of dialogue and narrative to ensure the reader isn’t overwhelmed by the words on the page.

Dialogue on the page creates white space because it breaks up line after line of complete sentences.

Another writing rule in writing is proper manuscript formatting. Manuscripts with uniform, clean margins used to allow for editorial comments (before Track Changes).

Creating white space and margins in our lives allows us to clean out the clutter and extra busyness that bogs us down. Using every minute of our time creates additional stress as we juggle more activities and events in our lives.

White space allows us to breathe and provides room for creative brainstorming.

Why do we feel like we have to fill every moment of our day? Maybe it’s not even a want, but our growing to-do lists weigh us down with everything that needs to be done. Maybe there are too many days when it feels like there’s more projects than time to complete them.

God commands us to work six days and rest on the seventh. And for good reason.

In one of her weekly newsletters, award-winning author Susan May Warren once said, “I have a personal rule (after a number of disasters), I only agree to read a book, take a class, get together with friends, or even work on a personal project if I can schedule it into my life. I have to look at my calendar and ask myself if I have time for it.”

Susie knows how to live a productive life because she understands the value of creating white space in her life.

In the same newsletter, she went on to say, “Our goals are actually just DREAMS until we schedule them. Dreams inspire. Lists bring us down to earth. SCHEDULES get stuff done.”

If our schedules are too full with other things—less important things—then we are crowding out opportunities to pursue our creative pursuits…and leaving very little room for white space.

Take a look at your schedule. Have you created room to pursue the calling God has laid on your heart? Have you built in white space in other areas of your life?

Creating white space takes sacrifice and commitment to protect your creative time. You may need to learn to say no when you want to say yes. You may struggle with fear of missing out, but when you honor God with your time and talents, then you will have a greater sense of satisfaction.

One of my favorite life-changing Elisabeth Elliot quotes is, “To say yes to one thing is to say no to a thousand others.”

Instead of constantly adding to your already busy life, I challenge you to spend some time in prayer and ask God what changes He’d like you to make. You may have to reevaluate your priorities and make some difficult decisions to eliminate busyness that crowds your white margins. Isn’t pursuing your dream worth it? Isn’t your peace of mind worth it?

Lisa Jordan is an award-winning, PW-bestselling author for Love Inspired and a new author for Sunrise Publishing as well as the line director for Sunrise Publishing’s new contemporary romance line. Happily married to her own real-life hero for thirty-five years, Lisa for over twenty-five years, she and her husband have two sons. Find Lisa on her website at https://lisajordanbooks.com/.