The Spaces Between

Long before I ever started painting, drawing was my thing. There is something so wonderfully uncomplicated about it: pencil, paper, and an eraser. That’s it. Everything in black and white.

I remember many times when I would begin a new drawing and struggle to get the proportions right. I’d sketch the outline, only to realize how “off” I was. Much erasing would ensue, and I would begin again. Sometimes, this frustrating process repeated itself more than once.

As I practiced and studied more about the mechanics of drawing, I learned the importance of paying attention to the empty spaces around the subject. When I focused only on the “main thing,” I missed the critical relationship between subject and space. But as my eye became trained to notice the shape of the spaces between, proportions began to right themselves (for the most part haha).

Sometimes in life, I can be so focused on “the thing” that is to come—what I want to do, the type of person I want to be—that I forget about its relationship to the space between. That space is not empty. It holds meaning. It holds the process: the starts and stops, the detours, even the interruptions that sometimes turn out to be unexpected gifts. And it is the space that holds God’s quiet work in my heart and soul—the becoming that needs to take place within me.

Seeing it this way—welcoming the ‘in-between time’—not only makes life easier and more peaceful, but opens space for joy. Instead of viewing it as a source of frustration, I can embrace it as a gift, trusting that good, mysterious work is unfolding. And if I pay attention to that space, in relation to where I’m headed, I can trust that the shape of things to come will be in right proportion—all the parts in harmony, forming the true and beautiful whole.