Too Many Blanks

    by Phil Ware

    For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. ... And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. (Philippians 2:13; 1:6)

        One of our respected proof readers dropped me a note the other day and let me know that publisher guidelines no longer require, in fact no longer prefer, two spaces at the end of sentences.

        Hmm! Sounded pretty good, at least at first. When you deal in bits and bytes and file size, saving a little here or there on every page adds up to be something pretty huge over 15,000 pages on a website. So his information sounded fine, until I tried to implement it. I've been typing two spaces at the end of sentences for over 30 years. I am still trying to implement this <sarcasm>time saving and space saving</sarcasm> change.

        Intellectually I see the benefit of the change. I even like the change. Why have extra blank space? Why have more space of nothing? But inserting that extra space is not an easy habit for me to break. In fact, it is much more than a habit; inserting that blank space is a deeply ingrained routine. If I am going to cut out the wasted extra space, I have to think about it. No more autopilot after periods! If I do not consciously think about adding only 1 space after the period, question mark, or colon, I automatically type two spaces!

        Now for you this little revelation may not mean much at first glance -- in fact, if you still have papers to turn in for an editor or professor, be sure and find out that person's preference. However, the Lord seems to always nudge me to move beyond my mundane little everyday discoveries to something more profound. (This is where it might just actually bump into you!)

        How many places in my life am I inserting unnecessary blanks spaces simply because I've become use to doing so? How many of God's activities am I only doing on autopilot? Maybe you find yourself in the same predicament, so let's honestly ask ourselves some serious questions about this:

    • How many times have I just "gone to church" without engaging my heart and going through the motions without passion?
    • How many times have I prayed without thinking or realizing the grace God has given to come into his presence and the power he longs to release in response to my heart's cry?
    • How many things involved in my daily worship of God do I do on autopilot -- without intention, purpose, or passion?

        I believe if we are honest, we will admit that in our relationship with God, we have allowed ourselves to insert too many blank spaces in what should be a heartfelt experience and Spirit-led relationship with the Father and his children. So let's make a renewed commitment to seek God passionately, intentionally, and without blank spaces! Let's live our lives out of God's purpose for us, conscious that he is at work within us to do his work and bring us to his glory.

        Life is too hard and too short to live with a bunch of blank spaces cluttering up our time and getting in the way of the joy the Father longs to give us. Let's cut out the blank spaces!

    Posted: 06/16/2003
    URL: http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200306/20030616_blanks.html

    (c) 2003 Phil Ware, Heartlight, Inc.

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