Today's Teacher: Horror Vacui

Horror Vacui. I first learned the term in an Art class in college. It means  "fear of empty spaces," "fear of the empty," or "fear of white spaces."

Today, I came across it again while working on a layout project for our upcoming camp meeting. Thankfully, another sister has already chosen the images and created the general look of the design. My job, she said, was to arrange the elements. I am no artist/graphic designer. I'm just somebody who tries to do the best she can. So over and over again, I found myself changing images, resizing, changing colors and fonts, adding and deleting elements, and stressing all throughout. At the end of all that, I sat in front of the computer, face to face with 40-50% of white space.

This is it.
The boss battle.

I tried putting back some of the images I had already deleted. I tried one background after another. Almost exhausted, I asked myself, Why do I need to fill up this space? What is wrong with this emptiness, this silence?

When God created the earth, He made it with lots of air, lots of breathing room, lots of space, lots of peace and quiet.

That was when my favorite passages from the Bible and Inspiration came to me:

"When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God." -EGW, The Desire of Ages

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

"There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God." -EGW, Maranatha

Be silent. Be still. Do not be afraid of the quiet, of the inactivity, of rest, of what seems to be emptiness. It is room for the Holy Spirit to work in your heart.

Meanwhile, here is the promotional banner for the camp meeting. You are, of course, invited. And do keep us in your prayers. Maranatha!