DEVOTION / Ma: the space between the edges

Photographers, painters, book designers, and every kind of visual artist know the importance of blank space. The Japanese have a word for this concept. They call it ma, space that makes the whole, the space between the edges.

The beauty of space

Ma is the space in a photo that surrounds the lone tree on a ridge when it is silhouetted against the early evening sky. It is the quarter-note rests that flank half-note tones and bring a symphony to life. It is the red, orange, and yellow swirls of paint that make Edvard Munch's The Scream almost audible.

And ma is God's apparent silence in our lives when tragedy terrorizes and losses overwhelm.

The beauty of silence

In those empty spaces of our lives -- in the silences -- where we suppose God has forsaken us is an invitation. Spiritual ma draws our attention to what is essential. The blank spaces of life are intended to draw our spiritual eyes to the assurances of God's grace.

Ma sharpened Jeremiah's focus when his city, his people, and his life lay in ruin. Notice how the blank spaces in that prophet's life -- his affliction, homelessness, and bitterness -- evaporate as those spaces brought his focus back to God's mercy, faithfulness, and compassion.

Remember my affliction and my homeless wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. My soul always remembers, and it has sunk within me. Nevertheless, I keep this in my heart. This is the reason I have hope: By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:19-23 EHV).

Prayer

Gracious Father, in the silences of life when it seems you are absent, focus my attention on the Jesus-won guarantee of your grace. Remind me of your mercies and your compassions. Strengthen me to shout, “Great is your faithfulness.”