The Potential in Empty Spaces

Last autumn, my sister discovered an empty area around the cottage and started to cultivate a large bed of hydrangeas. For those who love landscaping, an empty space represents a thrilling chance to build something beautiful.

Photo by Yoksel Zok

The soil for the hydrangea bushes was already prepared. The common orange daylilies that grew along the front of the cottage before the hydrangeas arrived didn’t work out. The bulbs proved to be too attractive to the country mice. So, they were pulled from the ground, leaving a seemingly unattractive, empty space. Yet, the pulling of the daylilies also left behind freshly tilled soil. For weeks, in stillness and silence, the soil sat open, prepared, and waiting for new life.

As an artist and an architect, my sister's creative mind was attracted to the potential in the empty space. She didn’t exhaust herself with high-maintenance flower beds, as the cottage is a place of rest. In wisdom, she chose low-maintenance bushes. She chose the simplicity of beautiful hydrangeas.

In addition to simplicity, the unfolding life of the hydrangea bushes holds mystery. The acidic level in our soil will determine their color, and we do not yet know how high they will grow. We don’t even know if they will take root where they were planted.

Photo by Laura Adai

“Will they get enough sun?” It is the only concern I heard her speak.

Staring at the bushes, we shrugged off the concern. Gardening mistakes are like all mistakes; they have no permanence. They are simply opportunities to grow, to learn, and to begin again.

In anticipation, we will wait through the winter and summer months for the fruits of my sister’s labor to emerge.

Just as she desired to fill the empty space near the cottage with something beautiful, the Architect of our lives desires to fill our interior lives with His beauty. He can accomplish great things in and through us when we get out of the way—open, prepared, awaiting new life. It is often fear that gets in the way.

Instead of surrendering the empty space of our interior landscape to God, we often try to fill it up with anything that makes us feel as if we are in control: our jobs, shopping, TV, addictions, overcommitments—anything but God, who wants all good things for us.

Photo by Simone Dalmeri

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Taking a chance on God will come, at last, when we trust Him enough to believe His words, “My grace will be sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). This is faith.

In the season of surrender, simplicity becomes attractive, and the mystery of our unfolding lives becomes exciting. With Grace, our interior life begins to grow—even more, flourish!

​Prayer: God grant me the grace to surrender to Your will, offering you the empty spaces of my interior life, so my control can become less and Your beauty can become more.