Have you ever been assigned a task and didn’t know where to begin? Everything seemed empty and nothing was taking shape? The more you analyzed, the more you developed “brain freeze.” According to Cambridge Dictionary, brain freeze is an occasion when someone cannot think clearly. Artificial Unintelligence, as I like to call it, says it this way:

“Brain freeze refers to a moment when you suddenly feel stuck or unable to think clearly…often due to stress, pressure, or feeling overwhelmed, causing a temporary block in your ability to make decisions.”

When we have brain freeze, some of us begin to think negatively about the task at hand. Maybe we ruminate over all the past mistakes we’ve made or how we “just aren’t good at this.” We should have chosen something else in life, etc. We think on the darker side. Our mental screen goes black. We lose connection. We freeze.

Others tell ourselves, I can do this. It may not be easy but I will figure it out. They approach things with a lighter, more positive outlook. They tend to see what they can create from the nothingness. Before you make a call on which mindset is better, I want to interrupt those thoughts to reassure you that both the dark and the light serve a wonderful purpose in our ability to create from a blank space. Both the clear and the unclear, the dark and the light, contribute to us reaching our goals. In the light we see the goal, but in the dark we trust in God to help us reach it.

Please read Genesis Chapter 1:1-5 noting the words I highlighted in blue.

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

² Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God^] was moving over the surface of the water. God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! ⁴ God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

God created. From what? from things “without shape” from “empty” and from “darkness”

He was satisfied with the light He spoke into existence. It was good. He separated it from the darkness. But notice this…God did not eliminate the darkness. He even gave it a name. He called it “night”. He gave the light a name too. He called it “day” and together they made up the very first day of His creation of the world we live in.

God creates from our “empty” places too. He creates from our blank spaces. He illuminates our darkness. He gives us stars and the moonlight to help us see but he does not eliminate darkness. Sometimes your future may seem somewhat void and without form as you attempt to reach your goals, but this is the day the Lord has made. Made from the mornings and the evenings of life’s experiences.

We can be happy and rejoice in it!