Our first home was woefully inadequate for our physical needs .
Our attraction to this, our first home purchase, was based on the price and on the massive 2 1/2 car garage at the back of the lot. The extra furniture and accouterments of our life before children were stored in the garage, I also packed away my law books, writing projects and mementoes of a single life.
I would often refer to the stuff in the garage as my “garage life” as contrasted with my life as a stay-at-home mom, being my “home life”. The things of the past gave way to the busy-ness of the present and raising small children.
And it was good for a while.
The kids grew. I grew. I picked up some of the things of my former life and dabbled in them, like writing and law. Forced to integrate my two lives, I made trips to the garage for papers and books, squeezing in writing books and occasional court cases for friends.
Garage life, home life. New man, old man. The word picture has applied so many times. As I’ve made peace with my past, given my whole being to the Lord, my life is more consistent and steady. Fully integrated. Feeling a wholeness and completeness that I never thought possible.
I face a similar demarcation in my writing life. I have boxes and drawers of old manuscripts, pieces and work that I intend to re-work sometime. Yet, each day my mind floods with new ideas and word pictures. Which do I choose? Do I revitalize the ideas of the past, or move on to enjoy and explore the newnesss.
Somewhere in the middle is balance. What do you do in your writing? Is your writing life lived in the garage of old ideas, or the home of new thoughts? How do you integrate?
