Hodgepodge

I'm cleaning out my office. Twenty years worth of stuff fills this 12 foot by 12 foot room. There is a computer desk, a writing desk, several cubby hole storage units, two tall bookcases and one large shorter one, two chairs, a file cabinet, a fireproof safe, and a laundry basket (since my office is across the hall from the laundry). It's a hodgepodge. None of the furniture matches but I don't mind. It's comfortable and everything is right where I know where to find it. But it drives my husband crazy.

As a writer I have a plethora of writing books, dictionaries, thesauruses and reference materials such as a shelf of Bibles and concordances. I kept many of my college textbooks on journalism, English, and public relations so when I was working I'd always have a good source to go to with questions. There is a whole row of cookbooks. There is paper and more paper, and pens and pencils and more pens and pencils. My computer is on one desk and the printer sits atop a storage bin stack. There is a lamp, the weather radio, and an electric pencil sharpener. And there are cards, lots of greeting cards waiting to be sent.

The office is where I write and pay bills and read and sort laundry. I spend most mornings and late afternoons there. There is not a television within sight of my office and that's a good thing. I can accomplish a lot when I'm in my office, in my little filled-to-the-brim office. Mostly I write, on the computer, or at the desk. There is a window that sits above my desk where I pause to look out at the sky and the wind blowing the tree branches.

It's a hodgepodge of my life, this office, and it's getting a make over. I didn't realize just how much stuff I had in here until I started packing things up in boxes. I've run out of boxes already so now I'm making stacks of books. The biggest change has been taking all the pictures and plaques off the walls. It almost echoes in here now. Quite a difference.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me" (Psalm 51:10-12 NIV).