Contact Me

If you enjoy my blog and would like to contact me, you may reach me at this email: dena.netherton@gmail.com

Some of my stories are published in:
A Cup of Comfort Devotional for Mothers and Daughters (Adams Media, 2009)
Chicken Soup: What I Learned from the Dog (2009)
Love is a Flame (Bethany House, 2010)
Extraordinary answers to Prayer (Guideposts, 2010)
Love is a Verb (Bethany House, 2011)
Big Dreams from Small Spaces (Group Publishing, 2012)

Monday, January 7, 2013

Your Office=You

Recently I sat in my doctor's examining room. Besides the usual medical illustrations: the musculo-skeletal system, the heart, the spine and its pathway of nerves, he's got a hodge-podge of photos and posters with rather nebulous sayings.
Most of the time, I can glean something about the professional from the what he/she chooses to put up on the walls.
This one, I can't.
Except that perhaps he's trying very hard not to offend anyone by putting up anything that could be construed as religious, philosophical or political opinion.
That room tells me nothing about my doctor, his personality, his interests, his values.
I wish he would nail some telling art work or philosophical phrases on his walls.
Something to tell me more about the man who I trust to probe, scan, manipulate, thump, or inject.

I thought about my own office.
What would a stranger construct in his mind about me from the objects scattered about the room?
Would the artwork that I chose for my walls lend me credibility as a writer and musician?
What does my private office say about me?
What I value?
What I give my time and attention to?
What I believe?

The picture that I've posted for today is my office, or part of it.
My husband framed the first article I ever got published, for a Christian publication. That hangs just to the left of the computer screen.

The lovely wreath was made by my clever daughter-in-law, Danielle. It's made up of rosettes formed from the pages of several literary classics.

Next to the wreath is a framed print (a gift from my other son and daughter-in-law) of a grand piano with a cello resting against the piano bench. At the bottom of the print are beautiful words about singing psalms and making music, from the book of Colossians.

My piano keyboard awaits any time an original tune pops into my head. Manuscript paper sits on the music stand in case I want to notate my new music.
On the keyboard bench is my Bible. 

Next to my keyboard rests my classical guitar. I've been teaching myself to play and, after twenty years, am finally proficient.

And then there's the book shelf. 

You can't see the other half of my office. It consists of the computer printer atop a file cabinet, another bookshelf under the picture window that looks out on Twin Sisters Peaks, then my wing-back chair and lamp, and the closet.

I had the walls painted a restful, organic, pale golden brown.

Ahhhh.

I feel about my office the way I suppose Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins felt about Bag End, their cozy little hobbit hole in the Hobbiton of the Shire.
My office is a place of beauty, comfort, and creative energy.

Do you have a special place?
Have you decorated it to reflect you?
What's in your special room?
Tell me about it.

"Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Col. 3:16 NIV Bible)


2 comments:

  1. I really love my office. It's the place where I write and run all the details of my life.

    A small bulletin board displays sweet items my late husband and friends have sent me, photos, and important contact information.

    The books in my office reflect my interest in Bible study, Christian fiction, and historical research.


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  2. Dena, thanks for sharing details of your creative domain...so important to writers and each so uniquely special. :-) Just organized and refreshened ours...peaceful and joyful place to create.

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