“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Ah the peace and control of compartmentalization! Set boundaries, build some walls. Choose on which side to be. You please, wait here. I hope you like the room. I try to keep it clean. Cup of tea? Stove is here, mugs over there. I’ll be back soon.
What? No walls? All my stuff in one space? Laundry mixed up. A mess, really and truly. People don’t like messes, do they? The carpet is worn; impossible not to see, right? I’m all here though, I have nowhere to hide. Coffee? I make un café muy bueno – let me show you!
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Integrated living is humbling, hard and rich. Doubts persist – fears that I’ll never quite have it all together. And I won’t. But I want people to know not just ‘Work me’ or ‘Family me’ or ‘Friend me’ or ‘Christian me'– rather whole, real ‘Me.’ And let me know whole, real you. And know my kids and let them know you, too. Integrated living is like an orchestra warming up: a somehow peaceful chaos.
I want to embrace the perfect complexity of community. My house needs work, but it can wait. And I make a great cup o’ joe.
Join me?
— Luke Hodges