Home is Where it Began - by Tandy Balson

The store I work in sells a frame with the inscription Home is Where Your Story Begins.  This seemed perfect for this month’s blog prompt of who started it all for your creative spirit.

My story begins at home.  When I was growing up contact was made with people from out of town by written letters.  Long distance phone calls were too expensive and there were no computers to send email.  

I have a brother who is eight years older than me.  As I was entering my teens, he was at university in another city and sent letters home on a regular basis.  My mother looked forward to these letters and always commented that Rob had a way with words.  I remember reading them and wishing that I could express myself as well as he did.  He has since published a book of short stories and three novels.

In high school I excelled at writing essays.  I also wrote letters to pen pals.  Although I enjoyed writing, it never occurred to me that I could one day be a writer.

My mother became the provincial president of an international service organization and spent a year travelling the province and giving speeches.  She had always been a stay at home mom and I had no idea she had this kind of talent.  Her talks were inspiring and seemed far beyond anything I could ever do.  After all, in order to speak to groups she had to first spend time researching and writing her talks.

Any thoughts of ever doing this myself were quickly pushed to the back of my mind when I married young and soon had children to take care of.  Working, volunteering and taking care of my home and family left me with little time or energy to consider anything else.

When my children left home I realized that I didn’t know who I was or what I was capable of.  A series of events led me to search for and identify long lost dreams for my life.  The only thing I was certain of was that I needed to do something that would point people to Jesus.

When I slowed down enough to really pay attention I saw the signs that God had been placing in my life for many years.  He had been pointing things out to me and giving me the words to share his lessons.  A good friend encouraged me to start blogging these messages.  I didn’t have the confidence but she assured me that God would provide what I needed.

After speaking to my husband I was encouraged to start writing on a regular basis.  He has inspired, supported and prayed for me.  My creative spirit may have received its start from family in my childhood home but the writing was nurtured under the loving care of my husband in our home.  Both cases proved the saying true. Home was where my story began.