Barnes and Noble

I just spent over an hour in Barnes and Noble...I absolutely love that store, but it sucks me in and I could seriously spend an entire day or week there and still never see everything..I walk in there and there is just so much that you could read about...everything and anything...people's thoughts on life, how to learn new skills, hobbies, books on animals, cookbooks (TONS!), and the list goes on and on...I think it's one of my favorite places to go because of that reason...you can go in there and really learn about almost anything....I saw a hanging item that said "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself." A friend of mine gave me a wall hanging with that same quote on it and it's taken me awhile to finally get it or believe it....For some reason I have thought for the longest time that b/c God created me, that means that I just need to "figure out" who He created me to be, which has always caused me to just strive more and try lots of things to "figure it out".....instead of picturing who I desire to be and choosing things based on what will help me to grow into that person or picturing the things that I desire to accomplish or do and making decisions that will help me move toward those...God gave us the amazing power to choose and to be creative and for us to have the ability to picture in our minds and imagine and dream...it's really quite amazing! God could have made us puppets on a string, with no choices and really no real, true relationship b/c we would love Him b/c we had to....I think we strive way too much to try and "figure out God's will" instead of really searching deep down in our hearts and souls (that He created!) to find out what we really desire, get excited about, imagine, envision and walking those out one day at a time, making a moment by moment decision to choose things that are true to who you are and what you find out about yourself....why you think this, why you believe this, why you like this, why you don't like this.

So, walking into Barnes and Noble tonight felt like looking at a blank canvas and there are hundreds of paint colors to choose from to create a beautiful painting....Life is so beautiful...thank you Lord for choices and the ability to make them...thank you too that you have put wisdom and the ability to problem solve in us to make the best choices and the freedom to make not the best choices and the grace to help us move on....I love Barnes and Noble! Go and create you with the abilities and choices our Creator has given you!