Are You Who You Want To Be?

Ever been toodling along in life and then something happens and it makes you step back and look at your life in a whole new way? That happened to me last week.....
I was riding in the car with my mom last week, and she turned to me and asked me if I remembered this guy that I knew back when I was a kid. I knew who he was and said yes, I remembered him. We hadn't kept in touch, but I remembered him. Then she told me something that was totally unexpected... He had died the Sunday before. I was so shocked... I never would have expected something like that. They think he died from lung cancer. He and his family didn't even know that he even had cancer...
It made me remember last year, when another friend of mine passed away. He had been out snowboarding and ended up falling and hitting the back of his head with his snowboard. He was younger than I am, and it was so sudden. He was so amazing. He lived life to the fullest and enjoyed every moment of it...
I had been thinking about all of that this week, and then I was in church last Sunday, and it was so awesome, because everything I'd been thinking about was what the sermon was about!  How, often times, it takes a great tragedy for us to stop and evaluate our lives.  9/11 for example, or the death of a loved one.  Pastor Bill then went on to ask, "Who is painting on your canvas of life?" Or, to rephrase the question, Who are you letting influence your life?  Are you who you want to be?  He used Ecclesiastes 7:2, which says "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart."  When I was younger, I never really understood that verse, but now it is starting to make sense.  Our days are limited, and what are we doing to make them matter?
So I'm asking myself, am I who I want to be?  More importantly, am I who GOD wants me to be?  And if not, then what am I going to do about it?  There are so many things that I have talked about doing and never done!  So, I've decided that I'm going on an adventure of a sorts... I may not actually "go" anywhere, but I have decided to try and love deeper and more freely... I'm going to learn how to do ribbon embroidery and bobbin lace... I want to go sky diving and horseback riding.  Spend more time with family and friends.  The list could go on and on.  Instead of boring you all by rambling on, I've decided that I'm going to start a series of posts titled "Celebrating Living Life as a Single Person."  I hope you will join me as I explore living the life that God has for me, and not allowing myself to be held back by my fears and failures.  I will fail, I know, but it isn't the failure that matters, it's what one does with it.
Make it a great day!

In His Love,
Christy