Create Something Beautiful

A year ago I discovered this fascinating Facebook page:
 https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork

This October they came out with a book that I just finished looking through. The pages are full of intriguing photos, funny stories and thought provoking quotations. Out of the 400 images and quotations, one of them stuck with me:

"It seems that a lot of people my age try to be interesting by having problems or starting conflicts. I'd rather be interesting because I created something beautiful."

Wow.

How true this is, that we do expect our struggles and our issues to make us interesting, to make us worth talking to. I have noticed this in my own life, that when I'm feeling bad about myself, I want someone to notice and comfort me. And then I want to remain in my struggles so that I will always have a reason for people to feel sorry for me. It's like I have no value and people won't take me seriously if I have not experienced several weighty situations that have lasting effects on my present life.

But that is not how God called us to live.

God called us to set aside our struggles, to "throw all our anxieties on him." But we hold on to them. We hold on to them because we do not realize that our value is in him. We hold on to them because we want attention. We hold on to them because we want to be taken seriously. But seriously, God can set us free.

God does not want us to live tangled up in the past. And I doubt that, if we do escape this charade, we would want to either. So let us stop wallowing in our woes. And let us create something beautiful.

** Some other of my favorite quotations from the book:

A girl is explaining her tattoo: "It's French for 'Army of Shadows'...I was going through a really tough time in my life, and it felt like a whole army was after me. But when I started feeling better, I realized it was nothing but an army of shadows."

"When my husband was dying, I said: 'Moe, how am I supposed to live without you?' He told me: 'Take the love you have for me and spread it around.'"

Some lines from a "Book of Spells"
The spell to make strangers wish you a 'happy birthday': Make a sign that says "It's my birthday," and wear it around your neck.
The spell to make objects move through the air: Make sure there is a nice person in close proximity, both to you and the object you desire. Then simply stretch your arm out toard the object and in less than a minute, it will float magically into your hand."