Different Avenues

I am learning as I get older, much older, that there maybe one than one way to skin a cat.  Ok, what the heck do I mean by that?  Well for much of my life, I have been and probably will continue to be very rigid in my thinking.  I would actively say "it's black or white", "the proof is in the pudding", and "facts don't lie.  facts are truths".  For the most part I still do believe this.  But there is also a saying  "the devil is in the details", which I have begun to say more and more.  Because what this really means is that all the good and some of the bad stuff is hiding in between the facts.  All of the little details in life, make us who we are.  So when I say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat", I mean that sometimes we have to look at different perspectives, ideas, avenues if you will to understand something.  We have to be willing to step outside the lines and see all of the different shades of grey, black and white.  Why is it that when we shop for clothes, we want variety?  But when we shop for people, places, food, things, and even love, we want the same thing that we have had in the past.  Why?  Because we are comfortable there.  It's like that college sweatshirt that we will not get rid of simply because there is something about it that makes us feel like home, safe and secure.  I believe we have to have these things or these people in our lives to remind us of where we have been, where we are presently and where we are going.  But this entry isn't about "thanksgiving".  This entry is about stepping outside of our comfort zone to find out and confirm the most amazing gift that God has given us as humans, free will.  If we exercise our free will, and trust and believe that God is leading us, step outside that box, we grow.  We grow in all different directions.  We stretch to find the light.  And this is what God has intended for us.  There are some people in my life that I naturally gravitate toward.  Some are very much like the college sweatshirt, but I do have a couple who are very different than me and challenge me in a good, healthy way that I just can't get enough of.  They are like the food to my beautiful roses, while the others are like the water.  The water is constantly there, but the food comes periodically.  So in my life, right now, I'm trying to balance the distribution because I need both.  I never thought in a million years that I would be involved in or have the opportunities to be apart of the things that are in my life right now.  I had a dream.  I believed and I received.  So as uncomfortable it has been to stretch and grow outside of my box, and how I've literally had to learn "different ways to skin a cat", I can honestly say, it's been worth it!