Shoes, Handbags, and discovering God's purpose

There's a commercial on TV that bothers me: a woman driving down a city street notices that it's raining shoes and jumps out of her car to snatch up as many shoes as she can. I seriously don't get that commercial. First of all, what's the point in not having matching pairs? Secondly, I don't get the fascination with shoes. I have never been a shoe girl. They go on my feet and touch all kinds of yucky surfaces. I value shoes because they are a practical necessity, not for their ornamental qualities. Perhaps my apathy towards shoes stems from the fact that once I turned ten, I could not fit into any cute shoes in Japan. My feet were too big. The only pair my mother finally came across were a dark color and really ugly. And the same thing happened to me in Ethiopia when I really needed a new pair of shoes. Once again, the cute shoes were denied me because my feet were too big! At the time, I wore a size 8.5. So imagine my chagrin when after three children, my feet expanded to a size 10. Sigh. It occurs to me that I have had numerous shoe trauma incidents. I remember being around kindergarten age, wearing white sandles and stepping into a dog mess on the sidewalk. I didn't know what to do - my sandals and foot were covered in that stinky mess. Trauma. More recently, I only had one pair of shoes available to me after our move to Maryland. Crocs were my shoe staple throughout my pregnancy, and one night I threw up all over them. I had to go to a meeting early the following morning before they had gotten washed and ended up having to wear a pair of my husband's shoes...more trauma. I'm sure there are many more, but I will spare my grossed out readers any further details. Handbags, on the other hand, I understand. I have always liked purses, handbags, totes, satchels, even paper gift bags. Bags hold all the important things we need. Mirror, there it is! Gum, found it! Waiting in line, open up and grab a book! Bags make sense to me. The only trauma I can recall is not being able to find a diaper bag that I liked, and I looked everywhere! So I carry either a pink and orange mesh tote that I got from a thrift store (cute bag!) or a large denim tote from Bath and Body Works that I received as a gift. For Christmas, I want a new bag. In fact, I am ready to retire a number of bags and carry only this one. Because it's pricey but oh so lovely and practical! There are numerous styles, but I'll know it when I find just the right one... What does it say about us, the shoes or handbag types? Some are both, I know. This post isn't a deep one, but I have been pondering what my passions are. And though bags don't even qualify as a passion for me, they are something I particularly like. So I am starting there and hoping to discover more and more what my true passions are. Maybe I'll start a list. (On a previous post I mentioned how much I like lists.) Anyway, it will be an interesting journey as I dig deeper and discover more of the things that God placed in me for His purposes. There are natural gifts, spiritual gifts, personality traits, temperaments, preferences and tendencies...all the things God uniquely designed in us. May His purposes and passions ultimately prevail in my life, amen.