"MY COMFORT ZONE"

Rene Phillips Qualls

I'm a person who loves to be comfortable.  I want to be warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot.  I don't want to be hungry or thirsty.  I want to do whatever I want to do, exactly when I want to do it.  I like things to go my way, and that is how I am comfortable.  My "comfort zone."

Nothing is inconvenient in my "comfort zone."  However, at the slightest hint that something is going to happen that will not be convenient for me, I become very uncomfortable.  I begin the preparations for my "whining mode."  This process takes much time, effort and thought.  I must figure out how this inconvenience is ruining my life, my plans, or my family's life, until eventually I can discover how it is affecting the human race!  At the completion of this stage of the process, the whining can begin.  Of course, because I do not like whining, especially from my boys, my whining takes on the form of prayer.  I do not hesitate to ask God to remove the inconvenient thing from my otherwise comfortable life.  I spend much time "praying" for convenience.  I have spent years whining to God, "asking" Him to remove those situations in my life that I do not find comfortable.  How long do I wait for His answer, His remedy?

Sometimes we feel that waiting for God to remove the inconvenient thing is not convenient for us.  We decide to take things into our own hands, and do something ourselves to reenter our "comfort zones."  We, in our great wisdom, make big plans to achieve this.  Sometimes our plans make more discomfort for us than we had before!  Sometimes our plans lead to sin.  I call this sin the "convenient" sin.  It is a sin we will commit to make our lives more comfortable, or convenient, rather than wait for God's solution.  In the Book of Genesis, Abraham's wife Sarah came up with a backup plan for having a child.  It had become inconvenient for her to wait upon the Lord and His plans.  After all, her biological clock was ticking!  Wasn't that a good excuse?  Surely God would understand her reasons for the "convenient" sin.  Aren't there always very good reasons/excuses for our "convenient" sins?  Having more income to feed our families, more "quality time" with our children, getting more rest, watching our health, having friends, having a life . . . our excuses are good ones.  God understands.  Or, does He?  Perhaps what He understands is that we have very little regard for Him, or for what He wisely and lovingly does with our lives.  We have a lack of consideration for His judgment, when He allows certain uncomfortable things to exist in our comfortable lives.

I have things in my life that are not comfortable.  They are not convenient.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, I have realized that these things are in my life to teach me the thing I lack -- patience.  I am learning to stop my whining, and to wait upon the Lord.  Again, it is His perfect timing, His perfect schedule and plan for me that I wait for.  I feel that my acceptance of the uncomfortable in my life makes the waiting more comfortable.  I know that I can deal with it, because I trust the One in charge of my life.  My Savior is my real "comfort zone!"
 

Copyright © 1998 Rene Phillips Qualls (Used by permission.)