What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of comfort?
I can answer that one almost instantly.
Big fluffy white beds.
Man oh man. I love them so much.
If I’m thinking more practically though it would be being comfortable in my surroundings..
I love to be comfortable. Probably too much.
Coming on the race though I fully expected to be uncomfortable the whole year.
I expected to be wearing the same clothes over and over again. I expected to constantly be stepping out and doing bold things that I would never do. I expected to sleep on a sleeping pad in a tent for an entire year. I expected to be eating nothing but rice & beans because it’s cheap. I expected to just be sweating all the time and to hardly ever shower.
LOL. I’m laughing as I write some of this because some of these things were only self inflicted.
When we arrived in Malawi last week I think all of us were fully prepared to be stretched the entire 3 months we are here. We were leaving Europe, the land of somewhat familiar food and language and stepping into the unknown.
When we arrived at Rise Malawi here in the village of Madisi though it instantly felt comfortable. The directors and the camp leaders sang us a song as they welcomed us into what would be our home for the next month. We were amazed because the first thing that was pointed out was that there were beds all set up for us. What? Totally not what we were expecting.
As I was laying in my bed after church on Sunday though I started thinking about how much I love this. I love that we sit around a lantern like we’re sitting around a campfire every night to have conversation. I love that we have to drive two hours into the city once a week just to get wifi, briefly. I love that we have to go draw our water when we need it.
The guilt seeped in though because I love big fluffy white beds.
As I was processing the guilt I felt, I started realizing that it’s okay to desire comfort.
Often we believe that if we aren’t uncomfortable then we aren’t serving the Lord to our full potential.
If you haven’t been told already, let me be the first to say that is a lie.
The Bible says the Lord is my comfort.
So if the Lord is our comfort, yet we are never comfortable then we aren’t actually turning to the Lord for comfort, are we?
