Comfort -- It's more than in a zone; it's a way of life
Have you ever experienced something that just throws you for a loop? Seriously now, I'm not talking about catching the red light at the wrong time, setting your schedule back 2 or 3 minutes. I'm talking about experiencing something that makes you totally reorganize your way of thinking, your way of acting, & your way of living. Something that makes you stop in your tracks and actively seek a way out of your thoroughly miserable existence.
If you're like me, and, judging by many of your posts on my blog, many of you are, you tend to seek out the immediate quick fix. You look for a way to relieve the pain or fix the broken in the simplest way possible. No long-term, possibly even MORE painful solutions for me -- I want it fixed NOW! In fact, I want the problem fixed yesterday. My physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual comfort in the immediate here and now are much more important than some ridulous process-oriented solution. I mean, if I have to work for it, I might actually LEARN something.
I mean, who really wants to learn? My brain capacity is just fine, thank-you-very-much. My ability to cope with spiritual and emotional upheaveal are par-for-the-course, even above average sometimes. Do I really want to struggle through something just so I can learn or grow from it?
No, not really. That's painful, and I really don't like pain that much. Pain hurts.
And to top it off, when I have to go through something and actually have it last awhile, there's all this messy residue that I have to deal with from people and situations. I want my solutions to be quick, painless, thoughtless, yet effective. I want it given to me now and my life fixed now.
I don't really want to have bad things happen to me. I want to reap blessings, live safely & comfortably, and keep a tight rein on what's going on in the little world I've created. When I have to experience something that stretches my limits, fences, & borders, I have to deal with the consequences of my actions. And I just rather do NOT want to do that.
Do you?
In fact, I really don't want problems. They're a hassle and they make me actually deal with my life, my soul, and the rest of the people in this world around me. I mean, that "love your neighbor as yourself" business was just a grand suggestion, wasn't it? I have trouble dealing with my next-door neighbors, my parents, my siblings, and the crap in my past to worry about my global neighbors.
And besides, ignorance is bliss -- if I really HAD to consider the plight of the rest of God's creation, I might actually feel like I was morally and spiritually responsible to do something about it. And who wants to deal with that everyday? I'm much more concerned with the fact that oil costs over $60 a barrel and the national average per gallon of gas is about $2.55 - $2.60 than the fact that much of the world doesn't have their own car, doesn't make as much money as I do, and has a lower life expectancy than I do.
SEE?!?! See what happens when I actually start to step out of sync with living a comfortable, blessed life here as an American Christian? I actually start thinking about people besides myself, people who aren't like me, and people I'll probably never even meet. I don't want that kind of responsibility lingering over my head & heart. I'd much rather shrink back into myself and concern myself with my comfort zone.
Besides, I've got to find ways to avoid my own problems -- problems that I don't want, problems that I really don't want to deal with. Or if I do ever have to face my problems, I want ones that I can control. My comfort zone is just large enough for me -- any disruptions to that zone causes me to lose all the control I try to keep over my life. I like things done my way -- for me & by me.
Isn't that the way things are supposed to be?
If you're like me, and, judging by many of your posts on my blog, many of you are, you tend to seek out the immediate quick fix. You look for a way to relieve the pain or fix the broken in the simplest way possible. No long-term, possibly even MORE painful solutions for me -- I want it fixed NOW! In fact, I want the problem fixed yesterday. My physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual comfort in the immediate here and now are much more important than some ridulous process-oriented solution. I mean, if I have to work for it, I might actually LEARN something.
I mean, who really wants to learn? My brain capacity is just fine, thank-you-very-much. My ability to cope with spiritual and emotional upheaveal are par-for-the-course, even above average sometimes. Do I really want to struggle through something just so I can learn or grow from it?
No, not really. That's painful, and I really don't like pain that much. Pain hurts.
And to top it off, when I have to go through something and actually have it last awhile, there's all this messy residue that I have to deal with from people and situations. I want my solutions to be quick, painless, thoughtless, yet effective. I want it given to me now and my life fixed now.
I don't really want to have bad things happen to me. I want to reap blessings, live safely & comfortably, and keep a tight rein on what's going on in the little world I've created. When I have to experience something that stretches my limits, fences, & borders, I have to deal with the consequences of my actions. And I just rather do NOT want to do that.
Do you?
In fact, I really don't want problems. They're a hassle and they make me actually deal with my life, my soul, and the rest of the people in this world around me. I mean, that "love your neighbor as yourself" business was just a grand suggestion, wasn't it? I have trouble dealing with my next-door neighbors, my parents, my siblings, and the crap in my past to worry about my global neighbors.
And besides, ignorance is bliss -- if I really HAD to consider the plight of the rest of God's creation, I might actually feel like I was morally and spiritually responsible to do something about it. And who wants to deal with that everyday? I'm much more concerned with the fact that oil costs over $60 a barrel and the national average per gallon of gas is about $2.55 - $2.60 than the fact that much of the world doesn't have their own car, doesn't make as much money as I do, and has a lower life expectancy than I do.
SEE?!?! See what happens when I actually start to step out of sync with living a comfortable, blessed life here as an American Christian? I actually start thinking about people besides myself, people who aren't like me, and people I'll probably never even meet. I don't want that kind of responsibility lingering over my head & heart. I'd much rather shrink back into myself and concern myself with my comfort zone.
Besides, I've got to find ways to avoid my own problems -- problems that I don't want, problems that I really don't want to deal with. Or if I do ever have to face my problems, I want ones that I can control. My comfort zone is just large enough for me -- any disruptions to that zone causes me to lose all the control I try to keep over my life. I like things done my way -- for me & by me.
Isn't that the way things are supposed to be?
posted by APN at 20:07
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