I was drawn to a place of perceived comfort; there my consolation could not expand beyond the walls I’d lived within.
That was my home.
Retreating at any given point of unease was my norm and once that was established, I’d reinforce my walls by staying confined to my known comfort and reject the opportunity to disrupt the parameters.
My spatial awareness was relative to my ever-decreasing territory, to the point where I almost felt mistaken to allow myself to dream of expansion and wrongly, the feeling of being swallowed by my own space felt desirable.
That ‘home’ was my comfort zone.
It was reassuring to know that my chances of failure were low, yet that wasn’t due to my own greatness. I would scarcely challenge myself, so all my endeavours became familiar and that reassurance became my clutch and my state of existence.
Lies encroached upon my space and pressured me to believe that the walls surrounding me defined me and surely enough, that is exactly what I came to believe until my point of reflection.
I was reminded that physically, I had already broken past my comfort zone on many occasions, but then came to the realisation that mentally I had never left.
I was still pinned down to the idea that perhaps I was just never capable of enlarging my territory. Perhaps that space was for someone who had the capacity to fulfil that role and unfortunately, I just never saw that someone as me.
Yet more saddening is knowing that whenever I retreat to that comfort zone, I stifle the work that God wants to do through me. The true key here is understanding that it is God who fulfils the work which He started in me for His glory (Philippians 1:6). All He asks is that I avail myself and trust that He is the God of the impossible and a God who never fails (Jeremiah 32:17*).
Upon reflection, there is nothing ‘comforting’ about that zone and I can truthfully say nothing that I’d ever perceive as a great experience was birthed out of my ‘comfort zone’.
It is far too easy to mistake that place of complacency as a place of comfort. Once we allow our walls to expand, I know God has greater things in store – that which we cannot even comprehend and by the grace of God I am moving forward in this expectation (Jeremiah 29:11*).
The hidden truth behind the comfort zone:
It arises from fear…fear of the unknown. But we have the gift of faith [the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen Hebrews 11:1*] which combats fear. We step out of the comfort zone in faith and seek the will of God for our lives (Proverbs 16:3*).
Whenever I feel to retreat, I’ll reflect on this mundane, yet impacting example, which is likely to be a universal truth: The greatest friends in my life were once strangers, it just took a breaking down of barriers for us to get to where we are today.
Scriptures *
- Philippians 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
- Jeremiah 32:17 - ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
- Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
- Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- Proverbs 16:3 - Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.