Addicted to Comfort

Welcome to another foray into free-fall, free-flowing, straight from the heart, as-it-comes writing with Five Minute Friday.

Today's prompt is:'Comfort'

Start...

Comfort

We are addicted to comfort

security and safety hardwired into our systems

ease a priority

sought with urgency.

Solace-seeking in bottles, pills and potions

soothing fragrant oils and lotions.

We are addicted to comfort

loving our tribe

the ones we feel

comfortable with

our inner circles so tight

they are barriers to entry.

We are addicted to comfort

church has cliques

newcomers meet and greet

smiles exchanged

then we spend time

in the company of the familiar.

We are addicted to comfort

wanting life smooth, no rocks

no hard pathways to travel

or pain to endure.

We are addicted to comfort

feeling safe, secure 

in what we know

how we live

who we are.

Until...

God rocks our little boat

right out the water

tips us upside down

alters our worldview.

We are addicted to comfort

but it's not about us at all.

It's about leaning into Him,

learning, stretching, growing,

giving and pouring out

lives surrendered, given over;

abiding in the Vine

allowing Him to nourish, strengthen,

enable, equip,

freely received grace freely given

to the uncomfortable ones

who live with hope, expectancy

of seeing change

only God can bring.

Stop.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3 - 4

Linking here with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. Do hop over and join in. You're very welcome!

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Have a heart

There are times in our lives when God speaks more insistently to our hearts than usual.

Those Holy Spirit whispers are words we need to pay attention to.

Our heart, as defined in Scripture, represents the core, essence of our being, the fabric of who we are and how we act, seat of our reason, courage, innermost feelings.

Recently, God has been showing me things about myself I would have preferred not to be aware of.

It all started with a devotional book I was reading that spoke of asking God to show us a picture of our heart.

This wasn't asking for an anatomical representation of the fist-shaped, blood-pumping organ that lies roughly in the centre of our chest.

No. It was seeking greater knowledge about what makes us tick, how we act and react and what that indicates about our inner being.

So, I braved the request, "Lord, please show me a picture of my heart"...and He did.

ImageCourtesyofFreeDigitalPhotos.Net

What He revealed was an image of a crushed, fragile, papery heart.

As I prayed, God showed me that this image represented the fragility of my feelings, how easily bruised and wounded I can be if I allow certain emotions to hold sway.

Discouragement reign supreme. Disappointment rule. Despair ravage my hopes and dreams.

" Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" ~ Proverbs 4:23

His desire is for my heart to be crushed only with empathy and love for others, a willingness to burden-bear and intercede as His Spirit leads.

If I allow God to have my heart, He will guard it, make it strong and viable, rather than fragile and friable, soft and tender where it needs to be, as I open myself up to be a channel of blessing for others.

Our God does heart surgery as He transplants new hearts for old.

I was aware of the see-saw nature of my emotions and found much to blame them on:M.E fatigue, pain, lack of restful sleep, hormones, various issues etc.

God helped me see that a root of insecurity remains - the same root that made me want to control myself and my environment when all went haywire in my past.

All went haywire with my blogging yesterday too as I attempted to copy my last published post (ironically entitled 'Brave') into a folder and somehow ended up deleting the original as I updated it.

Don't ask me how. Technology and I are barely on speaking terms at the moment - more like screaming (me) and silence (laptop).

Deep breaths... Deep breaths....Gasp...Deep breaths.

What did this teach me?

• Back everything up, back everything up, back Everything up!!
• It doesn't help in the slightest to **@~##{{<< @ ~~ at the laptop (OK, just a little bit), keep pressing buttons and watch it all crash.
• It does help to...take deep breaths, step away from it, make a soothing cup of chamomile tea (or a stiff drink) and (most importantly) ask for help from Someone. Who. Knows. What. To. Do.
• When I'm, squeezed (pressed, stressed and tired)I fail to give off the aroma of Christ, emitting instead a bad stink of thoughts, words and deeds.
• We don't have to actively seek discouragement, disappointment or despair. They hang around waiting to drop on us and sabotage our days as soon as we drop our guards.

It also pays to remember that we are more than the sum of our parts or the efforts of our hands (said through gritted teeth and clenched jaw).

Neither is it really about tangible evidence in front of us or how congenial or otherwise our circumstances might be.

God's word reminds us that He is our Security. Safe place. Anchor for the soul. Always.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that in a world caving in and falling apart.

Sometimes it takes a glimpse into another person's pain to see how it overshadows your own.

Sometimes we lose what we value to gain a greater good.

My heart was setting too much store on achievement, approval, being visible when I feel invisible in this tiny sphere I move within.

But never invisible to God. 

The One who desires our highest good stands scalpel at the ready to carve away the dross we can do without and sculpt a heart fit for purpose.

God can take away a hard, stony heart and replace it with a tender, loving one..little by little..as it is surrendered to Him.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" ~ Ezekiel 36:26

A Prayer

Dear Father,

You alone know us inside out. Nothing about us surprises You.

It is easy to fool ourselves that everything is as it should be,

until You point a finger on the areas we need to pay attention to.

Then we wriggle and squirm under Your searchlight scrutiny.

For our souls lean more naturally into darkness than light.

But Yours is a laser-light to burn off the dross 
and promote healing.

You desire truth in the inner parts of our being.

You desire to change all that is displeasing to You.

Help us to co-operate and allow You to have Your way in us.

Melt our hard hearts.

Bind up the bruised and broken ones.

Wrap arms of love around the wounded ones.

Pour out Your grace and compassion.

Fill us with Your Spirit so that we can give out to others.

Remind us day by day how we are being changed from glory to glory

so that we do not lose heart if progress seems slow.

Thank you for the new heart and new life we have in Christ.

Help us to use it to live well for You.

Amen

Linking here with Tania Vaughan for Monday Ministry, where we seek to bring Sunday words and thoughts into the rest of the week.

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May you be blessed with God's light, grace and peace (and a co-operative, fully functioning PC) until we meet again.

Jumping

This my day for parachute jumping, going into free-fall as I leap into space, scrambling for words before they fall to the ground.

All par for the course with Five Minute Friday where we allow words to fall where they will and hope to catch a few to share.

Today's prompt is: JUMP

Start..

Jumping

Image Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

I'm not a natural risk-taker. Safe. Secure. 

That's how I like my world to be in general.

As child I stood with mingled dread and delight

of anticipation as I waited my turn to jump into the 

swinging rope swaying and arcing before me.

The tune got louder, rope snapped faster and heart beat wildly

as I leapt, hoping to make it before rope caught ankles

instead and we both cascaded 

in a pooled loop of humiliation 

to the ground.

Further scary leaping and jumping took place in exploration 

of condemned building sites where feet rocked unsteady.

Later, age 17, I made the biggest leap of my life.

A leap of faith. My whole being 

straight into Abba Father's outstretched arms. 

Caught. Held safe.

Secure in the swinging of my emotions.

Daily smaller leaps of faith stretch and challenge still.

Though God provides the means to make them.

Now, any leaping, skipping or jumping 

is confined to the realm of the mind, heart and spirit, 

for body finds even walking a challenge.

But I keep on making the leap,

with my daily life and with my writing.

And God keeps catching me as I arrive

breathless with gratitude

 into His loving embrace once more,

with no fear of snaking ropes around me.

He's ready and waiting for you to leap too

Stop

Linking up here with Lisa-Jo Baker.

Do come over and join in.

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