Welcome back everyone! Hope you have enjoyed the long weekend last week. We are meeting this week (7th April) at the Enigma Tap at 7:30pm. Everyone is welcome. This weeks blog is from Naomi.
So, I’m sitting here on a Monday morning writing this, when normally I would be enjoying a lie-in on my day off. The reason being? Well, yesterday we had a BFX leadership meeting and as usual, the discussion about needing people to write blogs arose. I normally avoid volunteering as it is something that is out of my comfort zone – I don’t feel confident to express my thoughts accurately in written words and I worry too much about what other people will think. Anyway, here I am, and I thought, why not do a blog on the very thing that is challenging me in this moment?!
We all love to be comfortable. It is our default setting as humans I think. If you ask most people how much money they would like to earn, the answer is usually “enough to be comfortable”. No-one admits to wanting to live a lavish life-style, but most people do want to have enough to feel secure, well-fed, well-dressed and a bit extra for treats etc. During lockdown we all realised that we could live in physical comfort all the time by trading our work trousers and shirts for hoodies and joggers! Comfort is nice. It is safe. It is where we feel good… but is it where we grow?
I think most of us would look back at challenging times in our lives and see that although it’s tough going through it, usually there is some kind of positive outcome or growth that has taken place because of that experience. As well as the need for safety and security in humans, there is also a need for progress – which can only come about if we are willing to sometimes risk a step outside of our comfort zones.
So, what are our comfort zones? I’ve had a think and come up with a few ideas below but I’m sure there are more:
- Friendships and socialising – Who we do revert to spending time with? Who would we avoid socialising with because they’re not “our” kind of people. Do we avoid socialising completely because it’s just easier to avoid people all together! (This was a big one for me following lockdown – I got very used to just existing in our little family bubble.)
- Finances and material possessions – How should we use the money we earn? Should it all be used for our own comfort? Should we live on the minimal amount possible and give the rest away?
- Community – Thinking about the communities we are part of: work, family, interest groups, church, BFX… what is our role in the group? Are we consumers, content to just attend, or should we find ways to contribute and serve others?
- Faith – Where do we feel confident to live out our faith and where is it more challenging? In a pub? In a church building? In our work place? How do we feel about sharing our beliefs with others? Are there any beliefs we hold that are comfort zones for us that might need to be challenged?
In the Bible, we see many people being challenged to get out of their comfort zones. God asked Moses, a man who had to flee the country because he’d killed an Egyptian foreman (Exodus 2:12) and who was known to have difficulty speaking (Exodus 4:10) to return to Egypt to ask Pharoah to let the Israelites go to worship God in the desert. God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, a city known for its wickedness, to go and preach repentance (Jonah 1:2). Jesus told the disciples to go and preach the gospel by essentially relying upon the kindness of strangers, not taking any of their own material possessions with them (Matthew 10: 9-10). All of these situations required people to get out of their comfort zones, their places of safety and security, and undertake tasks which will have made them feel awkward, exposed, fearful, and both physically and socially uncomfortable, but which were part of God’s plan to bring blessing and healing to those in need.
Questions:
- What is your favourite comfort food?
- How do you feel about getting out of your comfort zone? Is it something you intentionally do or try to avoid at all costs?!
- Can you think of any other examples of people in the Bible stepping outside their comfort zones? And what was the result?
- Which of the 4 areas mentioned above is the area you find easiest to step outside your comfort zone, and which is the most challenging?
- Can you think of any other areas in your life where you might have comfort zones?
- Does BFX have a comfort zone? What might stepping outside of it look like?
Photo by Spencer Gurley Films: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-with-blue-and-maroon-camping-bag-1448055/
This post is written by one of our many friends. At BeachcomberFX we love to hear what others have to say and are always on the lookout for people who want to share their thoughts or stories with us.