Growth in Discomfort

When I pray for God to make me more what He would have me to be I'm often picturing some miraculous zapping of my heart that occurs while life is going just the way I would like. Comfortable. Easy. Expected. 

That's not really how it works. See, we have to be faced with discomfort to grow. We have to be pushed, stretched, bent to change. If life is all roses then I don't have to practice being longsuffering. I don't have to take a stand against wrong. I don't have to choose my priorities and base my decisions on them. I don't have to count on God to come through.  I can just coast. 

And coasting is not growing. 

Growing is dying. Pushing through dirt. Enduring the hot sun. Suffering though downpours. Being pushed around by weeds.  And then you get  to be something useful. Or beautiful. I'd prefer to be useful and beautiful. 

-I grow as a mother when I choke back irritation and show the toddler how to do it correctly again. 

-I grow as a mother when I get up cheerfully (or at least without sighing and rolling my eyes) to care for a needy little one when I wanted to rest. 

-I grow as a wife when I deny myself again to help my husband. When I smile and ask what I can do to help him when I want to complain.  

-I grow as a pianist when I work and work over a passage or technique that is uncomfortable or unfamiliar. 

-I grow as a pianist when I play in front of people and *eek* mess up again. 

-I grow as a lady when I practice being gracious and bite back sarcasm. When I reach out to that person I would rather avoid. 

-I grow in discipline when I chose to get out of bed instead of keep sleeping. When I chose to workout instead of sit on the couch. When I stop looking at Pinterest and change the laundry. 

It would be much more comfortable to go with the flow. To sleep in all the time. To do what everyone else is doing. To give in to pressure. To stop when things are hard. 

But I would stop growing. 

Growing is uncomfortable. But I want to grow. At the end of the year, month, week, day I want to be farther along this path of being God's lady. I don't want to be the exact same person I am today. 

So I should not be surprised when God gives me (uncomfortable) opportunities to practice what He's teaching me. He's helping me grow.


photo credit: zirconicusso/freedigitalphotos.net