Is It Supposed to be This Hard?

My mind has a lot of ideas.

Some good, I think.

Some crazy, for sure!

Some ideas are too big, too scary, too weird, too uncomfortable.

Lately, I have been wrestling with the idea of comfort. Comfort is key, or is it?

All my life, I have worked to be comfortable. To make life easier and smoother. I certainly parent a lot from this place. Don't let the kids get too tired, there will be a melt down. Don't let them climb too high or they could fall. Don't let that get out of hand, there could be trouble there.

Now, please know some of this is not bad. We need stability and especially children crave routine. We also thrive when things around us are not in chaos.

Yet recently, God has been challenging me on how I perceive comfort. And truly how we perceive our goals and life.

So...

Is comfort our main goal?

In a way, comfort and safety have been driving forces in my decisions for a long time. But if we do an inventory over the past, the challenges are what have given us the most knowledge and insight. Personally, the challenges have grown my faith.

Maybe our challenges are not distractions.
Maybe our challenges are from God to grow us.

As always, parenting is one of our greatest teachers. I have learned this best as a mother. No one watches their child fall while learning to walk for the first time and says "nope, walking is not for you" and stops them from ever walking again. No, we let them fall, encourage them to try it again and encourage them over and over. We tell them to try again on another school test or another dance routine. We watch them struggle a bit. And we know it is okay! It is actually so good for them.

How else are they going to strengthen their "try" muscles or increase their grit? Grit will take you farther than any grade in school.

Frankly, the world does not need any more entitled peeps running around. We need to stop idolizing safety and comfort for our children and for ourselves.

This life is meant to be lived not merely survived. 

We can thrive, even in uncomfortable situations. Honestly, we can not thrive without being out of our comfort zones. So here's to stepping out of comfort to take some healthy risks.

Steps to assist with stepping out of our comfort zone:

1. Spend time in prayer with God about where He wants you. What is He saying or what kind of impression are you getting? God does not come down and speak openly forward to me, but I will notice trends or feel impressions on my heart. Maybe someone will pop in my mind out of the blue, so I will pray for them. Or maybe a verse will keep coming up over and over. Or maybe someone around you will mention something that is like whoa, I know that's from God. James 1:5

2. Just take a step. Do one part. Move forward. Paralysis Analysis is my best friend. I can think about something for a long time before acting on it. But that allows for fear to take a major block for me. So we beat fear out of the game by moving forward one step at a time.

3. Make progress your goal, not perfection. Emily Ley says "I will hold myself to standard of GRACE, not perfection."

I am a work in progress here. What are some things that help you in challenging times?

Love, B