I felt the need to share Dan Dowd’s Sabbath Thought from today.  I found it very impactful.  It is shared with permission.

 Sabbath Thought – Growth is Uncomfortable

 When I was about 14 years old, my next older brother (about 16 years old at the time) went through a tremendous growth spirt. Over the course of that summer, he grew more than three inches. He was constantly tripping on things during that time because his feet were no longer where his brain remembered them being. Additionally, his arms and legs constantly ached because of all of the new growth on the ends of his bones.

 Maybe you never experienced such growth, but you probably have had similar discomfort in other ways. Have you ever broken a bone or had a deep wound? Do you remember the ache as it healed? In a similar but different application, have you ever “ached” in learning some challenging topic, or in learning anything new? How about being very uncomfortable going through a trial? In all of these examples, growth is the desired outcome, but getting through the growth is uncomfortable.

 Do you want a life of comfort? Of course you do. It is a natural human desire to seek comfort. The modern consumer economic model is built on creating desire for comfort and then selling products that give comfort. For example, any given household appliance was designed, built and sold to make life easier is some fashion. I don’t have to get a pail of water, fill a tub, grab a soap bar (that I made earlier at some point), scrub my clothes clean, rinse them, and then hang them in the sun to dry. I have a washer and dryer to take care of all of those steps for me – while I can do something else, or use another machine or appliance, that brings more comfort into my life.

 None of that is wrong, but comfort can make us lazy. How many people know how to make soap now? How many have the skills to make something like a tool? How many know how to can or preserve food? The list could go on and on.

 Going back to the example of our body, when we use a muscle to fatigue that muscle needs to be repaired. If we use the muscle hard enough, then the repair hurts. This is the feeling you get when you rake the leaves all day Sunday and your hands and arms hurt on Monday. This muscle repair is not all of the way through the muscle however.  The strongest muscle is on the outside. So when our muscles hurt, rebuilding is on the outer part of the muscle. If we work a muscle long enough, this rebuilding and repairing works its way to the core of the muscle. Then something really interesting happens – the process begins again from the inside out. This is when a muscle is in its top condition. This is the type of muscle a well-conditioned athlete will have. This is the type of spiritual muscle we should have.

 God allows trials and difficulties in this life to spiritually condition us – to help us grow. He needs to help us be strong, and the only way that happens is for Him to help us work that spiritual muscle to peak condition. This can be accomplished through trials or difficulties of life. It can be confronting our own mind and character to overcome weaknesses. But speaking spiritually, we must see the growth through – we must go through the uncomfortableness of growing – in order to have the faith of Christ (1 Peter 5:10). This is accomplished by earnestly maintaining our faith (Jude 1:3), by exercising our spiritual senses (Hebrews 5:14), and by drawing (and staying) close to God (James 4:8).

 Being uncomfortable in growth is generally a good thing because a better you is in the works. Embrace the spiritually uncomfortable and grow into the son or daughter of God that He desires for you to be.

 I wish you a very meaningful Sabbath,

 Dan Dowd

Joe Greene 

Pastor for Richmond and Roanoke, Va

(434) 808-2146