Comfort Zone

Hey-hello,

Okay, this is still incredibly rough so don't start cramming critiques down my throat yet...please. That sounds really painful. Anyway, this is about Comfort Zones, and here in Peru, I see people deal with this irritating hold-you-back-more-than-anything bubble daily. So, I decided to think over the idea of a Comfort Zone with Jesus thrown in the mix, and viola! This is what transpired. Hope you enjoy!

~Vicki

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She blinked her eyes curiously at the room she was standing in; every surface bleached a bright white. She couldn’t tell where the walls ended and the ceiling began or the floors touched the corners of the walls or even how far the room went. The source of intense light was nowhere to be seen. Looking down at her yellow chuck-taylored feet she observed that she was standing in the middle of a thick black ring.

“Confused?”

Spinning to her left, she was startled to find another person in the room with her, standing outside of her circle. He was a good height, not too tall but not short. Long brown hair was draped neatly down to his shoulders with a beard running the length of his jaw and around his smiling lips. There was a white cloth wrapped around his body that hung down to his bare feet fastened by a rope encircling his waist.

She nodded slowly, taking in his sudden appearance before her and still recovering from the shock of it. “Curious too.” He stated, beginning to walk around the outside of the circle with his hands folded in front of him. “What does this mean, Lord?” She asked him, feeling a tad overwhelmed but at the same time foolish. He grinned, stopping in front of her. “This,” He gestured to the ring she was standing in. “Is your comfort zone.”

She thought for a moment.

“My comfort zone?” She echoed, cocking her head to the side in question. He nodded and stepped close to the ring, his bare feet leaving no evidence on the floor as to where he had been previously. “I’ve come to help you with it.”

She had no clue what he meant by that.

“Erm, Lord, I’m sorry, but I don’t follow what you’re saying.”

He chuckled lightly and clapped his hands together. “You will soon enough.”

He took a few more steps around the circle and she wondered why he wouldn’t step over the black curve. She decided to timidly voice her thoughts. “Jesus…if I may call you that...” He nodded in response and motioned for her to continue. “Why won't you step over the ring? I mean, you don’t have to, I’m just wondering-” He stopped her with a gentle hand held in the air.

“I know – you're curious. I was patiently waiting for you to ask me that exact question, Samantha.” She was startled by the fact that he knew her name, then felt like an idiot for even thinking he didn’t.

He is Jesus, after all.

“I cannot step into this circle or make it disappear; only you can walk over the line. It is your decision and your decision only whether you push yourself to cross the line.”

She processed this, turning it over in her head.

“So,” She began, choosing her words carefully. “The only way for me to really find you is if…I step over the line? Er, out of my comfort zone?” He nodded, a friendly smile still upon his lips.

She stood, smack dab in the middle of the unfilled circle, thinking. “But…I know getting out of my comfort zone isn’t as easy as stepping over a line.” She thought aloud, curious for what he would say next.

“Aha, you're a smart girl Samantha; you are correct. In getting out of your comfort bubble you turn over all control to me and depend on me. You take your hands off the wheel and let me take control; you surrender it so that I can do things through you.”
Her heart sank. She was a control freak by nature, an avid planner and task manager. Not to mention she had a bad case of OCD. “Lord…how can I do all that? It sounds so difficult. I don’t know if I can.” A frown furrowed her brow and bent her lips down at the corners.

“With faith the size of a mustard seed, you can do it, Sam.” He spoke gently to her, his voice tender.

She closed her eyes and thought long and hard, pondering and pouring over what she should do and how in the world she would do it. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...” and Isaiah 43:5 says “Do not be afraid, for I am with you…” Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” So, if I just trust in Him, I’ll be okay…

“What is your decision?” He asked, like he knew she had finished her thoughts.

She smiled as he reached out his hand, already knowing the answer she had in her mind. “Come, child. You have much to learn and I am eager to teach you.”

Walking to the edge of the circle, she picked up one foot and placed it on the other side, half expecting a great display of fireworks to begin shooting off around her. She began to feel an air of childishness surround her as she stepped out of her confining comfort bubble, but it was a good feeling, one somewhat humbling.

Her hand touched his.

The room was empty.