An Uncomfortable Truth

God comforts us not to make us comfortable but to make us comforters. John Henry Jowett

I woke up this morning thinking about how tricky it is to live in reality, continuously. Reality is a very shifty entity, for it is only right now. At any given moment, I can be living in the past, living in the future, living in a fantasy. Now, there is a subtle difference between living in the past, future or fantasy and experiencing the past, future, or fantasy. It's sort of a difference in how those non-nows are held. Living in them is sort of like being beheld. Experiencing is more like we behold. Not sure if that exactly clears it up.

But staying in the present requires constant assessment. Where am I now, what am I doing? Why? These questions must be asked quickly and responded to quickly. Ideally in fragmentary seconds. Of course, sometimes it is necessary to dwell on such questions, but in the day to day to dwell on these questions, given the context of what is happening, for too long is not necessary. Example, I set out to pray and find myself searching wikipedia to support my thoughts, to explore. Well and good. But I could get stuck there, exploring, and not come back to finish this devotional writing. If I spend too much time in this, I have no time for anything else before my wife and daughter wake up. Living in reality is very practical. It seems to me almost utilitarian.

Therefore, in all his utilitarianism, the realist must come to a deep seeded indwelling of the need for respite, reprieve... restoration. This restoration may take all kinds of forms: music, projects, family time, rest with two feet off the ground on a bed. And finally I come to the quote atop: we need rest not so that we can be well rested, but so that we can give rest; comfort not so that we are comfortable, but so that we can comfort. If we too quickly attend to our joy with our moments of reality that we live in, we miss the opportunity to live in the blessing that God truly has for us.

Heavenly Father, help me to live in this day's reality, to reflect and consider what I am doing, why. And by Your Spirit, Father I pray, I would be able to walk to blessing and not detour on being blessed. Oh, let me be blessed, Heavenly Father, I know I need it, but let it be on the path, as I walk toward what you have set before me, and not what I pursue as my portion. You are my blessing and in You I will be eternally full.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

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