How Comfort Can Quiet Our Awareness of Blessings
Comfort is often sought after a state of dis-ease, a change in our well-being, and a sense of insecurity in our lives. When times get tough in our lives, comfort becomes an awareness of what we wish for. The comforts of what we have for conveniences or in our homes, the known paths in your community that you daily drive, the routines you have, the people you see day in and day out, all of these reminders give us a sense of comfort in our lives. When our routines change, it is comfort that we seek.
When we feel perfectly well and everything is going our way, we may forget to be thankful for the blessings that God has given us. We desire comfort when we don’t have it, and when we have too much comfort, it becomes easy to forget the good things in our lives. We become so content with our blessings that we forget to say, “thank you,” to the God of the universe!
When we become too comfortable in our lives, our minds become less aware of the small or the large blessings we’ve been given. This happens because comfort/normalcy may cause us to forget what is unique and special in our lives. We become accustomed to a routine of wealth, a routine of pleasure, or a routine of order. When our minds and bodies become too comfortable, we become insensitive to the beauty that is before us. The routine, or what feels “normal” nowadays, such as good health, great friends, or financial security, all become typical, and we forget to acknowledge those things because we’ve come to expect them.
Blessings seem to be easier to see when they are in contrast with the hard times of life. Having comforts reduces the contrast and makes blessings less visible to us. Even when comfort lasts for years and years, we may become complacent; we expect it and we don’t recognize the blessings that exist around us. This becomes a sad state of affairs! What we are lacking is recognizing all that we have been given by God and expressing gratitude to Him.
All of life’s modern comforts, conveniences, technologies, and entertainment distract us from our awareness. To be mindful of all we have to bless us in our daily lives is essential to good mental health and personal well-being.
In His hands we live — shalom and shalom!
Kristin