Sometime ago, we stayed in a hotel where I had to share a lumpy double bed with a restless bed hog with a propensity for talking in their sleep. The room being on the smaller side, with an uncomfortable bed (as I previously mentioned), neither were there enough towel racks or hooks, there was one small trash can (zero in the bath), and the bathroom sink would back up having a slow draining rate that was seriously painful, not to mention the pain of crouching to reach the resting point of the toilet seat and when you did make your arrival your fellow room occupants were alerted by the unstable, rickety cry of the toilet.

Yet I am so reminded of the failure to teach our children that most of life is uncomfortable and not to base our happiness on ease!

I often think of Mary, a young teenager, and her words “be it unto me”; the measure of her surrender to the Creator of All! Just to think of the many comforts she would forgo—accommodations she and Joseph, would not receive— Especially after a long journey to Bethlehem at nine months pregnant— their arrival was met with noisy crowds pushing their way through the narrow streets all looking for lodging and their greatest need was to find Mary a place to lay her head and begin her Lamaze instructions! Unfortunately, the only place available would compel one to hold their breath rather than breathe in deeply…the stench grew, the cold dark earth hard beneath her laboring groans, she would have felt it all! No beds, no baths, not even a sink, no cable television or TV dinners, no comforts to speak of and worse yet she must deliver a baby in this space…without a baby themed private room, without cute baby clothes, and certainly without disposable diapers; and worst yet, without a doula to help deliver the baby Jesus!

But even more uncomfortable, without a doubt would be the humiliation they would bear the rest of their lives as the spiritual leaders of the day would pronounce them as promiscuous teenagers!

The vigilance that Joseph must carry especially the first few years of Jesus’ life, to be on standby listening for heavenly instructions whenever it was time to uproot the family and move to a safer environment…There would have been nothing resembling “tis the season to be comfy.”

Yet, Mary had unselfishly proclaimed: “be it unto me”

Her uncomfortable situation included the death of Joseph, her future children rejecting Jesus (their brother) as Israel’s Messiah, and then the ultimate stab at her heart—the crucifixion of her firstborn…

This year (2025) I intentionally focused on ways to live outside of my comfort zone… and as the end of 2025 draws to a close and my review of what I chose as uncomfortable- and of course what God my Creator added or allowed- to further cause me to live outside of my comfort zone… to grow me in this area.

I would love to report my journey through was flawless without grumbling and complaining or even trying to get out of it altogether. The more I’m schooled by the Holy Spirit of God I see how my Father is taking me at my word in my desire to learn more of Him, to experience Christmas each year like never before AND yet, when He sends the uncomfortable I run from welcoming it and saying here I am, Lord, the bond servant of the Lord—be it unto me—teach me through the very challenging way of ill-comfort.

This life isn’t about acquiring physical comfort or ease but trusting and obeying the Creator, our Sustainer, and King! Seeing the hard in light of eternity with God the Father and Jesus our Brother—who lived uncomfortably and painfully and suffered the greatest suffering for the sins of mankind!

Luke 1:38; 22:63-23:46

“Be it unto me!”

Read the full 2025 Comfort Zone series