It’s been cold around here lately. Windchills well below zero.

Days like this, I feed the horses as quickly as possible and head back for the warm house. I get melancholy at my briskness at times though. You see, as much as I adore my furry four-legged friend and am changed by his company, I let the cold keep me away. My winter visits are always brief. A scratch behind the ears and a hug around his shoulders and I’m on my way to find warmth and comfort. I don’t spend enough time with Ernie during the winter to allow his gentleness and simple lifestyle to influence me.

It occurs to me that sometimes we need to endure discomfort to gain peace and allow ourselves to be changed. I could benefit from 45 quiet minutes with Ernie – regardless of the cold – to relish him and allow God to work through him to quiet me and speak to me. The discomfort of the cold would be a small sacrifice to hear God’s voice.

When we face struggles and discomfort, all too often we do all we can to ease our pain and suffering. What we really need is to stay in them as long as God wants us to and allow him to teach us and stretch us through them. We’ll come out changed on the other side. Are you like me in that you do all you can to stay comfortable, even if it means sacrificing something good? I’m sacrificing time with Ernie, and opportunities for God to speak to me in that time, for the sake of warmth.

Question: What discomfort are you avoiding right now? What might you be missing out on by clinging to your comfort? Please share your thoughts in a comment.

James 1:3-4 (NLT): For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT): Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.