Life is not meant to be comfortable

When I was a child, I had no insecurities about life. I always felt safe, the world, as far as I could see, was mostly good, I never wanted for anything. When I was a teenager, my insecurities were all selfish- I was concerned with my welfare and comfort above all else.

Now I am an adult, a wife and a mother. I no longer feel as if there are no cares in the world. Sure, I can control my own little bubble of concerns (at the moment), and I feel a great comfort in being able to do that. But now, I see what the world is like. I see how people are killed for their faith (something that I used to assume had ended a looong time ago). I see how there are children in the world who never know security and comfort and it makes me realise what all those saints (and even parts of the Bible) were trying to get at; life is not meant to be comfortable...

That is quite a mind boggling concept to many these days. People who lived in the beginning of last century dedicated the majority of their time and resources to farming or acquiring enough food. If they were cold, they would put on extra clothes, move closer to the fire or just grin and bear it. If they were hungry, there was often little to be done. If they didn't have shoes, the nearest Target was about 80 years away (you can see their dilemma). Everything was harder, took longer and often, the result was a lot less comfortable than what we have today.

Today, (in this country), we dedicate our efforts to being comfortable. That includes having the necessities, but also includes things like entertainment, insta-warmth (heaters), insta-cool (air conditioners), playing sport (people didn't used to have the time/energy to play sports), going on holidays etc. I am guilty of seeking comfort. It is what our bodies naturally gravitate towards. When the alarm goes off, we snooze, when we don't feel like cooking, we get take away, when we are cold, we put on the heater instead of getting a blanket etc.

When I was thinking about this post, I realised that the opposite to comfort (when it is a choice) is self discipline. Self discipline is something that the saints had, and I don't. Self discipline is the key to self mastery. Without self discipline, we are little more than slaves to our passions- we just do what we feel like. This is quite a dangerous practice, because once we allow our bodies to fall into this trap of doing what we feel like, it is a slippery slope to allowing our minds to thinking what we feel (relativism). Even if we manage to maintain a disciplined mind by cultivation (through reading/discussion etc), if our bodies are not disciplined, we will appear to be hypocrites, because our bodies will betray their passions ahead of our mind's discipline (the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak).

So, long story short, I am going to make an effort to become more self disciplined- so I am going to make some choices to make my life less comfortable. I think it was St Mary Mackillop who said something along the lines of "we are all just pilgrims" (on Earth). I know that I need to really stop fighting this idea. I am very attached, not only to people, but to the comforts of this Earth. Detachment is such a regurgitated theme in the Church, and it's one that I really need to start working on.