The word expectation is popping up all over the place, a new year-great expectations. I don't mean the kind we often impose on one another. I mean the kind that has an invitation built right in with ample room to spread beyond the borders.
That's how I am looking at 2009. I want to move outside of the last box I tried to set up house keeping in, and that means to move outside of my comfort zone. Isn't comfort where we hang our hat when we try to avoid risk?
But sometimes we simply get shoved right out of comfortable! We get laid off from our job, the house burns down, the kids get sick, or the marriage struggles. Did you ever think that those trials help us get familiar with the uncomfortable?
If we don't let go of our attachment to comfort, we could wind up really close to a great adventure, and still miss it. That is exactly what happened in the case of the Rich Young Ruler. This guy was doing it right. He had a heart of humility that Jesus loved. He even kept the law (a requirement in those days), but when Jesus told him he needed to give up everything, give to the poor and follow Him, his affinity for comfort began to seep out like a canister of biscuits in the heat. His heart revealed an unhealthy attachment that cost him greatly.
I don't imagine that anything significant transpires without risk. That's why risk and comfort just don't go together. I am praying that with this year's expectation we will man-up, move out of our comfort zones and dive head long into the adventure.
