What’s your earliest memory? Was it something seemingly insignificant, but important to you? For me, one those memories was being carried on my father’s shoulders as he walked under a viaduct as water overflowed on us. It was the excitement of something fearfully different tempered by the security of being carried by my father. For less than an instant, I can be that little boy again, safe and excited with my Daddy. The house for our hearts is built with our memories.

My father enjoyed sharing an early memory of a life lesson learned well. He spoke of being small, still in a high chair as his mother, my grandmother, was working in the kitchen. He was old enough to be “potty trained” but young enough that he didn’t always find it convenient to use what he knew. So he sat in the high chair and chose the easier way when need arose to clear his bowels. He expected his mother to clean him up, as she had done so many times before. But my grandmother, the wise woman that she was, decided to not respond quickly to his calls. It was time—past time for intentional immaturity to be allowed. So she left him sitting in the mess he had made. He learned. He remembered both the lesson and the words he spoke: “It don’t sit good!” Discomfort was the exact motivation that he needed.

For my purposes, I’d like to distinguish between comfortable and comfort. In our common usage, giving comfort has to do with helping someone in distress. Holding a child who has been hurt is giving comfort. Making comfortable is fluffing the child’s pillow and giving the favorite stuffed toy at bedtime. A good parent gives comfort but sometimes chooses to make the child uncomfortable. Discontent from discomfort can motivate very well indeed.

There is godly discontent. There is a time to move forward when it would be more comfortable to stay as we have been. Being comfortable can be a greater obstacle to following God than Satan. In the past couple of years, my income has become a third of what it had been as a result of these difficult economic times. I wasn’t highly paid before, but I felt comfortable. As I’ve prayed and done the things that seemed appropriate, I’ve seen that my main motivation has been seeking to be comfortable again.

For me, the next step of maturity is trusting God differently. Previously, I would ask for a job that I could do with excellence and that would provide appropriately. That’s good, but not the best. Depending on God depends on perceiving that I am irrevocably needy. If I am comfortable, I won’t be aware that I need God and will not pray as if I did.

But Jesus spoke about our asking for our daily bread. I understand that to be an ongoing dependence for every need. In Biblical times, if God didn’t provide and protect, than hunger would be the main course. Hard work in the fields could be undone in a moment from a storm and it wouldn’t be an inconvenience, it would be a famine. Now, our technological sophistication, intended to provide for us, has become a padded room encasing us, protecting us from needing God.

I was comfortable. Need has made me uncomfortable. The Father offered comfort, reminding me of His promises. But I still demanded to be comfortable, to not live desperately needing God. So I sit in the mess of demands I’ve made. So my father’s words come to mind. “It don’t sit good.” And The Father’s words also come to mind, giving uncomfortable comfort: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."