Uncomfortable...Ouch.

The more I think about our society's' need for comfort all the time, I feel sick. I'm obsessed with our comfort-loving culture. I care more about my personal comfort level than anything or anyone. Yep, more than my husband, more than my kids, more than God. Ouch. Talk about an idol. Comfort is the biggest one I can think of in today's world.
Let me just lay out a few examples of  how I let the desire for comfort run my life:

• I wake up in the nicest bed in the house. A tempur-pedic. We didn't buy our kids one or have a guest room with this kind of mattress. Nope, we spent money on the best for ourselves.
• Complain that I have to wake up. Don't want to move from the comfort of my warm bed.
• I open my eyes and check my iPhone. Time to see if anyone missed me or commented on MY stuff while I was sleeping. Making sure I'm "liked" or needed is one way I can feel comfortable about my value. 
• Time to slip on that big comfy robe and slippers. Wouldn't want to feel a chill on my way to my bathroom, just 10 steps away from my cozy bed. 
• Time for a HOT shower. Complain when the first few water droplets to hit my skin aren't up to temp.
• Giant towel. 
• Oh what to wear...choices, choices. Something warm and comfortable. 
• Must dry hair and put on make-up. Don't like how cold and clammy I feel with wet hair. Make sure my face looks "cute." I don't want to go anywhere with just my natural God-given face. How uncomfortable it would feel to be out there without cosmetic enhancements. (exaggerating for effect...I actually don't wear make-up everyday. But the truth is I feel much better about myself when I have it on.)
• Breakfast time, I need something warm and tasty. Hmm, must have coffee. I want my tummy to feel comfortable. 
• Check phone...anyone "liked" anything yet? Make sure I have answered emails and am being relational. Staying connected make me feel comfortable. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to be the last to know something?
• Time to drive to work. My office is only 2 miles down the street. But the nice mountain bike that we put all the bike bags on for me is so, well, you know...it's a bike, not a nice warm van with a cup holder for my coffee and the radio that I love. Plus, my hair will look funny by the time I get to work if I put on that helmet. 
• Arrive at work and complain about the 2 bags and cup of coffee that I'm carrying the 50 feet from my van to my desk. Oh so much to "haul." 
• My office is too hot or too cold, but rarely if ever, just right.
• I need to work over in the church building, but it's too cold. Guess, I'll just have to wait for another day. Don't want to be chilly.
• I hear God asking me to work on a VBS, Girls Camp, or something else that seems too daunting...save it for another day. 
• Time to go home. Glad I can take the comfy van instead of that bike. Whew, now I don't have to leave the office 20 minutes earlier. Getting by with minutes to spare is so much easier than having to intentionally plan out my day.
• Home sweet home. Time to eat. 3pm meal in front of the TV while sitting on a rocker/glider chair before a 5:30pm dinner. Lucky me, we have snacks, leftovers, and food bursting from the fridge, freezer, garage shelves, and cupboards. I've never known what it's like to not have food available.  
• Time to make dinner. The hardest decision...what to make? So many choices.
• Clean-up = kids/dishwasher. Minimal scouring of pots and pans for me. Yippee!
• Laundry-throw it in the machines. Sure I have to fold and hang, but it sure beats the ole "plunge and scrub." Oh, and I almost forgot, I get to watch HGTV while folding laundry. Nothing like watching people searching for bigger and better houses while I toil away.
• Should I go for a run tonight? Naah, too windy, too cold, too hot, too tired, too uncomfortable.
• I need to work on some stuff in our office. "Alan can you move to the lap top, I want the big computer."
• Time for jammies. Nothing better than curling up on my awesome bed with flannel pi's and that big fluffy robe. 
• More TV, a bedtime snack, some reading, check Facebook, play my word games with friends...
• Whew, that was one exhausting day. I think I should look at Pintrest for some ideas on how to make life better and more comfortable. 

And that is how it goes. I know there is much more to my life than these little moments of comfort-seeking. I'm not a lazy person. But the truth is that I'm addicted to comfort. I think we all are to some varying degree. We want to find the things/the circumstances in life that will make us the most comfortable most of the time. It's become a "right" to search for the highest level of comfort we can afford. Yet don't we see clearly that the times we grow our faith, deepen our compassion, and find ourselves most closely connected to Christ is when we lay down our big fat idol called comfort and seek our Savior?

I understand that one of the best tools we can put into action is gratitude. A grateful heart says, "thank you for the warm bed, thank you for the food, etc." I am totally sold on the power of living a life of gratitude. Unfortunately, I don't think it's enough. Because even when we say, "thank you," it doesn't always help us to not say, "more please." The cushyines level of our lives have made us soft. It's made us expect that we can and should have more. For example, just because I'm grateful for the hot shower today, doesn't mean I would accept a cold one tomorrow. No, my comfort (sin) nature will rise up and complain loudly if tomorrow's hot water supply doesn't match what I've experienced today. In fact, when I'm feeling really selfish, I'll even want to take a longer shower tomorrow. If seven minutes of hot water feels great today, wouldn't 8.5 minutes be even better?

I'm curious how you wrestle with the desire for comfort in your life. What are some things that you struggle with in our culture of comfort.