Being comfortable

So, this is my first update in quite some time - I kind of forgot I had a blog. But I was reminded the other day by a very interesting friend of mine that I should update more - so here it is.

So I work for my family at a collection agency - which is actually pretty fun (mostly because I don't have to get on the phone and cold call people with cancer telling them to pay their bills or else). I mostly do office work and make sure the money coming in is posted correctly and taken to the bank. So anyway, that's the background. Pretty much every single day I come across something that is done a certain way simply because it has always been done that way. Whoever did my job before me had really crappy organizational skills. It drives me crazy. There is no rhyme or reason to why it's being done that way - it's just because that's the way it has always been done. No one has questioned it or attempted to change it because it would take up time and effort to come up with a different system and change things. No one has put the effort into it because they haven't thought that the outcome could be much better. (I promise I have a point!)

This got me thinking today about how we live our lives. Every one of us has something in our lives like this. Friends, church, family, whatever. We so often do this in our lives. We get comfortable. We make decisions because we don't like change. Change is scary. But we avoid it because it's too much work and takes too much time to figure out a different way. And we're told over and over again that it's up to us. That no one can change you but yourself. That is a total lie that we take hold of and use as an excuse for not changing. Changing is hard and you can't do it alone. And if you try, you'll fail. Every time. God is the only one that can make it happen. How this slips our minds even with all the times He's been faithful, I'll never understand.

I'm so guilty of this - and I never even really thought about it. But God has made me realize many things about myself recently. Change is a necessity. I can't keep things the way they are. I can't remain comfortable. I can't make decisions just because it is how I've always done things and takes too much work to change. Change hurts and quite frankly, the process sucks. But when did God ever tell us we were going to live pain free lives? Can't find that verse anywhere. The point of being a Christian was never so that we could have perfect lives - the point is to glorify Him in all that we do - no matter what.

Hard lesson to learn.