Holly Hatton
Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church, Memphis, TN
”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3
Have you ever been in a situation so uncomfortable that you had to look away? Maybe the following scenarios sound familiar. At a piano recital, when a student plays the wrong note and then struggles to recover, do you feel the need to bury your face in the recital program? At the grocery store, when a kid is throwing a fit and their parent is clearly at the end of their rope, do you suddenly become very interested in the label of the cereal box you’re holding? In your car, at a stoplight, with a person next to you on the median asking for assistance, does tuning the car radio become your number one priority?
Most of us are not comfortable bearing witness to someone else’s discomfort. What lengths will you go to in order to avoid unpleasantness and confrontation? For me, the answer is GREAT lengths! Sometimes we turn away from uncomfortable situations in order to save others from embarrassment or to save ourselves from embarrassment. Sometimes, we turn away out of pure denial—if we don’t see our neighbor’s plight, then we don’t have to share in it.
If you are like me, you do your best to avoid anything that might disrupt your peace. But here’s the thing: Jesus is disruptive. He directs our gaze toward what matters and draws us close to it. When we lean into our own unease and share in the discomfort of others, we open our hearts to the suffering in the world and become more kind and loving people.
It takes determination, presence and practice to see discomfort as a blessing, but this is how we come close to Jesus. When the student at the recital plays a wrong note, hold your head up and project encouragement out of your eyeballs toward them. When the parent at the store is struggling with a fussy kid, throw them a rope and say, “Man, I’ve had those days too!” When you’ve got nothing to give to the person in the median, look them in the eye and give them a smile and a nod. Jesus blessed the poor in spirit. May God bless us all with discomfort, for it is in this that we will find the kingdom of heaven.
A Blessing for Discomfort
Lord, help us to see discomfort as a blessing.
May our unease make us more aware of the suffering of others.
Direct our gaze that we may see the plight of our neighbors.
May our discomfort shake us out of our complacency and into acts of love and kindness.
Amen.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.