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| "If you're not where you want to be in your life, it is probably because you're stuck inside of your own comfort zone." |
Yesterday was the first installment of the next Stranger Days book, from the Brooklyn Bridge, NYC! I will be returning a few more times before I self publish it on Lulu.com with the others. It was an amazing first day of walking the bridge, and asking my usual question, "Would you mind writing or drawing in this book?" I began around 10am, and ended the day about 3pm. I did not keep track of how many people I asked, but it was quite a few. If all of the people who said, "no" had not declined, I think there would have been at least 20 or more other entries in the book. It's difficult to be shunned! But I can't take it personally you know. If only those who declined could realize that I actually chose them, maybe they would have reconsidered. When I approach someone it is not really that random. I'll talk about this kind of thing and more when I finish the book though. Now, let me explain the entry you see above.
Toward the end of my day, I saw a young lady oil painting at her easel toward the Brooklyn side of the bridge. She was doing an amazing job by the way, and if she had been selling them I would have bought one. My initial thought was not to ask her, because I didn't want to impose, to interrupt, to make her put her brushes down and lose track of thought and view. But as I've learned in these experiences, our presumptions of others are often wrong. So I took yet another risk, and approached her anyway. I was relieved when she obliged. She did put her brushes down, and in fact, had to just put everything away because she had a plane to catch soon. I don't know if she felt any frustration at not getting further strokes into the painting or not. But she was very nice, and understood what I was doing completely. What she wrote is a good example of that understanding. As an artist, she strives to connect to this world in deeper ways as well.
I was so happy I pushed through my hesitation of asking her. I was getting weary at this point from the "no's" but also just from walking so long in the sun and wind. My feet hurt, and I was hungry. It was a relief to sit on the bench and wait as she made her entry. Sitting down it was a joy to just feel the wind on my face, and look out across the water and at the city. It really is an amazing view. Her willingness actually made the other rejections fade in to the background, and my weariness faded too.
By the way, Jesus was always drawing people out of their comfort zones. The woman who poured all of the expensive perfume on His feet (Matthew 26) amidst many who judged her must have been out of her comfort zone. (They thought she was just out of her mind!) The disciples who followed him definitely left their comfort zones of what was familiar to them. They never knew what was going to happen next. From what we read in the Bible, the apostle Paul, after his conversion, lived completely out of his comfort zone for the rest of his life. God Himself, becoming man in Christ, left His comfort zone in order to bring us back to Himself in love everlasting. Noah, and his willingness to remain true to building the Ark, listening to God's instruction in the face of adversity from all of those around him, left his comfort zone. There are so, so many examples in the Bible of how leaving your comfort zone is when you will truly find life. I encourage you to read about them for yourself. Maybe you've been thinking about Jesus lately. Maybe it is time for you to leave your comfort zone of unbelief, and accept Him into your life.
