Recently, I was chopping down brush and pulling out brambles in an area beside our home. My intentions were to get that not-so-pleasant job done before the ticks and chiggers spring forth. What slowed me down wasn’t my loppers and thick leather gloves. They were a great help. My progress was impeded by the stump holes into which my feet kept sliding.

There’s got to be an easier way. Yes, indeed, there was. My husband came out to help, which made the task altogether doable. I had the idea; he added the brawn, and we actually began making some progress. As the Bible says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NKJV)

Of course, the first step in attacking the brambles and brush was to leave my comfort zone – my nice cozy, warm house – and brave the cold elements of the great outdoors.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story about the eagle’s nest. Did you know that eagles mate for life? They also reuse the same nest, adding to it year after year. Over an eagle’s 15-35-year lifespan, their nest, built in a tall, living tree, can become as large as nine feet in diameter and 12 feet in depth. Amazing!

Together, the eagle mom and dad prepare their nest by overlaying a layer of twigs and thorns with soft fluff and moss before laying one to three eggs. When the eaglet’s hatch, they are surrounded by soft, cozy comfort and fed by both parents. Around 10-12 weeks after hatching, they become heavy enough to feel the thorns and sticks their parents planted beneath the fluff. Their comfort zone has become uncomfortable so they begin stretching their wings to fly to nearby trees.

When my comfort zone begins to get uncomfortable, my reaction is often complaints about my discomfort. One of those times was when the Lord was about to move us away from our home in Los Angeles. We were an active part of a fantastic church where we were growing in our faith. We had wonderful friends and neighbors. Our kids were growing and enjoying life. We were comfortable.

Overnight, little things that we had no trouble with before, began to bother us – the traffic, the long commute for my husband, the long lines at the grocery stores. Sure enough, two years after feeling the first thorns beneath the fluff, a new assignment came through. We sold our little yellow house on the corner and the moving van showed up. We were off to Ohio. Just like that, our eight years in LA came to a close.

I’m reminded of the story in Exodus about the children of Israel. After 400 years in Egypt, God spoke to Moses. The Lord had heard the cry of His people. They were obviously uncomfortable with their slavery. God was ready to move them out of bondage to freedom. If you are familiar with the story, you know that things got terribly uncomfortable for the Israelites. As they began feeling the thorns of their burdens, they complained to Moses to just leave them alone and let them continue in their familiar roles as slaves.

It's odd that when God is about to do something awesome in our lives, our first reaction is to complain, rather than eagerly stretching our wings to fly away from those thorns. Perhaps, asking God to show us how He will use those thorns for our good and not our demise, we might gain a new perspective. Maybe, we would respond with gratitude instead of complaints. Why abandon my comfort zone? Perhaps God is preparing a Promised Land for us… Himself!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NKJV)