Getting Comfortable

Recently, Rev. Mark D. Roberts completed a series on Happiness. It should be read, it is excellent, as is everything I have read on his blog site. In fact, this blog has begun because he has been encouraging pastors to be blogging pastors.

In summary, Rev. Roberts asserts and defends the proposition that God does want us to be happy. What exactly happiness consists of is a part of his series. I do not disagree with him, but his series has coordinated in my life with a few other items that lead me to go into an investigation of my own.

Item 1.

Just this morning, Cinemax replayed the movie, Shadowlands, starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. This movie is the story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham who meet, marry and then fall in love. Gresham, it turns out has cancer which takes her life. At another level, this story is about a Christian intellectual who becomes a Christian human being.

Lewis was a popular lecturer and writer, particularly in the post WWII era. Early in the movie, Lewis is portrayed as giving a lecture, talking about the place and value of suffering. He is passionate and firm, yet strangely uncaring. As the movie progresses, his lecture changes bit by bit, until, at the end of the film he understands suffering in a new way. Suffering is no longer a philosophical or theological abstract notion. It is now part of his life. Interestingly, he understands suffering as being a part of happiness. This is a lesson that he has learned from Joy Gresham. “The pain then is part of the happiness now,” is the phrase used to explain the relationship between happiness and suffering.

Item 2.

Once upon a time, several years ago, I had reached a peak weight in excess of 430 lbs. OUCH! I wasn’t fat as a kid. I just added on a pound or so a month for over 20 years, and boy, does it add up! Where did it come from? Why was weight such a struggle for me, and for so many? And of course, does my faith have anything to say about this, and if so, what?

Now I weigh a fair bit less. I am genuinely struggling now. My true weight problem before was that I wasn’t struggling, I was just growing. I have lost a lot of weight. I’m not where I want to be. I have lost some ground over the last year, but now am beginning to move back in the correct direction.

So what have these two completely unrelated things have to do with each other? Well, one thing I learned about myself is that I eat for comfort. I don’t need comfort foods, food is comfort. But then, some foods are more comforting than others. For me, that is part of the problem. In learning this, I have been doing some studying about comfort. That is the direction I want to go in this blog until I decide to go in some other direction. What is comfort about? Why is it important? Where does it come from? Why can it sometimes backfire?

It seems obvious to me that comfort is related to happiness. That is why Rev. Roberts’ blog has moved me to look at comfort more closely. I invite any and all who wish to follow along on my little pilgrimage!