I remember Grandfather Fire saying this: “Everything to achieve something great requires sacrifice now for something great in the future.”
I held for a long time the belief that to live a good life was about creating a life that was comfortable, where fear or hardship didn’t exist. I resisted anything that challenged or impinged on my comfort zone.
Over time and through experience, I started to recognize that my need for comfort was creating a small, purposeless life.
Something in my life that I would call Divinely orchestrated created an opening for me to take on a challenge that my little, quiet heart’s voice was telling me to accept. It turned out to be very challenging, and I pitched a fit, struggling most of the way through, wanting just to return to my comfort cave and be done with it. But I persisted, persevered, and saw it through. And when it was all over, the rewards were immense. I caught a glimpse of how rich and meaningful my life could be. If I could just find ways to be comfortable while doing it!
I thought to myself “If I’m not comfortable, I must be doing it wrong, or should I even be doing it?” I continued to take on more and more heart calling challenges, but I still threw my little interior temper tantrums every step of the way.
So when I heard Grandfather speak these words, something in me clicked. It’s not about being comfortable. It’s about sacrificing my need for comfort If I want to live a life that’s worth living…a life that is far more rewarding, joyful, and connected that I could have ever imagined. It was a journey where staying attached to comfort would never take me.
I still bitch and moan here and there, but I don’t take myself as seriously when I do, and I remember Grandfather’s wisdom to help me move through.
Linda Azar is a jewelry artist and Functional Medicine Health Coach living in Asheville, NC. She has been spending time around the Sacred Fire since 2003.