You know that feeling when you’re on public transportation, looking around at all the different characters? No one talks. They mostly keep to themselves. Occasionally, there will be one or two brave souls who strike up a conversation. It might be a well-dressed business man and a skater with multiple piercings talking about last night’s sporting event, for example. Two people, completely different backgrounds.
Anyways, sitting in the second-to-the-back row in Sacrament meeting yesterday, it occurred to me that without the gospel, I would have very few things in common with a large majority of people in the room. It was like I was sitting in one big bus. Sort of. In this bus, some of my best friends come from very different backgrounds. However, unlike UTA, the people in this bus are all heading for the same destination. We don’t want any of our peers to get off until the last stop. We call it Enduring to the End. I feel safe to say I wouldn’t have met a lot of these people if it weren’t for the Church. (This doesn’t really apply at BYU, I fear. As I recall, I had a lot in common with my peers in a university ward regardless of the gospel).
This got me thinking, aren’t Mormons crazy for becoming friends with so many different people? So many that I meet outside of the Church don’t even know their neighbors, much less people in the next neighborhood. Yet in the Church, people regularly step out of the world’s comfort zone in an effort to build Zion.
Here’s the thing: along with green jello and mini-vans, stepping out of our comfort zone is very much a part of the stereotypical Mormon culture. But this one is much more gospel based.
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| By this point in my mission, my comfort zone was huge as you can tell. |
For example, I love missionary work. But to tell you the truth, it scares me. Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone! I used to get so nervous talking to others about my faith, let alone inviting them to see it for themselves this Sunday at a local meetinghouse and even to make a covenant through baptism when they found out these things are true. What was I thinking? This feeling is pretty common for new missionaries. The thing is, comfort zones do a 180 over the next two years for a lot of missionaries. Missionaries nearing their release get nervous about what’s on the other side of the tag. I used to tell my companions I was going to go rogue-missionary. “You can’t release what you can’t catch,” I’d say. Thus we laugh at recently returned missionaries who get nervous in perfectly normal situations. Their zones have switched.
Missionaries aren’t the only ones with comfort zones. Remember Moroni, the 5th century prophet? He admits to the reader that compiling records is out of his comfort zone: “Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou has made us mighty in word by faith, but thou has not made us mighty in writing…because of the awkwardness of our hands...When we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words (Ether 12:23-25).”
Moses, the quintessential prophet, told the Lord that going in front of the king of Egypt was out of his comfort zone: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (Exodus 4:10).”
Jesus Christ Himself, I believe, indicates that where He’s going is a little out of His comfort zone: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me (Matt 26:39).”
But how did these out-of-comfort-zone experiences turn out? Well, we’re told Jesus was “strengthened” by an angel. Moses was given Aaron to act as a spokesperson. I read and see that in both cases, when the individual steps out of his comfort zone, they were comforted. In fact, after the Lord explains to Moroni that weak things will become strong through faith, he uses this very word: “And I, Moroni, having heard these words, was COMFORTED (Ether 12:29, emphasis added).”
Read this experience of President Packer’s: “We once had a major decision to make. When our prayers left us uncertain, I went to see Elder Harold B. Lee. He counseled us to proceed. Sensing that I was still very unsettled, he said, ‘The problem with you is you want to see the end from the beginning.’ Then he quoted this verse from the Book of Mormon, “Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6). You must learn to walk a few steps ahead into the darkness, and then the light will turn on and go before you.’”
It seems to me that Elder Lee’s explanation of faith is equivalent with STEPPING OUT of your COMFORT ZONE in anticipation of UNSEEN BENEFITS.
I’m sure you can think of other examples of others exercising faith to step out of comfort zones. Nephi, Abinadi, Gordon B. Hinckley’s mission, etc.
So every day regular members of the Church go beyond the borders of their comfort zones in an effort to fulfill their callings and build Zion. Just getting to know others in the ward so they feel welcome is a big deal for a lot of people (consider how many people DON’T do it). It’s a common thing in the culture of the Celestial Kingdom we’re developing.
Stepping out of your comfort zone ain’t fun, but it’s a necessary step in your development. I’ll probably eat these words later, but oh well.
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