Do you ever have moments when you become aware of how much world exists that you have not experienced?  Laugh if you must, but I get that feeling when I visit a different grocery store.  I buy my groceries at Walmart. In fact, I shop the same store most every Wednesday. Sometimes, though, I need something they do not stock. These occasions force me to climb out of the familiar rut.

Recently, I had a craving that Walmart could not fulfill.  Neither Food Lion nor Kroger offered any help. They forced my hand. I set my sights on Martins, the “big” grocery store across town. So many new and interesting items line the shelves there.  Anytime I shop there I feel like the country mouse in the big city.

Isn’t it interesting how different life feels when you vary from your routine? Those are life-stretching moments that I realize I wish I had more of.

Winged Life by Hannah Hurnard remains one of my favorite books.  The subject matter revolves around the renewal of our minds. Chapter 2 contains one of my favorite quotes.

Undoubtedly, as we grow older both in years and in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we shall find some of the bottles or conceptions which expressed and contained our beliefs in earlier years have become hopelessly inadequate.  

Hannah Hurnard

As much as staying with the familiar feels comfortable, the practice tends to limit our experiences. In life, we cannot clearly understand many things until we experience them for ourselves.

Still, we settle into our grocery stores and our ways of thinking. Don’t we? Well, I do, for sure.

God created a great, big world. He also created us for a role within it. I want to be open to whatever God has purposed for me. At the same time, I am guilty of traveling in an endless mental rut fueled by a larger desire for comfort than a longing for His direction in my life.

I have used the “country mouse goes to the big city” line for years.  Aesop’s story ends this way:

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I think I will go home.  I’d rather have barley and grain to eat and eat it in peace and comfort than have brown sugar and dried prunes and cheese, and be frightened to death all the time!”  So the little Country Mouse went back to his home, and there he stayed all the rest of his life.”

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

I don’t fault Country Mouse for preferring his familiar surroundings. I fault him for knowing wonderful things exist but having a larger desire for comfort.

This week my hunger for Coconut Pecan icing jettisoned me from my rut. How often does the hunger for more of Jesus challenge where I set my feet or how I spend my time? How often do I let my craving for more of Jesus jettison me from my familiar rut? In my experience, the best God has for me exists outside of the inadequate rut I cling to.

My challenge to us is this: Don’t white knuckle the familiar for the sake of comfort. Be open to those life-stretching moments that pose a challenge. Correct cravings can draw us out of the familiar rut and move us closer to our Creator’s purpose.