John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. (Mark 1:4, CEB)
One of my heroes is a woman named Carol (pictured above with her dog Leo). She attended Urban Village when she lived in Chicago, but then left to continue her adventures in other parts of the country, and she recently finished hiking the Appalachian Trail. She kept a blog along the way and here is an excerpt from one post entitled, “Good-bye to Comfort Zones”:
“I hiked 52 miles in 3 days. That was well outside my comfort zone and caused some aches and pains, but no injuries. I’m glad I did it, but I know I don’t have to maintain that kind of pace. I’m not a mileage queen nor striving to be one. I have other internal goals I’m working on while pushing myself physically. I know magic happens when my comfort zone is left behind. When I can embrace something that is beyond me. That’s where change happens, that’s where growth happens, that’s where pride in self happens.”
I love those last three sentences. I thought about Carol this week as I was reading through Mark’s very brief intro of his gospel (everything about Mark’s gospel is brief). Mark says that his gospel will provide “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” and then makes a quick transition to talk about John the Baptist, who appears in the wilderness and tells people to fasten their seat belts for the coming of a Messiah they probably weren’t expecting. John is a popular figure to read about early in the Advent season and many are drawn to his attire (“clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist”) and his diet (“locusts and wild honey”). I certainly knew about John and the wilderness, but it struck me this week to read verse 5: “And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him…” People wanted to go out to the wilderness. They wanted to leave their comfort zones. Perhaps they knew that, yes, they would be baptized, but, as Carol noted above, they may have also known that when you go out of your comfort zones–when you embrace the wilderness–that’s where change and magic happen.
We all want “comfort and joy” during this season, but I think it also makes sense to seek a little discomfort. What is the wilderness for you? What will you find there? What change might happen within you because you explored it?