The Pathway of Comfort | Rabbi Shefa Gold

To walk the Pathway of Comfort is to know that we are held in the Divine embrace. God’s promise to us is so simple.

I hear The Great Mystery saying, “I am with you. I do not promise that it will be comfortable or that you will not suffer. I do not promise that you’ll never be hungry or feel despair. I do not promise that your heart will never be broken. My promise is simply that I am with you — in your suffering, your hunger, your despair, through your wandering, your stumbling, your confusion — (I am with you… Anokhi Imach from Genesis 28:15) — even when you feel abandoned.”

On the Pathway of Comfort, our challenge is to receive that Presence, to stop thrashing and then let it hold us. To be comforted, we must lean into the Divine embrace, with trust that when our wounds are bound up, they will heal. When we know we are held, we let go of the illusions of control; we relax and open to beauty and blessing; and we expand into our true breadth. On this journey towards wholeness, we are accompanied at every moment by the loyal Friend, who says, “I am with you every step of the way.”

The difficulty of walking this path is that we will be lured by false comforts, that either numb or distract us. True comfort allows us to move through the painful passage, breathing through the contractions, as we birth a new life. True comfort allows us to know our grief as love.

And then, as we are comforted, we also become channels for the flow of that Divine comfort, pouring through us into this world.

To download a PDF file for this pathway, click The Pathway of Comfort PDF.