Written by Dynamis Ministries | October 10, 2024
As humans, it sure seems like we are hardwired to seek comfort. We are always looking for ways to add comfort to our lives. In fact, many of our modern-day experiences are influenced by this allure of comfort – the many features of smartphones, technological conveniences in cars, climate-controlled buildings, processed food in many forms, drive-thru’s for almost everything, clothing for any occasion and so much more. We have even gotten pretty creative when it comes to how we create comfort. Does anybody remember the Snuggie? It’s the comfort of a comfortable blanket with hands-free access to indulge in one’s favorite comfort food while lounging on a comfortable couch and comfortably binge-watching your favorite show! Now that’s a lot of comfort! We all love the warm fuzzies of feeling comfortable, but the reality is that we are drawn to comfort because we like feeling secure. We love being at ease and living a life free from constraints.
The paradoxical thing about the prevalence of comfort in culture is that the original use of the word was much different than how we interpret comfort today. Our English word comfort comes from the Latin word confortare which means “to strengthen, inspire with courage, exhort, cheer up, encourage, invigorate.” In other words, comfort wasn’t about being free from pain, tension, stress or any other constraint we may experience. Comfort was about feeling encouraged, supported and confident in the midst of our restraints. What a game-changer. This definition is very different than what we’ve made comfort out to be.
Seeing how this idea and definition of comfort has changed over time can help us reframe how we understand the word today, but it also has some interesting implications when it comes to growing our generosity potential too. For a lot of us, the desire for comfort is a significant barrier to our generosity. We’re all likely guilty of growing accustomed to a certain standard of living or a certain rhythm in our schedules that has created a sense of ease, familiarity or security. It’s natural to want to maintain that level of comfort, and we know that stepping out into greater generosity may disrupt that sense of security.
Yet, when we look at the original definition of comfort, we can begin to see how comfort can actually create opportunities to increase our generosity influence. Think about it: when we are strengthening, inspiring, cheering up or encouraging others, we’re living out a spirit of generosity and acting in more generous ways. In this way, comfort isn’t necessarily something we are supposed to seek for ourselves. It’s something we give to others. So, in this comfort-seeking world that we live in today, let’s not get caught up in pursuing solely pleasurable conveniences for ourselves, but let’s be people who can generously give true comfort to others, comfort that encourages and strengthens people when they are experiencing discomfort. Comfort is more of a gift to be given than a good to be gained.