good word.

Let me just start off by saying that I love Kierkegaard! Once I start reading, I don't want to stop, and I'm constantly highlighting passages and exclaiming "Good word!" ...Thank you Samantha Mowdy, I think I picked up that expression from you :)
Works of Love is undoubtedly my favorite section so far, but I'm not going to blog on that because Kierkegaard nailed it so precisely that I don't think I could elaborate on it without simply repeating him.
(p.101) "A person can become a tragic hero through his own strength- but not the knight of faith. When a person walks what is in one sense the hard road of the tragic hero, there are many who can give him advice, but he who walks the narrow road of faith has no one to advise him- no one understands him. Faith is a marvel, and yet no human being is excluded from it; for that which unites all human life is passion, and faith is a passion."
Faith is personal. It's your relationship with the God of the Universe, and it is a marvel. I love how Kierkegaard parallels the tragic hero and knight of faith in this excerpt. The hard road of the tragic hero is a broad path some have traveled before, and many are able to advise him. However, the knight of faith is faced with a narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14). No one can advise him because faith is personal, and God calls each of us to do different things with our lives. So although people may have walked the same general path as the knight, he still has his own personal problems to overcome, which makes his path diverge from the common. In the walk of faith, each person is following God, with their eyes on Him and ears open to His commands, and it is their responsibility to obey His Word. It is very likely that others won't understand, but they don't have to, and neither do you. That's the beauty of faith, as Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." That's what makes faith so hard. You can have friends who walk beside you part of the way, but no one is with you for the duration of your journey. When the journey gets tough and others don't understand, it comes down to just you and God. What a beautiful picture.
My analogy: I think of hiking through the forest on a well-traveled trail with friends... Then you see a smaller trail off to the side, overgrown and obviously unused, but you know it's where you're supposed to go. So you and a couple others break away from the group and go down this trail. It's harder, and you lean on each other to balance as you cross a slippery tree trunk. Then the path intersects with another, and you are left to go alone as they take another trail. You know this is the direction you are supposed to go, but you're by yourself, and the path is becoming more and more overgrown, until you wonder if you're even going the right direction anymore. So you look up, and listen, and hear His voice encouraging you to keep going. The path gets darker and you have to cross ravines and walk along a cliff's edge... but you have a strange peace in this darkness... Someone is right beside you, He's holding on to your hand, and lighting each step. Even though you can't see far ahead, you know you're safe in His care as He shows you where to place your feet, one step at a time. When the darkness passes, He's still there, showing you the way to go. Then your path might intersect with another, and you find a friend with whom to journey for a short time, as you help each other over fallen tree trunks. But this journey of faith is your own, so the paths diverge once again, and you are left alone... yet not alone, for there is One who is with you every step of the way.
Maybe that made sense :) #rambling #carriedaway

p.s. commented on Joy's "I love Kierkegaard"