Unabashedly Alone

“Christianity is a strong choice because it requires one to live in the light of radical freedom. And it is the strong choice because it requires that you stand in this freedom all on your own. The road to God has many lanes, but each is wide enough for only one person to stand on. Small is the gate and narrow is the road; paved for two feet, and I'm alone before you.” –Megan Fritts

‘Small is the gate and narrow is the road’; these words have never meant more to me than they do now. Though Christianity is an entity that boasts of the need for love and communion, our faith at its very essence is one of solitude. At the very core of our existence, the very center of our beings lies a question in which we alone can answer. No one can force us to acquiesce and no mortal man can walk the path laid out before us, whichever direction that path may take. We are, and rightly so, created as individuals to choose from our own free will. The path to salvation is every bit as isolated as the path to damnation, if not more so. To truly follow the narrow path is to forego all thoughts of societal comfort, at least at the most basic level of our journeys.

To choose the small gate is to expect – to embrace even – the consequences that such a choice must create. The loss of friends, the severing of ties, the alienation from family and the ostracism from society are all trademarks of the faith in which I’ve staked my life upon. And justly so! For didn’t my Savior suffer alone, abandoned by all to choose the path for which He was created?  Alas, my only comfort in the realization of these truths (if any comfort is to be had) is to know that these tragic occurrences of my life are true signs of a life lived for a Cause.

It is to some recompense to note that while the walk I take can hold my width alone, there are others whose paths run parallel to mine.  As I’ve reached this new crossroads, I can look back down the trail enough to see that the parts of the journey I’ve traveled thus far have been bordered by the same trees as those that have chosen the same. This new junction of life may prove to be leading me down a road much less shaded by the friendly groves of my neighbors,’ but I know I am not the first to take a deserted path. I have found that there is comfort to be felt in such a mutual lack of camaraderie.