The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Godly Discourses

by Søren Kierkegaard

When the bird comes into contact with the harshness of this life, when it is tried with difficulties and opposition, when, every morning, day after day, it finds that its nest has been disturbed: every day, the obedient bird begins its work all over again with the same joy and meticulousness it displayed the first time. In simple fashion and with the help of unconditional obedience, it understands one thing, but understands it unconditionally: that this is its work and that it is solely concerned with doing it.—When the bird must experience the world’s evil, when the little songbird that sings to the glory of God must put up with a naughty child’s finding amusement in jeering at it in order, if possible, to disturb the solemnity; or when the solitary bird has found surroundings it loves, a beloved branch on which it especially loves to sit, perhaps also dear to it for the most cherished memories—and then there is a human being who takes delight in chasing it away by throwing stones or in some other way—alas, a human being who is just as untiring in evil as the bird, despite having been driven off and scared away, is untiring in returning to its love and its old place: the obedient bird submits unconditionally to everything.