Taking Heart

Sources of courage for uncertain times.

Mar 21, 2025

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As teens my friend R- and I were immersed in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. We read and reread each book of the trilogy and talked endlessly about the characters and the plot. R- was especially taken with the battle scenes and the heroism of humans, dwarves, and elves.

Those elements of the story interested me; however, something else drew me into Tolkien’s mythical world of Middle Earth. There was a wisdom and a spiritual depth in the pages of the trilogy. I felt it, but I couldn’t quite name it at the time. It was a truth that I longed for, that I needed. Much later I learned that Tolkien was a devout Christian.

man wearing brown leather dress shoes stepping on brown wood — Photo by Dalton Touchberry on Unsplash

In retrospect, I see that Tolkien painted a winsome picture of the Christian virtue of courage. Thomas Aquinas called it fortitude: taking heart in the face of danger, especially when confronting evil or injury or death. The idea of fortitude is suggested in an exchange between the wizard Gandalf and the tiny hobbit Frodo.

Gandalf informs Frodo that, without his consent, the hobbit has been cast into the very center of the conflict between good and evil. Nothing less than the existence of the world as he knows it is at stake. Frodo is called upon to undertake a harrowing mission into the heart of darkness to, against all odds, defeat a monstrous, world-ending power. The exchange goes like this:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (from The Fellowship of the Ring)

In dangerous times, doing what needs to be done requires fortitude. Along the way Frodo will be tempted to lose heart. At times he does. But then he recovers his focus and his determination. Not merely by his own grit, but with help from beyond.

Last week we talked about spirituality as how we live out our heart’s desire. This week, we’ll spend some time on the spiritual practice—the virtue—of fortitude. In part, that’s because we live in harrowing, disorienting times that call for courage. I’m also focusing on courage because it is a foundational virtue. Maya Angelou put it this way: "Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently".

But as is my habit, I’ve gotten a little ahead of myself. I should say something generally about virtue. Then we’ll zero in on fortitude.

man standing on gray concrete dock facing body of water and mountains at daytime — Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

For starters, Thomas defines virtue as a stable habit of acting, thinking, willing, and feeling. As a result of these habits, we are inclined to make choices that lead us closer to our genuine heart’s desire. Closer union with God.

Thomas distinguishes between theological and cardinal virtues. Faith, hope, and love are theological virtues. They are infused by God and lead us directly to our heart’s desire. By contrast, fortitude is a cardinal virtue. Like justice, temperance, and prudence, fortitude is natural. We acquire them through practice in our everyday lives and by following the example of an especially virtuous person.

Now, back to fortitude. Like any virtue, it is the Golden Mean between extremes of excess and deficiency. The virtue of fortitude is the gradually cultivated habit of restraining our fears while also reining in any impulses toward brashness. A courageous person strives to be neither a coward nor a heedless risk seeker.

I’ve opted to use the word fortitude instead of courage because it connotes perseverance (a virtue I touched on last week). Fortitude is courage over time. Over a lifetime. Courage to the end. And that kind of courage is not a result of our inner strength. It’s the work of God’s grace. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians:

So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

Most of us can bring to mind moments of personal courage. Focusing on individual acts of bravery can leave us with the impression that we can face anything on our own. We might look ourselves in the mirror and say, “You’ve got this.”

man in black jacket standing on rock — Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

And while self-confidence is fine, Paul gives us a reality check. If we’ve not been overwhelmed yet, then all we’ve overcome so far is some version of what every other normal human faces. Life’s ordinary messiness.

We haven’t come face to face with utter chaos, world-destroying evil, life shattering grief, suffocating regret, our own death. Our worlds have not been genuinely turned upside down. Yet. And as I’ve learned from my friends in recovery, the word yet actually means you’re eligible too. The future always remains unknown. And there are powers and principalities that far exceed our individual ability to overcome.

Some people might say, “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Let me admit that I’m not especially fond of this old adage. And I take it to be a dismal interpretation of what Paul told the Corinthians. It seems to me that he was saying something more like this:

Sometimes things get completely out of hand. You’ll be in over your head. God will be with you. No matter what. And God will transform you into more than you were before any of this ever happened. As Paul put it elsewhere,

We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)

Refer a friend

In other words, we will never find ourselves in a situation without God. And there will never be a situation that God cannot redeem.

We live in remarkably uncertain, harrowing, and rapidly changing times. Political disagreements are sharper and more unforgiving than I can remember. The climate is fragile. Artificial General Intelligence promises (or threatens) to revolutionize human existence. Measles is reappearing amid a wave of antivaccination sentiment. The economy is shaky.

Strictly speaking, I do wish none of these things had happened in our time. But they have. And so now we must decide what to do with the time we have been given. Take heart. Stay focused on your true heart’s desire. And do the next right thing one day, one moment at a time. Trust that God is with us even when things seem bleak.