Caves can be dark places.
Yesterday was New Year’s Day and it proved to be quite a lazy day for my family. We were up really late celebrating and we were running on half-charged batteries. We all napped at some point, including the dogs. The TNT Network was running the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy back-to-back. Now, if you ever have the desire to veg in front of the television for a day, there’s your perfect excuse.
Those movies have always captivated my attention along with a million others. Evil forces try to take over the world and a very unlikely underdog, a Hobbit, sets out to save it along with nine others to help him, but in the end, his best friend is the one who stays by his side to complete the quest. It’s a beautiful story of friendship. Good wins over evil and the scenery is stunning. It makes me want to visit New Zealand even though it’s like a twenty hour flight.
One of my favorite scenes of all time occurs in the first movie. They are in a cave and are being pursued by evil forces. The little Hobbit, Frodo, says: “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf, the wizard, replies,” 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 to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it and that is an encouraging thought.”
Those are timeless words which hold timeless truth. We often wish we weren’t living during these times, during a recession, during terrorist plots, during wars… But, that is not for us to decide. We must decide what to do with the time we are given. We can decide to trust that God put us here in this moment at this time for a reason and like Frodo, do our very best to see good win.
The writer of the trilogy was a man named J.R.R. Tolkein. He was born in 1892 and was a devout Christian. He was also a professor at Oxford in England with another man named C.S. Lewis. Lewis was an atheist when they met, but in time, Tolkein’s faith rubbed off on Lewis and he became a Christian. He went on to write, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” another wildly popular, Christian based, good always wins in the end, book.
You never know what may happen when you share your faith. Sometimes, it may be nothing. Sometimes, you may get to witness a small change in someone. Sometimes, incredible things can happen and the world is changed forever. Like Frodo, the choice of what to do with our time is ours to make. What will we do? Feel free to comment.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂