"I sit beside the fire and think": Rereading 'Lord of the Rings'

I have been re-reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy this week and so have had the great themes that it holds heavy on my mind as of late...thoughts of great evil and great fear, of bravery & valor in times of doubt, of keeping faith when all that remains is but a fool's hope.  I have been pondering how I would stack up next to Frodo's determination, Sam's faithfulness, Gandolf's wisdom, Aragorn's leadership, and Pippin's resilience.  I have cried for them as they fight a seemingly hopeless fight, I have wept for them as they grow nearer & nearer to danger but go on because they must.  And my heart breaks because I know that while their journey is just a fantasy of words on a page...their story is full of truth.

For we too live in evil times but I fear that for the moment I am living on the fringe here in middle America just as the hobbit's were before they left the Shire...but evil will not always be far off and the day will come when I too am called to play a part in this tale. I know that each hour that passes brings us nearer to the end of this age...and while I do not grieve as one that has no hope,  I know that as the days grow darker it will be harder & harder to hold on to the hope that is within us.  But I know that even in the darkest hours Christ's purposes prevail and He will come out victorious.  It is just so hard in the meantime to keep from growing weary.  Just like the ring on Frodo's neck was a weight & burden he bore to the end not knowing whether his personal end be good or bad...the evil of this world (the violence, the sickness, the deceptions, the death)  is so often as heavy as lead on my shoulders and its power (if not kept in check by the Holy Word) wearies me considerably and I see how I could so easily despair of the journey to which God has appointed me and fall into despondency & apathetic behaviors just as Lord Denathor does in 'Return of the King'.

I pray that in the interim between the coming darkness & the Return of our king, Jesus Christ, that I would not lose sight of the part I have to play, that I would remain faithful to the end, that I would be able to discern between what is good & what is not, that I would cling to hope when all hope seems to be lost...that though a fool's hope it may seem, that I would remember that God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise...sometimes someone as unexpected as a small hobbit can be the very vessel needed to destroy the power of Sauron.

Bilbo's Song in Rivendell

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.