My Incurable Romantic Side

• Psalm 121:1-3 (NKJV) I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help?
• ² My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
• ³ He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.

You have to bear with me on this one…

When it comes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, I am an incurable romantic.  There is only one book that I read more than these three books: the Bible.

As a result, I have a number of quotes in my quote file from these books.  Today one came up that really touched my heart.  It describes a moment in the last book that was the darkest hour.  It seemed that evil was going to win and all that was good and right with the world was going to ground into abject defeat and degradation.

One of the main characters – a simple, good-hearted and faithful hobbit by the name of Samwise (Sonja’s favorite character in the series) is the one referred to:

• “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor (a rocky pinnacle) high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Maybe you are going through one of those difficult “forsaken” seasons of life.

I suppose one of the things that touches me so much about Tolkien’s writings is that his strong Christian faith colors everything he writes.  In this little passage, Tolkien points to a deeper truth.  There is indeed a light, a hope and a future in your dark and dreary land.

Look up today…

Do not allow the pain, pressures and problems of the moment to cause you to lose your perspective…

This too shall pass…

And you will step into the light and into a new day.

Remember, in the end, good does indeed triumph over evil.

• May hope return to you, in Jesus’ name, amen.