Greetings Dear Reader,
When the ring passes to Frodo, the Lord of the Rings story
begins. We begin again in the Shire and
things are much the same as they were.
Frodo sets out on a long journey to return the ring to the fires of
Mount Doom. This is the only place it
could be destroyed.
Throughout the story the grip that the ring holds on Frodo
is obvious. The weight of it burdens him
and he moves through Middle Earth in a state of constant danger. As he travels toward what he believes is a
one-way journey to destroy the ring, he also believes that he will have the
will and courage to destroy the ring. He
does not understand how firm the ring’s grip is on him.
He is filled with sadness and pain under the burden of what
he must do. It is clear that he never fully
recovers from the wound the Nazgul deliver on Weathertop. His heart is good but the constant struggle
against the power of the ring wears away at him until he reaches Mount
Doom. It is there, at the last moment
that he chooses. He thinks that he will
use the ring to rule and set things right.
Gollum bites off Frodo’s finger, regains the ring, and falls into the
fires of Mount Doom. The ring is destroyed
but not without claiming a final victim to its power. In truth, Frodo did not triumph over the
ring.
Like him, we have sometimes carried power for too long and
held it too tightly. We have grasped at
things that, in the beginning, were intended for good. When it comes time to let go, we hold on for
too long. We grasp too tightly. We lie to ourselves believing that we will
continue to do good when we are already on the path to self-destruction.
There is a very thin line between carrying this burden with
sadness that contains hope and then holding power to please our own wants. In the moment of letting go, there may be great
pain but on the other side, there is life and light. I think that the great sadness that clung to
Frodo was the knowledge that in the end, he failed to let go. He chose the ring over his quest.
I too carry such a sadness.
It is beyond tears and haunts me.
It is also filled with hope that things beyond me unfold as they
should. The power of the Father to work all
things together for good reminds me that my poor choices will be trumped by his
designs. There will always be a shadow
over my heart until all things are set right.
There will also be the certain knowledge that when things are made good
again, I too will be free from that shadow.
It is in this hope that I journey, Dear Reader. Each of us fails along the path and like Frodo
we make selfish choices. None of it
surprises the Father and he has already set his will to redeem us. It is why faith and redemption are so key to
this journey. We can see beyond the doom
to rescue by the eagles, the blooming of the white tree, and boarding the final
ship to that Undiscovered Country. I
promise to help you have courage until we get there.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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