"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
— J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)
I came across this and it sounded familiar, but having never read any of the LOTR books I knew I was mistaken. I'm not as complete a nerd as I could be, I have seen the movies and enjoyed them, maybe one day I'll have the time on my hands to read the series. That's not the point of this though. I've heard that there's a lot of symbolism in Lord of the Rings to Christianity, and while I haven't seen the movies in a good bit, I do like the reminder that I get from this quote. When looking at it from a Christian perspective, the truthfulness and reality of it are obvious. The things we pursue as Christians may not be flashy and fabulous like the fortunes of this world, but they still hold importance and are more valuable than anything the earth can offer. When we doubt and lose our way, maybe we backslide for a period, this doesn't mean we're lost. Once you have declared that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will always be one of His children. That is a promise. Having a strong relationship with God over a long period of time will keep you from succumbing to the outside forces that try to destroy that bond. Does this mean that there won't be any adversity? No, and just as the frost comes every winter, we can be positive of the obstacles that we will face. In the second stanza, I just see the coming of Jesus and the reassurance of our eternity. Just reading it over and over again, and wow. It amazes me! We have the victory because Jesus will be king and He will be the light to this present darkness. I didn't mean to write an essay's worth of thoughts on this short passage, but God spoke to me through it, and I didn't want to forget any of it.
