Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Ring
While going through my jewelry box last week, I found a novelty store ring. It was from church about 2 years ago, identical ones handed out to all who attended. The sermon illustration: The Lord of the Rings. The message: "Even the smallest person can make a difference."
Sometimes this message has seemed like a load of bunk. That's when I'm pessimistic and feel small. But wait, it's about being okay to feel small. Maybe it's about God's strength showing in our weakness. About letting go of our own abilities and trusting in the abilities of something higher than ourselves.
So, I think about the other significance in this, using the movie as a guideline. Frodo couldn't accomplish his task by himself. He needed people around him. Some were his long-time friends. Some had been enemies but became friends along the way. There were the strong, the weak, the brave, the timid, the macho, the snivelling. But they were all needed along different points of the journey. In the end the most unlikely (Sam) was the one who pulled it together when all seemed to be futile.
I need people like that. So do you.
Maybe at times it seems those people aren't there and you're going it alone, like Frodo. It seems that those whom you have loved have turned to a different way. But surprisingly there is a reunion sometime in the story. Maybe not now, but it does happen. You won't go the journey alone. You were never alone.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
1 Corinthians 1:25-26
Sometimes this message has seemed like a load of bunk. That's when I'm pessimistic and feel small. But wait, it's about being okay to feel small. Maybe it's about God's strength showing in our weakness. About letting go of our own abilities and trusting in the abilities of something higher than ourselves.
So, I think about the other significance in this, using the movie as a guideline. Frodo couldn't accomplish his task by himself. He needed people around him. Some were his long-time friends. Some had been enemies but became friends along the way. There were the strong, the weak, the brave, the timid, the macho, the snivelling. But they were all needed along different points of the journey. In the end the most unlikely (Sam) was the one who pulled it together when all seemed to be futile.
I need people like that. So do you.
Maybe at times it seems those people aren't there and you're going it alone, like Frodo. It seems that those whom you have loved have turned to a different way. But surprisingly there is a reunion sometime in the story. Maybe not now, but it does happen. You won't go the journey alone. You were never alone.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
1 Corinthians 1:25-26
// posted by Annette @ 12:01 p.m. 