Bonjour.

The saddest thing about reading Tolkien’s books was the realization that I’m seeing a land undergoing decay. Everything about Middle-Earth is grown old and scarred with the toils of the past. Magic is scarce and the Elves are leaving, because like a fire left without fuel in the wind, the world is diminishing, and even her colors are not as vibrant as they were in the Elder Days.

OTOH, the other theme in Tolkien is about not giving up even if things are looking dim. There’s a lot of emphasis on rebuilding and making things anew and even just going on with your life - maybe Aragorn and Arwen’s Gondor is not Númenor, but then again, Númenor was corrupted and sank beneath the waves so who knows? Sam and Merri and Pippin - and even Frodo, for a time - put in a lot of effort to make the Shire happy again.

“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. ””

Right?!

‪Did you hear the one about the academic who didn’t know how to use Zoom‬

“The way we do anything is the way we do everything.”

“A Christian concept of personhood depends not on what I can do but on who I am – that I am created in the image of God, and that God has called me into existence and continues to know and love me. Human beings do not need to earn the right to be treated as creatures of great value. Our dignity is intrinsic, rooted in the fact that God made us, knows us, and loves us.”

“Of one thing I am perfectly sure: God’s story never ends with ashes.”

“Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.”

“In some amazing way under God’s providence, prayer unleashes the unfolding plan and pattern of God.”