Tookish

"Is it possible that God's dream for human destiny is more than just believing a message?

What if He is inviting us to participate in some kind of divine quest?"

There's something Tookish in all of us...

Call me a nerd. Go ahead. But I get so inspired when I watch Lord of the Rings! Return of the King was on tv, and I was reminded of why I used to watch those movies over and over (on VHS).

I somehow identify with Frodo at the end, when all is said and done and he returns to the Shire & to all that is comfortable and known. He says, "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back?"

I seem to live in that very kind of tension. I've seen what many have not, and I have yet to see what many have. There is no going back for me-- no rest in riches, no peace in prosperity. I am constantly burdened for the world that is so far removed from what I know and what I see in my daily life. There is a burden that I carry that few truly understand.

Though I'm following His path the best I know how, I still know that it's my decisions and choices that keep me where I am; in the normalcy, in the easy.

Tolkien writes, about Bilbo Baggins, "Something Tookish woke up inside him and he wished to go and see the great mountains and hear the pine-trees and waterfalls... and wear a sword instead of a walking stick."

I'm afraid something Tookish woke inside of me a long time ago. And yet here I am. It's so difficult to realize that adventure lies wherever we wish to acknowledge it. Very often, it lies hidden in the mundane, the everyday things, and some of us (like me) so easily overlook it because our hearts and minds are on things elsewhere. I ache when I think of not being able to travel. I can't explain why, it's just what I want to do. What I feel like I should do. And at the same time, it's a blessing and an honor to be anywhere, to just be living and doing life with people.

Tension.

Can you feel it?

I sure do.

"My dear Sam, you cannot always be torn in two; you will have to be one and whole for many years. You have so much to enjoy, and to be, and to do. Your part in this story will go on."

Precisely what I need to hear. Words of promise to my restless, torn soul. Just be.

And dare to dream big dreams. There's more to this story.

"I think there is something in us that wants to be part of saving the world...

We can be spiritual pioneers, adventurers who dare to explore what a life fully committed to God can really look like."

--Ed Gungor