Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is …
Tag: J.R.R. Tolkien
“Pain and delight flow together”
I'm closing in on the end of The Return of the King, and I have really enjoyed reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy again. When I last spent some time reading it, something in the text stood out. In the aftermath of the victory over Sauron and the forces of Mordor, there is a …
Learning to Pray from Scripture Part 3: How the Psalms Teach Us to Be Ourselves in the Presence of God
How open are you about expressing your emotions? Do you typically hide your feelings from others? Or do you find it difficult to put how you are feeling into words? Maybe you're not someone who is, as they say, in touch with their feelings. Perhaps you find the outward expression of emotions--be it anger, sadness, …
Reading to Slow Yourself Down (Or Why Spending Time in Middle-Earth is a Spiritual Discipline)
For the last few weeks I've been re-reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm about halfway of the way through book 2, The Two Towers. Since I don't read a lot of fiction, I'm enjoying the refreshing change from the books on theology and pastoral ministry that I usually read. Still, there …
For Such a Time as This . . .
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book (and film) in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a hobbit by the name of Frodo has volunteered to be the one to take the ring of power to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor so it can be destroyed once and for all. The …
grace notes 