followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 90]

Yesterday was J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday! To celebrate I got together with my little Tolkien book club and we watched all the special features about him and how he came to write Lord of the Rings. It was so fascinating to see how his education and interests synergized to create the mythology of Middle Earth, and how his life experiences prepared him to write the story. A story of hope beyond guarantees.

(The only time for despair is when the outcome is 100% certain. We never know for sure how things will turn out -- there is always hope.)

It reminded me of this very nice BYU devotional that was given last month. (Last year, whatever.) I actually recommend reading or listening to the whole thing, but here's a nice paragraph.

The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien, is another fantasy classic that tells of a quest to destroy the powerful and evil One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. It too seems to be about creatures and places that never existed. And yet what has made it the most popular book in the twentieth century, second only to the Bible, is not its fantasy but its realism. It is not just about brave hobbits fighting the armies of Mordor but about the universal heroism of all of us—seemingly little people—who must fight against the evil of our own day in whatever way we can, calling on an inner strength we didn’t know we had as we do our part in the great struggle that is always going on between ultimate good and ultimate evil.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us.