"...but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength"

There are countless great and amazing passages in Scripture, and I am continually finding them in my Bible readings. One of my favorite passages is Isaiah 40; God's might, glory, and goodness are so clear throughout this chapter and I love to read it often. This morning, I thought I would share it with you.

¹ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that her warfare is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the LORD’s hand

double for all her sins.

³ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

⁵ And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

⁶A voice says, "Cry!"

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news;

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

"Behold your God!"

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

¹¹ He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,

or what man shows him his counsel?

¹⁴Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

¹⁹ An idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

²⁰ He who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

²¹ Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

²³ who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name,

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power

not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

"My way is hidden from the LORD,

and my right is disregarded by my God"?

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

The Called Ones

A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading through "The Chronicles of Narnia". In the second to last book, "The Silver Chair", there was an excerpt that struck me and that I wanted to share. It is taken from the first conversation between Jill and Aslan when Aslan gives the former her task in Narnia.

"Please, what task, Sir?" said Jill.

"The task for which I called you and [Eustace Scrubb] here out of your own world."

This puzzled Jill very much. "It's mistaking me for someone else," she thought. She didn't dare to tell the Lion this, though she felt things would get into a dreadful muddle unless she did.

"Speak your thought, Human Child," said the Lion.

"I was wondering - I mean - could there be some mistake? Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to - to Somebody - it was a name I wouldn't know - and perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open."

"You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you," said the Lion.

"Then you are Somebody, Sir?" said Jill.

"I am."

I thought this was a very good illustration of God's election and salvation of His people. While it seems that we are the ones seeking Him when we first pray for forgiveness, and for Him to live in our hearts and make us His, it is really His work, as we would not pray this prayer if it were not for God originally calling us. We see this truth clearly in the above excerpt, I think, and it helps me to understand the concept.

He Loves Me!!

Another favorite excerpt from "Stepping Heavenward" that I wanted to share here occurred to me this morning. It is taken from earlier in the book when Katy is still a young lady and struggling with her faith. This is part of a conversation between Katy and her pastor, Dr. Cabot.

"Katy, all that you say may be true. I dare say it is. But God loves you. He loves you."

He loves me, I repeated to myself. He loves me. "Oh, Dr. Cabot, if I could believe that! If I could believe that after all the promises I have broken, all the foolish, wrong things I have done and shall always be doing, God perhaps still loves me!"

"You may be sure of it," he said solemnly. "I, His minister, bring the gospel to you today. Go home and say over and over to yourself, 'I am a wayward, foolish child. But he loves me! I have disobeyed and grieved Him ten thousand times. But He loves me! I have lost faith in some of my dearest friends and am very desolate. But He loves me! I do not love Him; I am even angry with Him! But He loves me!'"

I came away; and all the way home I fought this battle with myself, saying, "He loves me!" I knelt down to pray, and all my wasted, childish, wicked life came and stared me in the face. I looked at it and said with tears of joy, "But He loves me!" Never in my life did I feel so rested, so quieted, so sorrowful, and yet so satisfied.

What a beautiful truth the Gospel is!!

Stepping Heavenward

During the past few weeks, I have been reading "Stepping Heavenward" by Elizabeth Prentiss for the third or fourth time. Each time I read it, I learn so much and am so inspired by it. It is written in the form of a diary of a girl named Katherine ("Katy") Mortimer. I highly recommend it to anyone, and especially any young woman, who is seeking to follow after Christ. I have so many favorite excerpts from it that I would practically have to copy out the whole book in order to record them all here, but I have posted an excerpt on another site, and thought I would post that here as well since I have already written it.

In the following excerpt, Katy is recording an section from a Q&A book that Miss Clifford - a friend of hers - read to her on one of her visits:

"I wish to know if it is best to record, on my tablets, the faults and the sins I have committed, in order not to run the risk of forgetting them. I excited in myself to repentance of my faults as much as I can; but I have never felt any real grief on account of them. When I examine myself at night, I see persons far more perfect than I, complain of more sin; as for me, I seek, I find nothing; and yet it is impossible there should not be many points on which to implore pardon every day of my life."

"Reply: You should examine yourself every night, but simply and briefly. In the disposition to which God has brought you, you will not voluntarily commit any considerable fault without remembering and reproaching yourself for it. As to little faults scarcely perceived, even if you sometimes forget them, this need not make you uneasy. As to the little grief on account of your sins, it is not necessary. God gives it when it pleases Him. True and essential conversion to the heart consists in a full will to sacrifice to God. What I call full will is a fixed, immovable disposition of the will to resume none of the voluntary affections that may alter the purity of the love to God and to abandon itself to all the crosses that it will perhaps be necessary to bear, in order to accomplish the will of God always and in all things. As to the sorrow for sin, when one has it, one ought to return thanks for it; when one perceives it to be wanting, one should humble one's self peacefully before God without trying to excite it by vain efforts. You find in your self-examination fewer faults than persons more advanced and more perfect do; it is because your inferior light is still feeble. It will increase, and the view of your infidelities will increase in proportion. It suffices, without making yourself uneasy, to try to be faithful to the degree of light your possess and to instruct yourself by reading and meditation. It will not do to try to forestall the grace that belongs to a more advanced period. It would only serve to trouble and discourage you and even to exhaust you by continual anxiety; the time that should be spent in loving God would be given to forced returns upon yourself, which secretly nourishes self-love."

Painting Pictures of Egypt

As many of my acquaintance are aware, I, with my family, have moved several times in my life. As I get older, each move seems to become more heart-rending and difficult than the last. Sometimes I have pondered the fact that I am often dissatisfied with where we currently live, and then we move again, I miss our past home so much that it becomes a kind of forsaken Eden that I was forced to leave. A year or two ago, my sister introduced me to the song "Painting Pictures of Egypt" by Sara Groves. These lyrics express my present thoughts and emotions about moving better than I ever could myself. I thought I would share them with you now.

I don’t want to leave here

I don’t want to stay

It feels like pinching to me either way

The places I long for the most

Are the places where I’ve been

They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith

It’s not about trust

It’s all about comfortable

When you move so much

The place I was wasn’t perfect

But I had found a way to live

It wasn’t milk or honey

But then neither is this

CHORUS:

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt

Leaving out what it lacked

The future seems so hard

And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me

Cannot hold the things I"ve learned

And those roads closed off to me

While my back was turned

The past is so tangible

I know it by heart

Familiar things are never easy to discard

I was dying for some freedom

But now I hesitate to go

Caught between the promise

And the things I know

BRIDGE:

If it comes too quick

I may not recognize it

Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

If it comes too quick

I may not appreciate it

Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

The Attribute of God's Sovereignty

Over the past few months, I have been reading through "The Attributes of God" by Arthur W. Pink. In the chapter on God's sovereignty, there were some excellent quotes which I wanted to share.

"Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things 'after the counsel of His own will.'" "Here then is a sure resting place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God." "Were it in anywise possible for something to occur apart from either the direct agency or permission of God, then that something would be independent of Him, and He would at once cease to be Supreme." "...the Divine knowledge of the future is not a mere abstraction, but something which is inseparably connected with and accompanied by His purpose."

The truth of God's sovereignty is indeed a "sure resting place for the heart" and such a comfort to all believers!

Our God is An Awesome God!!

As I was in the plane flying home from Texas yesterday afternoon, I spent the majority of the trip looking out the window, and thinking. An excerpt from one of my favorite books, Beyond the Gathering Storm, (pg. 241-242) came to my mind. ~~ Henry stretched out to look at the softly drifting clouds above them. He grinned as he watched Danny mimic him - on one side, leaning his head on one little fist. "The clouds are white," mused the little boy. "They're white," agreed Henry. "Sometimes they're black." Henry turned to study the little boy's face. "Do you know what makes the difference?" "Uh-uh." He shook his head. "The sun." "The sun?" "Yes. If the clouds are too thick to let the sun shine through, we have dark, cloudy days. Sometimes they even look mean and ugly. If the sun can shine on them, they look white and fluffy. Pretty. If we could look at them from the other side, way up where the sun lived, they would always look woolly white and fluffy." "You mean on God's side?" "God's side," said Henry. "He has a very different way of seeing things." Henry was aware that Amber had ceased stacking dishes. Was she, too, thinking about the clouds - the sun - and God? "I like the white ones best," Danny noted. "I think we all do. But we need the dark ones. They bring the rain - make things live and grow. But we're always glad when they have done their work and gone away." ~~ I like this illustration, and to remember that God always sees the full picture, beyond the clouds, beyond the little things in life. It also occurred to me, as it always does when flying, how indescribably tiny we are when compared with the country, the world, and the universe. When soaring approximately 15,000 feet above the earth, even large buildings and supposed "sky-scrapers" are reduced to small dots in the landscape. These thoughts naturally flowed into thoughts of how great our God truly is - to have created everything, to be so much greater than anything we know or can imagine. Thinking how tiny we are, and how great and mighty God is, and then to think and remember that God cares for us - as insignificant and sinful as we are, He cares for us... It's mind-boggling! That such an awesome God as our God is should care for us, should ordain every small event in our lives, should count every hair on our heads, and hold our every tear in His hands, should LOVE us!... Does it not stretch your imagination and inspire your heart to worship?! What an amazing God we truly have! Too often we get caught up in the petty concerns of our daily lives and forget how great a God we serve. Nothing is too small to beneath His notice, or too big to be beyond His power to cure! Becoming a servant in the land of our Lord would be a privilege unfathomable to the human mind, and yet He has made us, not servants, but His sons and daughters, and heirs to His kingdom! It is too much to comprehend! We cannot possibly thank God enough, but we can render Him our obedience and submission and worship! He alone is worthy of our awe!

Lucy & The Magician - Doubting Our Provider

Here is another excerpt from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (pages 139-141). It begins after Lucy climbs the stairs in the magician's house and makes the Duffers (or "Dufflepuds", as they are later known) visible again. Aslan briefly appears and introduces her to the magician himself. This excerpt is taken from the conversation between the Magician and Lucy over dinner after Aslan departs.

"When will the spell work?" asked Lucy. "Will the Duffers be visible again at once?"

"Oh yes, they're visible now. But they're probably all asleep still; they always take a rest in the middle of the day."

"And now that they're visible, are you going to let them off being ugly? Will you make them as they were before?"

"Well, that's rather a delicate question," said the Magician. "You see, it's only they who think they were so nice before. They say they've been uglified, but that isn't what I called it. Many people might say the change was for the better."

"Are they awfully conceited?"

"They are. Or at least the Chief Duffer is, and he's taught all the rest to be. They always believe every word he says."

"We'd noticed that," said Lucy.

"Yes - we'd get on better without him, in a way. Of course I could turn him into something else, or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said. But I don't like to do that. It's better for them to admire him than to admire nobody."

"Don't they admire you?" asked Lucy.

"Oh, not me," said the Magician. "They wouldn't admire me."

"What was it you uglified them for - I mean, what they called uglified?"

"Well, they wouldn't do what they were told. Their work is to mind the garden and raise food - not for me, as they imagine, but for themselves. They wouldn't do it at all if I didn't make them. And of course for a garden you want water. There is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill. And from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden. All I asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back. But they wouldn't see it. In the end they refused point blank."

"Are they as stupid as all that?" asked Lucy.

The Magician sighed. "You wouldn't believe the troubles I've had with them. A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner: they said it saved time afterwards. I've caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up. One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out; no one thought of moving the cat. But I see you've finished. Let's go and look at the Duffers now they can be looked at."

This excerpt reminds me of God's commands to His people. "...we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28); yet how many times do we distrust Him and/or demand our own way even though it would be much harder and more painful? This excerpt reminds me how our behavior at our doubting moments must appear from the other side of Heaven. It reminds me that we must trust God, no matter how events appear to us, knowing that He works all things together for our good, not our destruction. How patient, and loving, and good our Father is to put up with our stupidity and constantly lead us as a Shepherd leads his sheep! A good reminder and lesson for us always.

"Courage, dear heart"

This is an excerpt taken from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (from pages 158-60) as the Dawn Treader is fleeing from the Dark Island - the island on which dreams (that is, nightmares) come true. I love this section because it is so wonderful and comforting to see Aslan's love for and care of Lucy and the crew, and through him, God's love and care for us.

"Drinian," [Caspian] said in a very low voice. "How long did we taken rowing in - I mean rowing to where we picked up the stranger."

"Five minutes, perhaps," whispered Drinian. "Why?"

"Because we've been more than that already trying to get out."

Drinian's hand shook on the tiller and a line of cold sweat ran down his face. The same idea was occurring to everybody on board. "We shall never get out, never get out," moaned the rowers."He's steering us wrong. We're going round and round in circles. We shall never get out." The stranger, who had been lying in a huddled heap on the deck, sat up and burst out into a horrible screaming laugh.

"Never get out!" he yelled. "That's it. Of course. We shall never get out. What a fool I was to have thought they would let me go as easily as that. No, no, we shall never get out."

Lucy leant her head on the edge of the fighting-top and whispered, "Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now." The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little - a very, very little - better. "After all, nothing has really happened to us yet," she thought.

"Look!" cried Rynelf's voice hoarsely from the bows. There was a tiny speck of light ahead, and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship. It did not alter the surrounding darkness, but the whole ship was lit up as if by a searchlight. Caspian blinked, started round, saw the faces of his companions all with wild, fixed expressions. Everyone was staring in the same direction: behind everyone lay his black, sharply-edged shadow.

Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross. It circled three times round the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow. It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings, rose, and began to fly slowly ahead, bearing a little to starboard. Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance. But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, "Courage, dear heart," and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.

In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again.

Wisdom or Knowledge

“On shipboard it pleased God of his free mercy to give me twenty-six of the Moravian brothers for companions, who endeavoured to show me ‘a more excellent way’. But I understood it not at first. I was too learned to be wise, so that it seemed foolishness to me. And I continued preaching, and following after, and trusting in, that righteousness wherein no flesh can be justified…”

Upon reading the above quote by John Wesley on his conversion, I was struck with his statement that he was “too learned to be wise”, and, more specifically, the difference implied in his words between knowledge and wisdom. At the time of Wesley’s conversion, he was already a clergyman of the Church of England and a man of almost thirty-five years of age. By all appearances, he was a true and devout believer in Christ; yet on his voyage to the New World where he was to preach to the pagan Indians of the largely unsettled land of Georgia, Wesley was struck with the fact that he was unsaved and lacking the assurance of salvation that some of his fellow Moravian passengers demonstrated. The salvation he knew and preached was based mainly on works, not the inward workings of the heart.

Yet it is not my wish in this instance to begin again the ceaseless Calvinism-Arminian debate which has a place, but would be a proverbial “rabbit trail” in this case. My point here is solely to illustrate the distinction between knowledge and wisdom – two words that are often wrongly considered to be synonymous. According to one dictionary, knowledge is the “general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles”[1] while wisdom is the “the knowledge and experience needed to make sensible decisions and judgments, or the good sense shown by the decisions and judgments made”[2] as well as the “accumulated knowledge of life or in a particular sphere of activity that has been gained through experience”[3]. I have further heard wisdom described as knowledge applied to life.

Anyone with means can procure knowledge through the medium of education. Yet a truly good education does not make it its goal to simply pack as much information, facts, and figures into the students’ heads before graduation as possible; but also strives to pass on a portion of wisdom accompanying that information. A homeless, uneducated, and disabled man can be exceedingly wise, while the brightest, most learned and intelligent man can be a complete fool if all he knows are the mere facts and misses the messages, lessons, and point of all that he has learned. For instance, what is truly important about knowing what date Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church door unless one knows and understands what is in those ninety-five theses? In the same manner, what good is knowing what date the first shot of the Civil War was fired if one does not also learn the lessons of that war?

George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” One can know all the facts about a war or any great event in history, yet if they do not learn the lessons of those great events, then they are still liable to make the same errors, though perhaps in a different area. Mere facts and figures are not enough to make someone wise. Granted, some facts and calculations are important and necessary for life, yet regardless of their necessity, they are not what makes up an individual or are what is truly important in the end.

Also, in some people, knowledge makes them puffed up and above the opinions of others in their own minds at least. In raising themselves so high that they cannot accept admonishment or debate, they become fools. In their satisfaction with their knowledge, they completely miss wisdom.

Proverbs often warns us against becoming proud, above the voice of our elders, and ignoring the voice of wisdom. In chapter 8, verses 12-21 and 32-36, we read,

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries…And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

There are numerous other passages in Proverbs that relate to this discussion; for instance, 10:17: “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.” 12:1: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” 16:22: “Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly.” 17:10: “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.” 17:16: “Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?” 19:8: “Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.”

The point is that we should be very careful, lest in the pursuit and gain of knowledge, we reject true wisdom as foolishness. Also, we must never become so proud that we cease to listen to correction or advice. Not all correction is rightly applied, and not all advice is good, but we must be humble enough to listen when both are offered and learn to take the good and let the bad fly away as chaff in the wind. More times than I would like to admit, I have to remind myself that to scorn correction is foolishness, and it is only those who listen to reproof that will become wise.

---

[1] Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

A Bruised Apple

An apple is one of my favorite fruits, and I often have one for a snack. Each time I go to eat an apple I look through the ones we have and pick the one that looks the best. This week there was one in the bunch that had a few bruises on it, so each time I went for an apple this week, I avoided that one and got another. Today, however, there were no other apples, so I decided to just cut out the bruises on the one left and eat it. Somewhat ironically, the one I had been avoiding all week because of its bruises turned out to be the sweetest and tastiest one of the bunch. While I was thinking (and perhaps inwardly chuckling) at the irony of this, it occurred to me that this situation is somewhat relatable to people. Most people are naturally attracted to the "beautiful people" of this world - the ones with lovely faces and great houses. Many do not seek out the people who are not so beautiful on the outside and the ones that struggle to make ends meet. This is because "man looks on the outward appearance". (1 Samuel 16:7) However, sometimes as we get to know the outwardly beautiful people in the world, we are surprised to find that their insides are anything but lovely. In the same way, sometimes as we get to know the people who are perhaps less than beautiful outwardly and we find that they have a heart that is truly stunning. This is not always the case; there are many outwardly beautiful people who have hearts to match and the same with less-than-pretty people with ugly hearts. However, the point remains. However cliche it sounds, it is true that you "can't judge a book by its cover". We must strive to get to know a person before deciding whether or not they are beautiful or ugly. Remember, sometimes it's the bruised apple that has the sweetest taste.

Hobbits & Wizards - A Simple Life

“The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone and I must follow it if I can…”

Watching the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring, one soon encounters the pleasing sight of Gandalf returning to the Shire and conversing with Frodo. It is very evident by his manner and expression that Gandalf loves the small folk quite dearly and treasures them in his grizzled, old heart. On the surface, there is nothing terribly extraordinary in this fact, but upon deeper reflection, it may strike one as odd.

Gandalf is a wizard – one of only three in Middle Earth – and as such he has a great many powers, as well as a ring and staff. He travels all over the world and is involved in the most significant and secret events in history. He associates closely with the ancient beings – the Elves – and is their equal in wisdom and years. He is a main participant in one of the chief conflicts of the 3^rd Age. He is all this, and yet he cares for…whom? Hobbits - creatures known for being unknown! Undersized folk who were content to mind their own business and let the “Big Folk” mind theirs; whose fondest desires were after food and ale and good, strong pipe-weed. What could possibly draw such a man as Gandalf – one of the most central creatures of Middle Earth – to Hobbits of all creatures, one might ask?

After considering this at length, a resolution comes to mind: sometimes in this world, full of its various conflicts and complexities, we long for the simple things of life. Our lives can spin so wildly out of control at times that we often need to remind ourselves of what is important – not that ale or pipe-weed are some of the most important things in life, but they are representative, simple, basic pleasures – pleasures that require no planning, no conflict, and no debate. They’re just there. Perhaps that is why we clutch our habits and traditions so tenaciously. In this dizzy, fast-paced world, we often need something to get back to. And while the “significant” things in our life certainly have a place; sometimes the simple things, the quiet, un-demanding things are most important.

In the first chapter, entitled “Concerning Hobbits”, of Bilbo’s book – There and Back Again: A Hobbit’s Tale – he gives a description of the Hobbits of the Shire. It may be worthwhile now to note what he says; “Hobbits have been living and farming in the four Farthings of the Shire for many hundreds of years, quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the Big Folk. Middle Earth being, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count, hobbits must seem of little importance being neither renowned as great warriors, nor counted among the very wise. In fact, it has been remarked by some that Hobbits’ only real passion is for food – a rather unfair observation as we have also developed a keen interest in the brewing of ales and the smoking of pipe-weed; but where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet and good, tilled earth, for all Hobbits share a love of things that grow. And, yes, no doubt to others, our ways seem quaint; but today of all days it is brought home to me: it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.”

One might be reminded of the Amish in our own world. Their lifestyle is carried on by only a tiny minority of humanity, and yet some are drawn to their quaint ways and simple lives. People who would never normally dream of adopting the Amish way of living are sometimes suddenly drawn to it when their hectic lives drive them to their nerves’ end. What draws them to the Amish? Certainly not simply the uniqueness of their ways, although that certainly causes attention; but what really stops someone in their tracks and makes them sigh with longing as they pass the farms and the fields of that quiet people? What appeals to their heart? It is the simplicity, the peace, the contentment often portrayed by that people in their slow, leisurely, yet fulfilling lives. Perhaps it is even the slow pace itself that is appealing to us.

The Hobbits’ life was a simple, comparatively insignificant one. The events of their daily practice required no great thought or debate. They just enjoyed life; perhaps living life the way it was meant to be lived. There was laughter and dancing and singing; no worry or care bent their brows or caused their curly hair to turn grey prematurely. This peace and joy showed itself outwardly in the lovely meadows and fields with their flowers – the sunshine beaming down on that beloved valley. There were no hidden motivations in their actions or underlying tensions in their conversations; there was purely good cheer and the simple, uncomplicated pleasures of life. Their figures were the figures of ease and a true delight in the good gifts given to them.

I believe that is what drew Gandalf to the Hobbits and made them so dear to his heart. The Shire was a place of peace and happiness – a resting place for his weary, care-laden mind. Especially when compared to the extensive, toilsome, and agonizing quest of the ring, the life of the hobbit was one that offered an exceedingly welcome relief. Of course Hobbits were far from perfect creatures and had their quarrels and nuisances just as any other folk, and yet for the most part these squabbles were small and did not impact the life of the hobbits at large. At the conclusion of the Return of the King, after Frodo and Sam had been so many places and seen so many things, it was the lovely cherry blossoms of the Shire and the sweet, tangy taste of freshly-picked strawberries that they missed and longed for the most.

So here we find that what made the hobbits so comparatively insignificant was also that which made them so appealing to those who were fatigued with the hectic and complicated struggles of the outside world. In the end it is clear that Gandalf favored the laughter of the hobbit children to the commendation of elves and men and dwarves.

“And so life in the Shire goes on very much as it has this past Age, full of its own comings and goings, with change coming slowly, if it comes at all. For things are made to endure in the Shire, passing from one generation to the next. There’s always been a Baggins living here under the Hill in Bag End…and there always will be.”