Well, I’m Back
The concluding scene in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has Samwise Gamgee coming home from his final adventure with Frodo, sitting in his chair, holding his daughter on his lap as his wife, Rosie, looks on and declaring, “Well, I’m back.” Right to the point at the end of a heart-breaking and heart-warming tale too long to be told. On the long and dangerous quest, Sam mused that their path was unknown and their ending uncertain but that those were the best kinds of tales to hear. While we may never travel to the fiery chasm of Mount Doom, each of us has a path to walk, darkness to fight and a place to rest at the end.
The thing about living is that it’s hard to describe. How do you sum a lifetime of worthwhile and worthless deeds? And what about the vast amount of experience gathered by a rolling stone? Our desire to communicate is stymied by our inability to conceive. It’s hard to explain things bought by pain and would anybody really care anyway? Maybe the best we can do is one day return home with the battles fought and small victories won. Not that everyone has the option of rest at the end of the day. Some are doomed for the struggle, but the path laid at our feet is not always freely chosen.
I once memorized a long poem (of which I remember a little today) entitle Beyond the Sunset. It tells the story of a man who left his familial home, traveled world-over, built a name and achieved greatness. In old age, he returned and died before his father’s door. Funny, the circuitous nature of life. At the end of great deeds, we seek the familiar. Though not all of us will have the ability or inclination to follow the pigeon’s example, we all must have a familiar place to which we return at the end of the day. I have often wished to return to a place in time but have found it my lot to find shelter in the principles from which I launched.
The basic principles of Christianity are straight-forward and simple. We get confused when we try and out-think them. I’m not saying they are easy to execute, rather, they are simple to understand. There are many lines of thought in Christian life and ministry, but it is to the foundational things that we must return from deeds of derring-do. In fact, it’s the foundation that allows the rest of the edifice to be built. It’s easy to adopt and adapt fads, but fads they remain. The bridge that supports me also supported the Apostle Paul, and I have found little true worth in the flavor-of-the-month. No criticism- just observation.
If anyone ever flubbed the execution, I guess I have. While I have competed with rigor, I’ve just never been able to stick the landing. Not that I had control over everything in the first place. But whether I succeeded or failed in any particular endeavor was never the total point. I gave it a go, and I have to leave the scoring to the judges. Regardless of how I played, the principles- the rules of the game- were always the same, always good and always there. I accepted the guidelines, believed in them and found a place I could return to that was secure and warm. Today, I seek the familiar. After all the years, I’m back.
Sterl
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