Isaiah 29:17-24; Ps 27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Matthew 9:27-31
Hobbits are queer little folk. Yet there is something endearing about their fantastical existence.
The way they live and the way the enjoy the little things in life like eating and smoking and dancing and community. Tolkien does a good job describing humanity or atlas projecting the best part of humanity on these little folks of the Shire.
I not sure if any of you have seen the Second installment of the Hobbit movie or not but here is quote from the movie, a few words form Gandalf…
Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? I don’t know. Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage. — Gandalf, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
I agree with Gandalf on this issue. What keeps evil a bay but the small deeds of thoughtfulness. It is in these small deeds of ordinary folk and nothing is more ordinary than the hobbit and perhaps that is what makes them extraordinary. IT is in their ordinariness that goodness evades the surrounding and sets the Shire a blaze with the radiance of Heaven.
Something that we have forgotten in our search for power and greatness. Small ordinary deeds by everyday folks is what scatters the darkness and the gloom and thus keeps evil a bay.
This is what makes St. Nick such a powerful ally in the task at at. He was ordinary. He was simply ordinarily generous. It was his small acts of generosity that kept the darkness and gloom at bay.
He was a simple man who wanted to see goodness take off like an orchard. He secretly, though it is no longer a secret, gave money to a poor father so that his daughters could get married lest them become women of the streets.
This small act of generosity kept love a love as these women entered in to marriage and enjoyed the gift of married love.
St. Nick would have been a good hobbit.
ordinary small deeds that bring forth the light of hope is really where the Advent season begins to prepare us for the smallness of the child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Today lets be ordinary folk who offer ordinary generosity to those we meet.
My parents on the feast of St. Nick would put out bowls at night. When we awoke the next day we would find them filled with candy and sweets. We were always excited. Their little act of generosity reminded us that generosity makes life sweeter and it doesn't take much just a small cereal bowl full of generosity is all you need.
Perhaps my parents were hobbits as well. After all Shiner and the Shire have a lot in common: ordinary folk who like beer.
No comments:
Post a Comment