Tag: Lord of the Rings

Your Palms

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Friday friends!!  Quick few words before work begins.  (Wanted to write more but sadly time does not allow!)  Firstly, need to log my latest read…(which you’ll probably not be surprised at if you’ve read any of my entries lately)

6.  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  This book is one of my very favourites.  And I typically like to re-read every few years…but this past re-read was after a little longer gap than most, mainly because of my nostalgia for the last re-read, which was in Aberdeen(in which this was my “garden read” whenever it was sunny outside!)  So although I wanted to hold onto that Scotland memory, I could eventually wait no longer and started this book anew in the latter part of last year.  Every time I read it, I do kind of wonder if I’m going to still have the same love for it…and every time I am reminded of my why I love it so.  A book that is gorgeous and full of pathos and hits me in the inner parts of my soul.  If I could write half as well(nay, a quarter!) as Tolkien, I would be thrilled.  Alas!  But reading this again, new passages continue to thrill me and I fall in love with Middle Earth and all my favourite characters all over again.  I must confess, I didn’t read the appendices, but I don’t think I have to read those to count this book as read, right??  (Although – I did read a little bit of one appendix…after finishing the last chapter last night, I read the story of Aragorn and Arwen Undómiel.  What love!)  So I have written many words but little substance, so to conclude this I will just say that this book remains unparalleled amongst fiction – so beautifully does it rhyme with my soul and present glimpses of that more perfect Truth.

And now – the sand runs swift through the glass, yet I will press on a bit longer.  Today I was blessed with a special gift…waking up extra early and actually being able to stay awake long enough to enjoy a gorgeously long coffee and reading morning.  Fresh-ground coffee and wonderful words to be read and a few special moments with my God.  What can compare?  So I had over an hour to read and so I got to read a bit of David Brainerd’s diary, then Psalms 9-10, Proverbs 2 and Daniel 10-12(gorgeous chapters…love what Daniel is told at the end…terrible paraphrase: “Keep on keeping on…until you die and then someday at the end of all things you will rise anew – gloriously, wondrously!”  Oh that I were a man who might also be called “one who is greatly esteemed” by my Lord) and also Romans 8.  Sometimes I struggle to make it all the way through Romans 8…but today I had the time to luxuriously read through the entire chapter.  Still – that first verse was almost too much for me and I can still barely grasp its magnitude –Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Bliss.  And…who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Might my heart always burn so hotly for the love of my Lord.

The Steward and the King

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‘Then you think that the Darkness is coming?’ said Éowyn.
‘Darkness Unescapable?’ And suddenly she drew close to him.
‘No,’ said Faramir, looking into her face.
‘It was but a picture in my mind.
I do not know what is happening.
The reason of my waking mind tells me
that great evil has befallen
and we stand at the end of days.
But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light,
and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny.
Éowyn, Éowyn, White Lady of Rohan,
in this hour I do not believe that any darkness will endure!’
And he stooped and kissed her brow.

And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor,
and a great wind rose and blew,
and their hair, raven and golden,
streamed out mingling in the air.
And the Shadow departed,
and the Sun was unveiled,
and light leaped forth;
and the waters of Anduin shone like silver,
and in all the houses of the City men sang
for the joy that welled up in their hearts
from what source they could not tell.

-Tolkien, LotR, p962

the Pathetique

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Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale.
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains,
Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.  The beauty of it smote his heart,
as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him.
For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end
the Shadow was only a small and passing thing:
there was light and high beauty
forever beyond its reach.

-Tolkien, LotR, p922

A Loveliness Upon the Horizon Waits

James HoganLeave a comment

A wonderful Sunday of peace and rest slowly winds to a close.

And deliciously-spiced chicken cooks on the stove in anticipation of a beautiful chicken parm dinner – it may be a slightly late 9 o’clock dinner, but all the better for the waiting. And now – shall I mar this evening with more writing? A plethora of words does not a masterpiece make. I shall just share a few words from my afternoon reading that warmed my heart…

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places;
but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now
mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
-J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, page 348

Son of Gondor

James HoganLeave a comment

Lasagna almost ready to eat and Fellowship of the Ring almost at its conclusion. What a beautiful evening! Every time I see this movie, I’m reminded why it’s one of my favorites. To see the veritable clash between good and evil. Darkness is out there – yet we fight. I just saw one of the most moving scenes in cinema history, the farewell between Aragorn and Boromir. “I would have fought with you, my brother…my captain…my king.” Oh love.

And so with one of my favorite movies winding to its end(Sam and Frodo sailing across the river together!), I just thought I’d post quickly this Saturday evening before I eat my lasagna. All good things come from the Father of lights, and it is Him to whom I offer my thanksgiving this night. Farewell my friends! Now, it’s lasagna time for me. Mmm delicious. Peace and love.