Tag: Tolkien

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

Strangers and Exiles

James HoganLeave a comment

…and yea, another perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon has my God blessed me with. Gorgeous weather outside…and so another reading session on the porch of EQ was heartily enjoyed…sunshine and blue skies and bird song abounding…and my book lay open upon my lap as I read and I prayed and I pondered.

No one answered. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. Frodo
glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him. All the
Council sat with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought. A great dread
fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom
that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be
spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by
Bilbo’s side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he
spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will
was using his small voice.
‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’

Day of Days

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Hello friends! It’s Sunday evening here and I’m enjoying my chamomile tea and a little MLJ reading and really should get ready for bed momentarily. Quickly then…just know that today was a simply wonderful day. From being at church with my brothers and sisters and worshiping God together…to having some wonderful chats with friends old and new…and then getting home today and realizing after I finished my workout that I simply could not stay indoors as it’s been gorgeous all day!! After lying by the pool and finishing Steelheart(Brandon Sanderson) – I went for a walk…then thought how nice it would be to read outside at EQ. So walked back to the flat, picked up Lord of the Rings and walked back to EQ and sat on the porch with the sun warming my face…truly, this has to be one of my favorite days of the year. Blissful. I got many chapters of LotR read(from Bree to Rivendell!) and then finally walked back home to make my salad for dinner. Now…I prepare for the upcoming week. Knowing that God is good and has set my path in front of me, I cannot wait to walk in it. Give me the strength, Lord. Give me the strength. Sometimes I feel I know not why I take the steps I do…nonetheless, I trust my God. May this week be blessed of the Lord – only for His glory. Always. Now, I take my leave. Before I do…might as well write out a few of my favorite words from my latest chapter of MLJ:

What hope is there for the world? There is none. There is no comfort for the world now. But for the Christian man
who mourns because of sin and because of the state of the world, there is this comfort – the comfort of the blessed hope,
the glory that yet remains. So that even here, though he is groaning, he is happy at the same time because of the hope
that is set before him. There is this ultimate hope in eternity. In that eternal state we shall be wholly and entirely
blessed, there will be nothing to mar life, nothing to detract from it, nothing to spoil it. Sorrow and sighing shall
be no more; all tears shall be wiped away; and we shall bask for ever and ever in the eternal sunshine, and experience
joy and bliss and glory unmixed and unspoiled. ‘Happy are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’ How true it is.
Unless we know that, we are not Christian. If we are Christian, we do know it, this joy of sins forgiven and the knowledge
of it; the joy of reconciliation; the joy of knowing that God takes us back when we have fallen away from Him; the joy
and contemplation of the glory that is set before us; the joy that comes from anticipation of the eternal state.
-Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, page 50

Thus sings my soul.

An Old Kind of Music

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Hello friends…and happy Saturday! I have but a few minutes to write, as my steak is currently sitting on my counter and it will be time to cook it in less than 15 minutes! So I fly. Just thought I’d briefly chronicle the events of today, as it truly has been a most lovely day. Started out the day with a nice cup of coffee(warmed and heartened by honey and milk!) and some Psalm-reading. Fortified in both body and spirit, I then got some errands done – haircut and car wash, check! Following, had a nice lunch with John, Camille and Julie…good food, good chat, good friends. Thanks be to God. After that, I needed to give Julie her last birthday present, so she came by briefly…but it was such a gorgeous day(and it still is!) that we decided to go for a walk and soak in the sunlight a bit. We had a fantastic walk and even better talk…but eventually further errands demanded my attention. Did various shopping and then came back here, cleaned a bit…and now it’s almost dinner time! I decided I craved steak…so steak, mashed potatoes and asparagus is on the menu for tonight. Mmm…

Now, thought I’d leave you with a poem from last night’s Lord of the Rings reading. I do love it so, how each time I read this book, I find new favourite chapters…and so last night, shockingly enough, I discovered how much I loved the chapter “The Old Forest”. Who knew? Certainly not I. But reading Tolkien’s lovely prose and poetry…oh was my heart warmed and spirit thrilled.

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!

So yes, I think it is safe to say that this is still a book that brings joy to my heart. Now – time to create something that will bring joy to my stomach. Before I do – just know again how thankful I am for this day my God has made. My heart is overflowing with thankfulness. Peace and love.