Hope & Peril

Timely and powerful words from Tolkien

What I appreciate about The Lord of the Rings is that it is not just a story of adventure for the sake of thrill. Each pages is laden with meaning, dripping with words that help us make sense of our lives and this world. I want to share a passage from The Fellowship of the Ring that I have come back to often in hopes that it brings encouragement to your own heart. In it you will find hope and sobriety over our broken world, sorrow and a longing for a future, better land! There is no need for extra commentary — so feel free to take time to ponder over these words and let them sink deep!

‘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. ‘Some there are among us who sing that the Shadow will draw back, and peace shall come again. Yet I do not believe that the world about us will ever again be as it was of old, or the light of the Sun as it was aforetime. For the Elves, I fear, it will prove at best a truce, in which they may pass to the Sea unhindered and leave the Middle-earth for ever. Alas for Lothlórien that I love! It would be a poor life in a land where no mallorn grew. But if there are mallorn-trees beyond the Great Sea, none have reported it.’