The Living Power of Myth

How great stories help us understand our own stories

If you didn’t know, I am a lover of Tolkien and Middle-earth (the 100+ Middle-earth book collection, Tolkien YouTube channel and social media account can attest to the depth of unapologetic nerdiness). One of my favorite things to do is to share with others the beauty and power of these stories and how they have and continue to shape and impact me personally through the years. I must admit that there is often at first, a tinge of skepticism when I talk about how this strange and epic story can be so relevant to our very own lives. People who are unfamiliar with fantasy (or in Tolkien’s own words: “fairy-story”) often give a laughable response. To them (and to me not too long ago), the idea that dwarves, elves, and magical lands could speak into modern daily life seems unlikely.

“What can a fictional story say to my pain, grief, work, parenting, singleness, and dreams?”

It turns out the answer is: quite a lot...

This is why it’s always a thrill for me to see someone’s eyes light up for the first time when they suddenly become aware that this grand narrative actually has the ability to not only map onto their own life, but also speak into it in a profoundly deep way.

I just experienced this with a good friend this past week. He knew how big of a Tolkien nerd I was and would often take the comical jabs at me for it. So when he randomly asked to borrow the books to start reading, I was pleasantly surprised. A week later, as he was already deep into book two, I received this text from him as he was processing his current season of life:

I feel like Sam, I just want to go back home where everything was good. Journey started cute, but some days I feel like I’m solo and post fellowship disbanding.

Dry marsh, rapidly changing friend groups…

Hobbits are gardeners, they have no place in Eastern lands, but they were selected to bear the journey through that land to complete something much bigger.

I have to continually remind myself why I left the comfortable, where I fit the mold, and come expectant that the bigger thing is truly ahead, and it is better.

It wasn’t just the fact that he was quoting LOTR that brought me joy, it was the fact that I was witnessing him make sense of and navigate his own story through this lens. It not only put words to his journey, it gave him comfort, courage and vision for what he was experiencing and how he needed to move forward.

This is why I love reading Tolkien. Not just because I enjoy Middle-earth, but because it has been a source of clarity to my own life and story.

This is really the way I think life is designed to work. It’s really hard to understand your own story, let alone figure out how to live in it, without the presence of another story. We are storied people. Humans have been this way since the dawn of creation. It’s the way God made this world. It’s why music, movies, plays, and books are so powerful. We have a great need to immerse ourselves in another story and let it overlap, jab, poke, reveal, expose, comfort and strengthen us. No amount of reasoning or logic can do this. Myth is the native language of the soul.

Read good literature. Fiction is not a waste of time. A good story with real human depth is a prophetic voice. It speaks wisdom and warning into our lives. It calls us out, lifting our eyes, and inviting us further into the life we were meant to live.

What do elves, dwarves and magical lands have to do with your life? Everything.