A new day will come
For me, the finest character in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was Sam. Samwise Gamgee, the loyal friend and protector of Frodo Baggins, the bearer of the ring. He’s selfless, brave and pure of heart and if it were not for him, Frodo would never have completed his destiny with honour. He not only had a profound depth of character he had a profound vision of the big picture. One of my teachers, ten year-old Michael Dunn, brought this piece to my attention; a piece that occurs near the end of The Two Towers.
At one point Frodo is overcome by the ring he bears and is near to giving himself up to the evil power and Sam saves him in the nick of time. Still blinded by the ring’s power, Frodo pulls his sword on Sam and has it at his throat.
"It’s me, it’s your Sam, don’t you know your own Sam?"
Frodo recovers and confesses the job’s too much for him.
"I can’t do this Sam."
"I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here, but we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered, full of darkness and danger they were. Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when there’s so much bad that had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.
A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stay with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. How folk in those stories had lots of chances for turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something."
"What are we holding on to Sam?"
"That there’s some good left in this world Mr. Frodo…and it’s worth fighting for."
There’s so much that is gospel-like here. In light of the Story, the one that matters, there are things and people and a glorious Lord worth fighting for, worth living for and worth dying for. Is this not Hebrews 11:32-40? Does it not help you to want to continue the war until the return of the King?
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.