Of course I’ve been thinking of Middle Earth today! I’m sure some of you have too. 😉
I’ve heard so many people say that they wished they could visit Tolkien’s beautiful world, and I must say that I don’t blame them. . . But I’ve never really seen it that way.
For me, Middle Earth has never been farther than my backyard. Tolkien did not try to make The Lord of the Rings allegorical, but in the introduction to my version of The Fellowship of the Ring he said he thought it ‘applicable’.*
I believe I am a better person because I read fantasy. I know there is a lot of really bad fantasy out there, but I say it’s worth sifting through it. Because there’s books out there like The Hobbit.
Middle Earth is right here, right now. Fangorn is every tree I’ve ever climbed, and Aragorn is every hero I’ve admire. I see him in friends of ours, I see him in my Dad. I saw him in the police officer standing in the middle of the street picking up trash. I never want to underestimate the Strider’s around me–like so many people in Middle Earth did. I feel the pull of the Ring every time I’m tempted to snap at someone, or not bother to do what’s right. I pray I can resist like Frodo did. I see Arwen and Pippin and Merry in my family, and in my friends.
Whatever character you’ve been dying to meet, you can meet. They’re in you, in your heart, in those around you.
What Aragorn/Legolas/Eowyn/etc. in your life have you been missing? Middle Earth is right here around us–are we ready to fight the darkness?
*Forward to The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, page x