THEY WERE HOLDING ON TO SOMETHING

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

Choosing to remain hopeful and optimistic in the midst of a trial or when trying to make a hard decision is not something that comes naturally to mankind. What comes most naturally, if we are still operating in our flesh, are feelings of complete despair and hopelessness.

Have you ever thought about how much false and fleeting comfort we find just by choosing hopelessness?

I read a quote the other day, and I’m not sure of the author, but it said, “We seldom admit the seductive comfort of hopelessness. It saves us from ambiguity. It has an answer for every question: “There’s just no point.” Hope, on the other hand, is messy. If it might all work out, then we have things to do.”

As I began to contemplate this quote, my mind started racing as I began to think about the most hopeful of souls I have encountered in my own personal life, as well as in my readings.

The most hopeful character I believe I have ever encountered in literature is none other than Samwise Gamgee, a little hobbit in The Lord of the Rings (Shhhh, don’t tell Madie I am writing about him, haha)!

Though his companion and fellow hobbit, Frodo, is most prone to feeling the heavy weight of despair and hopelessness, Samwise Gamgee never ceases to amaze me with his unwavering courage and optimism despite all they face while trying to destroy the ring, a personification of evil.

Just when they are about to cave and find some sort of comfort in hopelessness, Samwise Gamgee remembers there is indeed still hope, if they just hold on to something…

“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. And 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 so much bad 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 were the stories that stayed 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. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”

Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

If your sufferings are not producing hope, then dear Christian I must ask, are you holding on to something, or rather someone, who matters?

You must understand that this was not an easy thing for Samwise Gamgee to realize. This realization, and the truth of it meant that he and Frodo had to accomplish what they had set out to do. They couldn’t find comfort in hopelessness any longer, and this was a difficult choice they had to make.

No longer could they rationalize giving up and going home defeated.

You and I serve the God of hope, the only one who can use suffering to produce something beautiful and worthwhile.

Hope may be messy, and we may not have all the answers we want about how it’s all going to work out in the end.

However, you can hope with all of your soul that it will work out in the end if you hold on to Jesus, to the stories which inspire us anew, and to the people like Samwise Gamgee who will always stick by your side and remind you of the things which really matter when you can’t seem to remember yourself.

“Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”  (Gandalf)

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13)

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Are you feeling the weight of despair and hopelessness currently?

= What are you going to do differently?