“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12
Hope and resilience are indomitable companions. In addition to love, they are hallmark characteristics that set a disciple of Christ apart in a world bathed in chaos and despair. Hope and resilience look past the dark noisy waters that lap and crash upon the shore of the human soul and focus instead on the steady light of God’s promises. Hope and resilience look with eyes not human and see the kingdom of beauty where its residents know peace beyond perils or problems that are yet present in this age.
In the 30’s and 40’s, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were in a writing community at Oxford University called the Inklings. Both authors created works that depict the epic nature of hope and resilience.
The show Power of the Rings is a show based on Tolkien’s History of Middle Earth and Silmarillion. ( Small disclaimer, some scenes are quite disturbing.) Many characters in the story display hope. There’s Elrod half-elf, Durin IV dwarf, Galadriel Elvin general, the men and women of Númenor and the Southlands, and the harefoots of which Elenor Brandyfoot is most hopeful.
Elenor, more commonly called Nori, finds Gandalf, the grand elf sent by the Valar, or divine beings, to help guide the people of middle earth away from the powers of evil and darkness. Upon his arrival to middle earth, Gandalf was vulnerable. Nori befriended him and spoke words of life over him. She refused to let disappointments or failures determine their path.
Nori was different than her kin. The harefoot’s motto was, “nobody walks alone and nobody goes off trail”. Not that the other harefoots were bad, in fact Poppy and others follow Nori’s lead and sacrifice for the greater good. But it’s Nori’s fire of hope, resilience and sense of awe and wonder that serves generations far into the future. She chooses to look past the perils of giants, magic, and predators much stronger than her kind convinced she has a part to play. It’s through her care, companionship, and encouragement for Gandalf that helps the men of middle earth finally defeat evil.
Perhaps, sometimes we forget the grander scope of the cosmos. Our lives can seem full of drudgery, disappoint, or problems, but that’s because the negativity is what we’ve chosen to see. According to various sources, humans have 60-80 thousand thoughts a day, of which 80% are negative and up to 85% repetitive.
Science tells us that neuroplasticity is the creation of new pathways in our brains. We have the capacity to interrupt deeply ingrained thought patterns and create new ones. People with PSTD and past trauma have been studied and shown capable of creating new patterns
of thinking that are more hopeful, peaceful, and capable of self-love. The Bible calls it transforming the mind. Taking captive every thought.
Pope John XXIII said, “Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.”
To me, the Tolkien world beautifully portrays that powerful forces at work. They are called imaginative names, but they can allegorically be seen as God and his angel armies as well as the snarling, usurping rebel forces, and the impressionable humanity. C. H. Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers once said, “Consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it.”
Gandalf is wise not because he has a mission and forges on despite all perils, but because he acknowledges the harrows for man and hobbits are hard, and he underscores that hope is supreme. On this journey there is hurt, yet there is great hope. Much like Fordo, Bilbo, Nori and the majority of men and women of middle earth, we are battered and bruised, but we fix our eyes on Jesus and the light of heaven where the promise of peace abides, and the courtly ways are joy, love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace.
Consider some wise words of the grand elf, Gandalf “All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.” “It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
Hope is that unquenchable fire that kindles each day, with the whisper that today will be more beautiful yesterday, and it holds more possibilities than the day before it.
“ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1Corinthians 13:13