I don’t know about you but my life has felt a lot like Bilbo Baggins’ lately. Beyond the basic similarities (short, stout, a homebody with a little too much toe hair), this season feels very much like a wild journey to there and back again.
Daphne is reading The Hobbit for her English class and that inspired me to dust off my copy and bring it along with us to the Gambia. How very apropos. I sat on the smiling coast as the comfortable Mr. Baggins had his world, ever so subtly, turned upside down. He was no longer in the shire, calm, green and relaxed. He found himself on an unanticipated adventure, dodging trolls and escaping goblins. In the dark depths of a mountain cave gone were the normal life experiences, as he pocketed a small, seemingly insignificant ring.
I’ve been wondering if while Tolkien penned his adventure the words of the Teacher ever echoed in his mind: “For certainly no one knows his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them,” (Ecclesiastes 9.12).
One day we are moving through the paces of life with tea and sympathy in the shire, and the next the whole world is cautiously searching for the way out of the dark and endless mountain tunnels. And yet, of all the adventurers passing through the mountain paths only one emerged with a treasure. Only one came through with the ring that would determine the rest of the story.
What always stands out to me in the depths of the Misty Mountains is how accidentally Bilbo was separated from the others. Knocked down and out, his story diverged from the rest as he was left in a dark world with no way forward. In times like these, shrouded in the unknown when, in the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda, “when you're in so deep it feels easier to just swim down.”
In times like these we have no way to say which way is up, which way is out. We don’t have the path or the answer.
The Surprise of Finding More
Right now all of us are prayerfully searching for our next step in the dark. What a blessing! In times like these, when all we have left is our blind faith, not only does God lead us toward our next step, but we can discover more in our journey. More than just a stay-at-home order but a blessing of friendship and family. More than just a gollum in the shadows but a ring. In blind faith we find more.
More than just quarantines and tiger kings. More than sheltering in place and aimless waiting. More than mere social distancing and anxiety. In the dark unknown where our faith is pressed against the wall we can find a crucible for our souls and renewed purpose for our lives.
In the dark unknown
where our faith is pressed against the wall we can find a crucible for our souls and renewed purpose for our lives.
Friend, this time can be more. It can be the solitude and solidarity with Christ our souls hunger for. A season not marred by fear but marked by faith because He is our God and He is our strength (Isaiah 41.10). This strange time can be the silence we need. A quiet space where we cease to be conformed by the misshapen world around us and slowly become mentally transformed into the likeness of Christ (Romans 12.2). These lost days can be a family pilgrimage where we learn to walk as He walked (1 John 2.6).
The Way of a Family
By now it should be no surprise to you that I love symbols and sacraments. I love to see mysteries unfold out of the mundane. Like the body and blood of Jesus in bread and wine. Like the death and resurrection found in the waters of baptism. Like the shell on the pilgrim’s path.
Every time our family ventures out to the beach we come back with pockets filled with all kinds of shells. We make them into art, jewelry and decorations around the house. There is something beautiful about shells, especially scallop shells.
Scallop shells for centuries have served as symbols for men and women on pilgrimage. So while we were in the Gambia I took the family to the beach to hunt for shells. I wanted us to take fun pictures with them as we walked with Jesus through the Holy Week.
How much more meaningful those shells became as our adventure took on a greater, more global, ambiguity. Far from home but not lost. Blind in the dark but not sightless. Pilgrims on the way. Our little African shells are now on an adventure home, displaced and yet hopeful, in the unknown yet knowing that God is doing a work in our pilgrim hearts.
If you are feeling this way today rest assured you are not alone. We are walking with you. And take comfort. We are not the first to walk these mountain paths.
Far from home
but not lost. Blind in the dark but not sightless. Pilgrims on the way.
From There and Back Again
Jesus was no stranger to the dust of the pilgrim’s path or global events.
Before he was born Jesus was carried in his mother’s womb down to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home in Judea (Luke 1.39), and Caesar Augustus’ decree set off an empire-wide adventure that shook up the entire Roman world (Luke 2.1-5). About the time Jesus would have been toddling and forming simple phrases he was swept up once again by his parents for his first international road trip (Matthew 2.13-15). His childhood was spent as a stranger in a strange land, a refugee awaiting the day his family could return to their homeland.
Did Joseph and Mary ever wonder, “How did we end up here? How long will this time last? When will this road home lead us home?” Do you find yourself asking the same questions? Take heart, you aren’t where you are by accident.
Mary and Joseph did not journey empty handed. Their bags had treasures whose purpose were not yet clear. Those costly gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh surely came in handy setting up their new life in Egypt, but the richest depths of their meaning were still obscured by time (Matthew 2.11).
Their family pilgrimage was just beginning. The long unseen road still lay ahead.
Toward Transformation
Friend, we are all making our way through this misty mountain together, but let us not miss the gold ring that awaits us on the journey. What was God speaking to your heart before this season began? What was the seed His Spirit planted that you now have dedicated time to cultivate?
I won’t begin to say that we will understand everything that is happening right now, as a world, as a people, as a family. But perhaps, if we trust and believe, we will find in our next steps, not only the gold we easily recognize, but also rich spice for our worship and aromatic resin for guidance as Jesus directs our lives toward the cross.
If we are faithful in this pilgrimage now, investing in the gifts He is giving us, we will be better equipped and prepared than ever before to see this world increasingly redeemed and transformed! And what a joy we don’t walk this road alone! What a joy that we are on this adventure together! Here’s to the next step!
