Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened.” 
Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide, All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” (The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien)
 
Many of us look at the world today and get depressed. We see the rise in secularism and the struggle to separate our own lives from the increasing distractions of the world. We worry for our children and what surrounds them on a daily basis. It can cause many of us to look at the world with a pessimistic vision, forgetting that God is still ultimately in control.
 
My dad has always encouraged his kids to have a different view of the world and our Catholic Faith. From my early childhood, I remember him reading us The Chronicles of Narnia and later on encouraging us to read by paying us each
summer, a penny per page if we kept track of the books we read and their page numbers. He challenged us, including to read one of the more epic sagas at the time, The Lord of the Rings. Not only was he a great dad by encouraging us to read, but he also used the wisdom from these books in our lives.
 
We all have those vivid memories that seem to stick with us forever, and one of mine was when my dad said the words to me quoted above from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, books about a battle between extreme evil and good. I used to work with my dad in the factory he was a manager at. Often on my breaks, we would take a walk together on nice days. It was one such walk that I remember with vivid clarity. The factory environment and demanding hours were getting to me, and I was at a breaking point realizing it was about time for me to look for other work. I know my dad encouraged me, I know he was sad to see me leave but knew I had to, but I couldn’t tell you what he said. It was the words of Frodo and Gandalf that stick with me to this day giving me the most encouragement and wisdom I could have ever asked for. He reminded me that no matter where I went, I would be surrounded by our culture today. Maybe not as prominently as in the factory, but evil was not so simple a thing to just be “escaped.” He reminded me how I was a light in the factory and would be wherever I went, but not to have false expectations. Sin and evil are not so easy to escape, but I had the power to rise above them.
 
I think this lesson can be true for all of us. It can be easy to see the world only as good or evil, like most books display it, but life just isn’t that simple. We have both light and dark inside of us. We choose which one to act on, and choosing to be discouraged by the world can be the very darkness we wish to avoid.
 
God made the world good. It may not seem like it when we become overwhelmed with the troubles of our time, but it does not change the fact that God’s creation, including his people, are good. We can’t change the times we were born into. We can’t change the world our children grow up in, but we can make a difference. We can choose whether to embrace these problems wallowing or with purpose.
 
God created us as a gift and put us in this exact time frame. That means like Frodo, we must face the tasks God has called us to. We can either “carry the ring” with purpose or resentment. We can either run away or make a difference. The people in our world today will never be converted by negativity, by the sadness and discouragement we carry. They will only be evangelized by joy. They will listen to us only after we take the time to listen to them without judgement.
 
We can make a difference in our world today. It might not seem as big a mission as Frodo’s in completely defeating the evil of the land. Sometimes we are called to be Samwise Gamgee, the protector and friend of Frodo who never left his side, corrected him without judgement, and never let him give up. He may not seem like the hero of the story, but without him, Frodo never would have accomplished his mission. The choice is in our hands. Will you pick up your cross and live in the world with joy, or wallow in the sin of the world waiting for it to change without changing it yourself? It won’t be easy, but nothing is impossible when it is God who calls us.

~ Trisha Trout