When the first Lord of the Rings movie came out (The Fellowship of the Ring) I badly wanted to see it in the theater, on the big screen. But I also badly wanted to finish reading the book trilogy first. Since it took me three months to finish the books, I missed seeing the first movie in the theater. I did get to see it on DVD, though, and I loved it all the more for having finished the books. I knew I would, because knowing and having an affection for the characters, and a general understanding of the plot, always helps me enjoy movies more fully and enhances the entire experience greatly.
Since we have a giant movie collection, and watching movies is primarily what we do together as a family for relaxing recreation, we finally decided to invest in a big screen TV about 2 1/2 years ago. And ever since then, it's been a dream of mine to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies in one day, from beginning to end.
The dream had kind of fallen on the back burner for the last year or so because of the overwhelming busy-ness of my life, until recently when I decided to start going back and reading the very first posts of several of my favorite blogs. I came across several posts with the texts from some of my favorite scenes from the movies, and my appetite to watch the movies was suddenly back and in full force.
Yesterday, it finally happened... After we got home from church and had a bite of lunch, we started watching the first movie at about 1 p.m. Because there are several young children in the house, there were, of course, multiple interruptions. The last movie finished at about 1 a.m. (And what and incredible finish it was!)
Those 12 hours were some of the most refreshing, exhilerating, invigorating, inspiring hours of my life! There are so many scenes from the whole trilogy that make my heart feel like it's about to explode out of my chest. The scene in this picture is one of my favorite scenes, not just from this series, but of all time. When Aragorn gently closes Frodo's fingers over the One Ring and swears to protect Frodo with his own life, I can hardly bear the sweetness of it. This scene calls to deep places in my heart and spirit that I don't even have access to, at least not yet.
I believe it was God's will for us to watch those movies yesterday, partly because my husband's work phone didn't ring a single time. I can't remember the last time that happened on a Sunday. Also, it was quite remarkable that we all agreed together that this was something we wanted to do. After all, 12 hours is an awfully long time to sit. It's utterly incredible how God works everything together in perfect timing and harmony, like a diverse and complicated orchestral number. He knows just when and how to motivate people to do what He would have them do, according to His perfect will and plan, and all of the tiny details that need to fall into place to accomplish that.
Last night as we were watching Frodo and Sam struggle to cross the harsh wastelands of Mordor, I realized I'm facing the same kind of battle in my own life. It's something I've been putting off for far too long, because I've been so afraid of it. But with God's help, I believe the time has come to bite the bullet, to jump into the deep end, and to embrace the changes that will be necessary to conquer the Orcs and Uruk-hai in my life.
With that end in mind, I've copied Pastor Eric's idea and have started another blog--a health and fitness journey journal. May God use it as He has used all of the other trusted blogs He's placed in my life - to motivate, challenge, strengthen and equip.
