The Problem with Being in the Middle

In the story The Lord of the Rings Frodo and Sam, rather unremarkable small persons, find themselves at the heart of a quest to defeat evil and save the world. About two-thirds of the way through their journey they perch wearily on a narrow ledge overlooking the evil land of Mordor and discuss the state of things. They are alone; separated from  their strong friends. Both food and water are nearly gone. Their strength is failing. The destination is still distant, and the worst part of the journey lies ahead.  They have come too far to turn back, but there seems to be little chance that they will successfully complete their quest.

All good stories have a scene something like that in the middle.

I am pretty sure that all lives have a scene something like that in the middle too. We come to a time when the whole thing feels pointless, even hopeless.

Then we are tempted to quit, or at least to try to jump into a different story.

Frodo and Sam ultimately stand up and trudge on, because the quest is so much more important than the two of them.

Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that my life is supposed to be about me. I want it to be a nice little story. I want it to have a beginning, middle, and end that all read "And she lived happily every after". But stories like that are very boring stories, and God doesn't write boring stories.

Our lives are part of a big story. The story has big themes. Its themes are about good and evil, the war over the ultimate fate of the universe, and a quest to put everything right again. I am a small and weak character caught up in this big story. You are too. The story is not really about us, but we are important in it.

If Frodo and Sam had laid down and died on that ledge, the Lord of the Rings would have come to a disappointing ending reading something like, "and evil triumphed and misery reigned ever after."

We can't lay down and give up in the middle of the struggle either. The fate of the universe does not hinge on you or on me, but we are part of a much bigger story. Even though we are small in the face of it, we matter. If we give up, we have strengthened the cause of the enemy. If, on the other hand, we muster the courage to trudge on, we might just get to see the triumph at the end.