Just give it up

 

I just watched The Lord of the Rings Movies. All three of them in one week, and the second and third in one evening. I had watched the first about 10 years ago, but had forgotten most of it. They are my best friend's favorite movies and he is always raving about them, so I decided to give them a try. My immediate thoughts:

1) The movies are long. Really long. I didn't think the third one would ever end.

2) There sure is a lot of fighting in the movies.

3) There is a lot of climbing in the movies.

4) Plot summary: A lot of fighting and climbing just to get rid of a ring.

5) If you cut out most of the fighting and climbing, the movie could have been cut down to one movie an hour and a half in length.

  I am being mostly facetious, though I do think they could have been cut down a bit in length. And to think my best friend watched the extended versions. I asked what the difference is, more fighting? :)

 On a serious note, the last movie especially resonated with me. If you haven't watched them and intend to, there are a few spoilers here, but get real.... you know going into the first movie that Frodo will succeed in destroying the ring. So here are a few serious thoughts:

  1) The part that hit me the hardest was when Frodo and Sam had finally and against all odds, made it to the end of their very long destination. Frodo stood at the edge of the cliff with the fires below that will destroy it. This was the whole purpose of his journey, to throw the ring into the fire, and he froze. As Sam kept yelling for him to just throw it in, he froze. Then the power of  the ring got to him and he put it on and turned invisible.

  One can read too much into movies and comparisons and allegory doesn't always follow the whole way through, but when I was watching that scene, I had some thoughts hit me: I am the same way with porn and the gay stuff. I stand on the edge of God's grace and forgiveness, of having a true relationship with Him, but I can't let go of the porn and gay identity. Just as Frodo held onto the ring when he knew he needed to throw it in the fire, when he knew it would destroy him if he didn't destroy it, I have held onto those things instead of throwing them aside.

2) Gollum/Smegal. Could this creature have been any creepier? In the final movie, we see him when the ring is first found. He kills his friend so he can have the ring, and it turns him from a normal and nice-looking young guy into a ugly horrid creature addicted to the ring. I saw some similarities there also. If we who struggle with homosexuality, porn and lust are totally honest, we know what it does to us. It tears us apart emotionally, mentally, spiritually.....it can hurt us financially, rip apart our families, cause us to lose jobs, health, and more. And for some guys, the losses have been great. Some of us are fortunate not to have lost as much as others have, but there is always loss, there is always a cost. And yet many of us keep going back.


  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is about a young man on quest to destroy a very powerful ring. A ring that can destroy the world if in the wrong hands. Those who let the ring take over them lead terrible lives because of the ring. As I said, similarities with our struggles don't line up the whole way through all 9+ hours of The Lord of the Rings movies, but there are similarities, and it was a sobering reminder that I can't hold onto what is ultimately hurting me, or I am just like Frodo travelling all of those miles, facing all kinds of danger, only to hold onto the ring at the moment he had the chance to do what he had been working toward: throwing the ring into the fire.