I know I’ve mentioned this more than once but… The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book. Ever. So here are some of my favourite quotes from it.
‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’ (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past)
‘Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.’ (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past)
‘May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.’ (speaking of the Phial of Galadriel; The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 8, Farewell to Lorien)
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
And I think I’ve spent over half my life trying to figger out what to do with my time.
The way I interpret it for myself is: in as far as I am able and in as much as I understand, to be faithful in whatever situation or circumstance I find myself in. I am not responsible for the results. I just need to be faithful.