LeTTinG gO

For those of you who don't know me well, I am a big Tolkien fan. You can ask me almost anything about Tolkien's universe and I can give an answer. I'm just that way.

Anyways, in Tolkien's universe, Illuvatar, the God of Tolkien's mythos, made his children. His children are the Eldest and the Youngest. The Eldest are the Elves, and the Youngest are the Men. While Elves and Men look alike, they are different. Elves are immortal and Men are not. Elves and Men can die; however, if a Elf dies he can be reborn, but if a Man dies he goes to the Halls of Mandos to wait till a specific day when Elves and Men will be reunited in a perfect world. Elves are wise and seek to perserve things. Men, on the other hand, seek evil usually. Many bad things happen in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings that reveal the situation of Elves and Men. Because everything dies, Elves seek to perserve because they want to maintain the status quo. They see Men as the antithesis of this to some degree. In both books, both Dark Lords use this desire to perserve to their advantage. Why?

Because in order to perserve you must control.

There's no other way around it.

In some ways I understand the Elves position. Being the oldest in my family, I have a tendecy to be a bit of a perfectionist and I have more experience than my younger brothers. I also remember things well. My worst habit is trying to perserve things and live in perfect nostalgia. I try to relive the best moments in my life only by ruining them. And what's worse is that I even try to perserve the people around me. Though I haven't done this much anymore, it's something that I bad at. I feel like I need to control everything around me in order to feel safe. I would love living in The Shire or Lothlorien to be honest, because that's exactly what the hobbits and Elves try to do in some way.

Yet, I know I am not safe. Nothing in this world is safe. You can try and protect it, but you can't save it. Jesus said not to store up our treasures on earth, but store up heavenly things. This I forgot. Not only do I need to let go of others, but also I must let go of myself. I can't save myself. I think that's why having faith is so important, because the only person who can save your life is Jesus Christ.

It's definitely a struggle for me, but that's why I'm a Christian. If I wasn't struggling I would be dead.