Dreamflower's Mathom-house

I don't think everything always comes out quite so neatly or compactly, but the message I think, is true in the way that myth is true: we reap what we sow, whether for good or ill, and whether sooner or later.

I didn't have to work today, so we got to attend church this morning.

This was our opening prayer:

O gracious and Holy Father,
give us wisdom to perceive thee,
intelligence to understand thee,
diligence to seek thee,
patience to wait for thee,
eyes to behold thee,
a heart to meditate upon thee, and
a life to proclaim thee; through
the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord

And this was the first congregational hymn:

And also because it is International Happiness Day!

Last night, Miss Bella and Sophie between them managed to slay an intruder into our house; the DH found them facing off over possession of its wee little corpse, and deprived them of it.

We are fairly certain Miss Bella did the actual deed, but there's no doubt it took both of them to keep it from escaping. We had been wondering why the two of them had been skittering all over the dining room--they weren't chasing each other for a change.

Sophie was not too dreadfully upset over us taking it away, and seemed to forget about it within a few minutes. Miss Bella, OTOH, prowled around, searching the area where it was found, and trying to find another one. And she was giving out "crouching tiger" vibes the rest of the evening.

Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart
Teach me to move in the power of your Spirit
Teach me to walk in the light of your presence
Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart

Teach me to love with your heart of compassion
Teach me to trust in the word of your promise
Teach me to hope in the day of your coming
Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart
You wrote the rhythm of life
Created heaven and earth
In You is joy without measure
So, like a child in your sight
I dance to see your delight
For I was made for your pleasure
Pleasure

Let all my movements express
A heart that loves to say 'yes'
A will that leaps to obey you
Let all my energy blaze
To see the joy in your face
Let my whole being praise you
Praise you

(Lyrics by Greg Holland)

Some more excerpts from Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues : Exploring the Spiritual Themes of the Lord of the Rings, this time on the subject of friendship:

There is not greater treasure in Middle-earth (or anywhere else for that matter) than friends. For all the benefits of being unencumbered, Frodo is fortunate to find he has several such treasures and that three of them refuse to be left behind.

Merry, Pippin and Sam are not perfect friends. They poke their noses into Frodo's personal affairs, they spy on him, scheme behind his back and entirely fail to abide to his wishes. "My dear old hobbit, you don't allow for the inquisitiveness of friends," says Merry (I:137) when their conspiracy is unmasked. To Frodo's amazement, they know all about his decision to leave the Shire and even about the Ring. They are, however, resolved to guard his secrets more closely than he has himself. They are better than perfect: they are true...

...The Ring Frodo has carried for seventeen years has surely had its effects, taking his sense of loss and amplifying it, whispering to him that there is no end to losing. Finally, and in a certain sense rightly, he does not consider himself worthy of such friends as would die for him.

But in spite of this, and maybe even because of it, when Frodo's own loyalty is tested he chooses not to abandon his friends. When he and his companions are captured and buried in the Barrow Downs, and the wight is chanting a spell to hold them forever underground, Frodo has a sudden vision: he could slip on the Ring and escape alone, to run free upon the grass. He would grieve his friends yet comfort himself there was nothing else he could have done: No one would blame him for leaving them behind in that impossible situation. But then he would be as faithless as he fears his friends could be. The seed of courage buried deep in hobbits opens up inside him then, and he calls out to Tom Bombadil...

..."Many proclaim themselves loyal,/ but who can find one worthy of trust?" (Proverbs 20:6). Most of us wish to be loyal to our friends but find it a difficult virtue in practice. When friendship gets in the way of our own aspirations, it is easy to find reasons for stopping short of a full commitment. It requires a servant's heart, like Sam's, to lay aside our plans, simple as they may be and follow a friend into danger and exile, but that is precisely what true friends do.

While I don't agree that Frodo ever doubted his friends, I do think this gets the essence of it right: Friendship is a virtue, and that virtue is at the heart of the story.