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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)

Psalm 23 King James Version (KJV)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

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.

The law of the garbage truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

From STORIES TO MAKE YOU THINK

Today here is an excerpt from Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Ordinary Virtues of The Lord of the Rings by Mark Eddy Smith, on the virtue of simplicity.

An example of Hobbits' maddening simplicity comes in the Birthday Party that opens the tale. All the Bracegirdles, Hornblowers, Proudfoots, and other clans gather, not so much to honor Bilbo as to take advantage of feasting for free, enjoying spectacular fireworks and enduring the inevitable Speech. They do not understand, not do they care to learn, the part that Bilbo played in defeating a dragon or in bringing about peace between Dwarves, Wood-elves, and the Men of the Lake. Few in the Shire even believe his tales; they think him eccentric at best and completely cracked at worst. It is hard to be patient with such folk.

Strength is not created by adversity; it is merely awakened by it. The hobbits are defended on many fronts by more sophisticated people who do not believe that simplicity is a sign of weakness. As Aragorn says at the Elrond's Council: 'If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be.' (I:299). But this protection does not diminish the possibility that the most heroic deeds may be accomplished, or at least attempted, by the very same simple folk that are thus sheltered....

If simplicity is a virtue, then living simple lives and cherishing simple pleasures are all that is required for our lives to have value.We need not feel guilty when we suspect we should be doing more for God's kingdom, for when he needs us he will call us, and until then we can be content to husband our strength, put down roots and enjoy the good things that have been given us. This is not to say that we shouldn't seek to improve ourselves or minister to those around us, only that limiting our efforts to our immediate family and neighbors is sufficient until our calling has been revealed.

When God does call us, it may be to a journey of danger and terror, with the possibility of no return, or it may be the simpler danger and terror of confronting a boss whose practices seem a little shaky. The most simple among us are not safe from these possibilities. On the other hand, it may be that our calling is simply to live well in the midst of the community we were born in. This is not to be despised. The tale of Frodo and his friends may give us hope that we will be given the strength and the help we need to accomplish whatever task is set before us.

As seen on

pandemonium_213 and

lindahoyland's journals:

50 questions meme:
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Over at

b2memsupport,

zhie has declared Wednesday "Add-a-Prompt Day"!

So if you are participating in B2MeM, go over and add a new prompt! If you haven't taken part so far, know that you are given 15 farthings to spend on prompts and claims, just for attending the Faire! The market stalls can be found here. Just go to the appropriate venue and post your prompt!

Here's an extra challenge for my hobbit-friends: There aren't nearly enough prompts in The Shire! Even if you don't think you will have time to write anything yourself, go over and leave a bunny there! You can leave up to 15 prompts before you run out of Faire Farthings, and you can always earn more by reviewing any of the 2015 stories at

b2mem: one comment=1 farthing!

One of the Christmas gifts I got this year was Walking with Frodo, "a devotional journey through The Lord of the Rings", which teases out some of the lessons we can learn from the characters' journey. I thought a little portion of this devotional was appropriate for today:

Because Frodo is humble, he is willing to serve. He knows he doesn't have all the answers. He isn't even sure he'll accomplish the task. But he's willing, even though it breaks his heart to think of all that will be lost, knowing he might never, ever return to life as it was before he left the Shire. Little does he imagine the glorious outcome of his actions--the great celebration "at the end of all things," when Middle-earth is restored and the true King is enthroned in Gondor and the people rejoice in victory!"

"The apostle
Peter wrote (from personal experience "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter: 5-6)"

"This is the lesson of Frodo, making his way into the heart of Sauron's kingdom: Humble service is the key to victory."

Transcription behind the cut.

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Psalm 22:22-31 (KJV)

22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28 For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.

29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.

30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

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"And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily..."

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