大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Nadiyka Gerbish, a Ukrainian writer and podcaster

Map of Middle Earth

Good morning.

On a gallery wall of my home office is an aged, yellowed map that once belonged to my great-grandfather. The lines and letters faded. There are traces of my great-grandfather's blue ink pen. Sometimes, I think that, in a way, this map resembles Middle Earth. And that if I had the chance to choose my role in Tolkien's fellowship, I would like to be Sam. The person who not only kept his light up during the darkest times but returned home to plant a garden and teach his children well.

The everyday beauty magnified by the danger of living in Ukraine - or, for that matter, in this upturned world, makes me feel so alert and full of life, wishing to sow the Galadriel seeds even as our defenders hold up their swords. Galadriel, the Elf Queen, gave those magic seeds to Sam even before he undertook his long and dangerous journey to Mordor alongside his master, not as his servant but as a steadfast friend.

He planted them and cared for them, as the seeds became saplings and the saplings became trees. He was faithful to them as much as he was to Frodo. The dangerous journeys can be devastating but always finite, I tell myself.

But love, even though it stretches into eternity, has to be tended to daily and so I choose the small things standing by the people I care for, nurturing the small community that gathers at our dinner table, and, every now and then, glancing at the old map on my wall that reminds me of the person I never met but have always been so thankful for.

Dear Lord, please give me the resilience of always choosing love.

Amen.

Show less