Perhaps my favorite quote from all of The Lord of the Rings comes from The Two Towers in Chapter IX, Flotsam and Jetsom.

After the battle of Helm's Deep, the company makes its way to Isengard. Tthey meet up with Merry and Pippen, for whom they had been looking. They were able to follow the trail because Pippen had left behind the Elven Brooch given him by Galadriel as the company left Lothlorien.

Aragorn returns the brooch and Pippen says, "It was a wrench to let it go; but what else could I do?" Aragorn responds with, "Nothing else. . . . One who cannot cast a away a treasure at need is in fetters. You did rightly." (my emphasis)

For me, this seems to sum up the entire story. The Ring is a precious thing, but those who obtain it, find it impossible to cast it away when they need to. It traps them by its power and ultimately destroys them. Even Frodo cannot cast it away when he needs to. It is only destroyed because Frodo loses his finger which bears the Ring.

This is a wonderful lesson for us all. The things of this world trap us if we cannot cast them away when we need to. A friend once made the statement that "we don't possess our possessions, they possess us." How true! We are so afraid to give up our things that often we find it impossible to give them up when the need arises. In the Judeo-Christian tradition this is how sin enslaves us and how things other than God become gods in our lives - idolatry. But even outside this spiritual tradition, the concept still holds true - we often cling to those things that do not bring lasting freedom and peace because they have a power over us.

Aragorn comforts Pippen by helping him to know that he did the right thing. That should comfort us, too. How often do we find that when we give up something precious to help others we find greater peace and freedom? A peace and freedom that nothing can destroy or take away.

Thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien, through the words of the great Aragorn, for reminding us of what is truly important in life.