Our lives are like a road. Lent
is an esp. good time to look at our journeys. Back on Ash Wednesday I mentioned
the “Road of the Loving Heart’, a story within a story found in The Little Colonel’s House Party by
Annie Fellows Johnston. This first in a series of girls’ books was published
around the turn of the past century, but was one of my favorite books growing
up. You can read “The Road of the Loving Heart” here.
The chiefs on Samoa
found the friendship of Robert Lewis Stephenson so amazing and inspiring that
they built him a road and monument.This photo of his funeral in Samoa in 1894 shows some of the chiefs in attendance.
Friends on the journey are very important.
Remember the “Fellowship of the Ring”-the 9 companions who start out from
Rivendale to get rid of the Ring in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gradually it dwindles down to just Frodo
and Sam, but you only need one good friend to help you through the really hard
times.
In Mark 3:13 Jesus appoints “twelve to be with him, and to be sent
out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.” He chooses Simon Peter,
James and John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James bar
Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon (the Canaanite) and Judas Iscariot. These men were
some of his followers from early in his ministry.
Dorothy finds friends along the
road to the Emerald City.
There is the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and her first friend the Scarecrow.
Dorothy discovers she needs the companionship and gifts of these companions,
just like Frodo needs the support and weapons of his companions to get to his
destination.
Naomi thinks that she will be
returning to Bethlehem completely
alone and bereft. However, in the lovely scene nearly everyone knows, Ruth
refuses to leave her: “she started to
return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab...but Naomi said to her two
daughters-in-law, ‘Go back each of you to your mother’s house...’ Then they
wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. So she
said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods;
return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you or
to turn back from following you! Where
you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my
people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be
buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death
parts me from you!’ When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she
said no more to her. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem.”
In the steadfastness of their
companions, Dorothy, Naomi, and Frodo drew strength and courage to go forward.
Jesus depends on his disciples to help him preach, teach, and heal, even
though, like us, they were not always sure what they were doing and were not
always steadfast. Like Frodo’s ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ some of the members
want things to go their own way rather than seeking what is best for the group
(and looking for God’s plan).
Dorothy’s companions embody some
of our most common failings, which paradoxically are really their (and our)
strengths. The Lion is a self-proclaimed coward, who ultimately does more to
protect Dorothy than he thought possible. The Tin Man thinks he is heartless,
but in reality is the most sensitive and caring of the team. And the Scarecrow,
who insists he would be so much better ‘if I only had a brain,’ has the ability
to think out solutions while the others are dithering. Together they help
Dorothy gain her ‘hearts desire’ of going home. Their actions, like those of
the Samoan chiefs build a Road of the Loving Heart, so that she really doesn’t
want to leave them, even though she must.
The things we think are the
worst of weaknesses can in reality be our greatest strengths. Paul explains to
the Corinthians that all our parts-the good, the bad, the ugly are important,
both individually or corporately. “The
members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members
of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our
less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more
respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving
the greater honor to the inferior member...” (1 Corinthians 12:22-24)
It is in the things we consider
weaknesses that we find the greatest strengths when they are transformed by the
Love of God. The hurts and scars of our lives become the building blocks of
ministry. The doubts and fears are reborn as joy and service when we turn them
over to God. The surviving members of the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ come
together and divert attention from Frodo’s final quest to take the Ring into Mt.
Doom and destroy it. After the
Resurrection, Jesus’ disciples become strong leaders of the newly forming
movement that becomes the Church. Their failings are transformed into ministry
for the good of all.
Naomi was angry and bitter when
she returned to Bethlehem. Her life
had not gone as she planned it. She tells her neighbors “Do not call me Naomi,
call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away
full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.” Naomi means Pleasant and Mara
means Bitter. By changing her name, Naomi was naming her pain and grief. When
she did that she could start to heal and be open to new beginnings.
When Ruth and Boaz were married,
Ruth has a son. “Then Naomi took the
child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. The women of the
neighborhood gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’ They
named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.” (Ruth
4:16-17)
The Samoan chiefs built a road
for their patron, Dorothy’s friends walk with her on the road to the Emerald
City, Frodo’s companions help him
get started on his way to Mordor, and Jesus needed his disciples to spread the
Gospel. None of them were perfect, yet each played their part in the story they
were part of. Naomi found new hope in Ruth’s child because she was open to
accepting her weakness and failings and being made whole.
Each of us has failings, fears,
doubts, and often we would rather have things go ‘our way’. Just like Dorothy
accepted the friendship of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, God accepts us
right where we are on our journey. God walks beside us and through that
companionship we are transformed so that we can be made more whole and build a ‘Road
of the Loving Heart’.
Is God showing you some places
in your life where you need to change and grow? Are there places of anger and
bitterness that get in the way of moving forward? What doubts and fears keep
you from building a ‘road of the loving heart’ for your friends, neighbors, and
even strangers?
Next time, we'll look more deeply at the Journey itself and what it teaches us.
