The Long Walk to Mount Doom

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, there is a moment near the end of the journey that every pastor should know. Frodo and Sam are crawling across the ashen wasteland of Mordor, and Frodo can go no further. The Ring has become an unbearable weight. His body is broken, his hope is gone, and the mountain still looms ahead.

Sam looks at his friend and says something that has echoed through generations of readers: "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you." And he lifts Frodo onto his back and begins to climb.

Notice what Tolkien, a devout Catholic, understood about perseverance. It is rarely a solo act. Sam could not remove the burden — that was Frodo's alone to bear. But he could come alongside his friend and lend his strength when Frodo's had run out.

The writer of Hebrews tells us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us." But just a verse earlier, the same passage reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We were never meant to endure alone.

Some of you are crawling across your own Mordor right now. The weight has not lifted. The mountain is still ahead. But the God who walks with you is also the God who carries you. As Isaiah reminds us, the Almighty gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. You are not forgotten, and you are not alone.