The Time That Is Given Us

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, young Frodo Baggins sits in the shadows with Gandalf, overwhelmed by the weight of the Ring he's been handed to carry. "I wish it need not have happened in my time," Frodo says — a confession most of us recognize instantly. Why this burden? Why me? Why now?

Gandalf's answer has echoed through generations of readers: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

Tolkien, a devout Catholic who described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work," understood that purpose rarely arrives on our terms. Frodo didn't ask for the Ring. He wasn't the strongest, the wisest, or the most powerful. He was simply the one placed at the right intersection of moment and calling.

The Scriptures tell the same story. Esther didn't choose the timing of her queenship. Jeremiah recoiled from his calling before he ever spoke a word. Paul named himself the least of the apostles. Yet the Most High placed each of them precisely where they were needed — not because of their credentials, but because of His purposes.