What to Do with the Time Given Us

Deep in the Mines of Moria, surrounded by darkness and danger, Frodo Baggins turns to Gandalf and whispers what so many of us have felt: "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." Gandalf's reply in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has echoed through hearts for over two decades: "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."

Frodo didn't choose his burden. He was a small hobbit from a quiet village, with no ambition for greatness. Yet the purpose that found him was precisely suited to who he was — not the strongest or the wisest, but the most faithful.

The prophet Jeremiah heard something remarkably similar from the Almighty: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5). Like Frodo, Jeremiah protested. Like Frodo, he felt too small for the calling.

Here is the truth purpose teaches us: we rarely get to choose it. Purpose chooses us. It arrives not as a career plan but as a quiet conviction that this work, this relationship, this moment of faithfulness is what we were made for.

You may feel too ordinary for what God is asking. That is exactly the point. The Almighty has always done His greatest work through those who simply decided what to do with the time given them.