What to Do with the Time That Is Given

Deep in the Mines of Moria, in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins confesses something many of us have felt. Overwhelmed by the weight of the Ring and the impossible journey ahead, he says to Gandalf, "I wish it need not have happened in my time. I wish the Ring had never come to me."

Gandalf's reply has echoed through generations of readers: "So do I, and 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 survived the trenches of World War I — understood that purpose rarely arrives as a welcome guest. It comes uninvited, often disguised as burden. Frodo did not choose his calling. He was a hobbit who loved books, gardens, and second breakfasts. But the task found him, and his willingness to carry it — not his strength or his wisdom — made all the difference.

The same God who called Moses from a burning bush and Jeremiah before he was born has placed each of us in this particular time, in this particular place, with something only we can carry. Our purpose is not something we invent. It is something we receive.

The question is never whether the Almighty has a purpose for your life. The question is what you will do with the time that is given you.