Why Did Sam Bother?

If you haven't read the magnificent epic, The Lord of the Rings, by now, I suspect you never will so I have no problem with spoiling the ending. The problem is that the ending to this novel really stinks. I don't mean that it's bad, just that it makes me cry and ponder the seeming futility we endure in this world. To sum up tens of thousands of words in a nutshell, Sam and Frodo are forced out of a quiet life and into a desperate adventure from danger to feast to peril to the very brink of death. All along the way, Sam serves Frodo even to the point of saving his life. After the great mission is accomplished and the rewards are handed out, Frodo and Sam arrive home to find that home is not there and no one from the neighborhood cares about the great things they have done.

"There is a high king once more, and, Frodo and I helped by defeating the great evil lord of our time!" to summarize Sam's good news.

To which the folks back home reply, "There's a new boss here and we can't get a beer down at the pub anymore."

But that isn't what makes the ending so hard. After saving all of Middle Earth, and then saving their little land, Frodo drags Sam down to the docks, gets on a ship, turns to Sam, his faithful servant and friend through so much, and tells him with a little help from the other swells on board, "I'm leaving, you can't come...go home." Ow! Poor Sam, why did he bother serving so well and faithfully all that time?

Our call to serve faithfully and well may end in the same way, with a sorrowful parting that is tough to bear. You may serve a church faithfully for decades with one pastor who, you may begin to hope, will speak at your funeral before he goes on his final journey. Then one day, the pastor announces that he feels the call to another ministry in a far city. You feel almost betrayed, but you can't argue with God's will. A friend of many years may get a transfer at work that he feels called by God to accept. Yet, it seems that God is only telling you one thing, "Go home." (Different from the "Come Home!" we all want to hear from God someday.)

We don't know all the plans of God, especially those concerning friends, family, and the many partings we endure in this life. Partings are tough for us just like the fictional Sam. We don't like 'em, but we bear them in the strength of Christ. Our service may seem unappreciated at times, but that too we continue in Christ. At such times the most important words of Christ may be these: "I will never leave you nor forsake you, even to the end of the age."

A toast (the kind where you cook a slice of bread) to our eternal God and His gathering of us all together one great day!

Bucky