A friend recently reminded me of this short bit in Tolkien’s The Return of the King where Sam Gamgee simply looks up and sees a star breaking through the darkness. Just enough light to be reminded that all the mounting darkness is still below something that is grand and beautiful:
Frodo sighed and was asleep almost before the words were spoken. Sam struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodo’s hand; and there he sat silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. Far above the Ephel Duarth in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. (Return of the King, 244)
I wanted to share this with you as I imagine you are feeling disappointed about your mom not being able to come and feeling the weight of Elliott's surgery coming up.
Blessing and peace to you all… light is shining in the darkness indeed…
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