By
nature I am a ‘gusher’. When I like something I cannot just stop
talking about it even if am gagged. I remember one night when I woke up
early and felt like watching a movie. I felt I would just watch
something for about an hour then go back to bed since I was going to
work in the morning. That was the end of my sleep because I decided to
watch ‘Avatar’ which I had been looking forward to seeing since it came
out about two years before. I went to work high that morning, asking
everyone whether they had seen ‘Avatar’. It was this overenthusiastic
mood that made me meet a great friend (Obaro, do you still remember?).
Recently, I was nearly flailed by kith and kin because I could not stop
gushing about Sally Kenneth Dadzie of Moskedapages, the literary Queen of
Nigeria’s blogging series.
With
this background, I hope it would make it easier for you to bear with me
as I am about to gush again. This time it is about ‘The Lord of the
Rings’, a story monumental both in its written and screen forms. Till
forever, I still wonder where the writer, J.R.R Tolkien got such
inspiration from. Most times I would rather read than watch because I
believe it is almost impossible to capture all the emotions of a book in
a movie. For example, I nearly wept out of disappointment when I
watched the “Eagle has landed”. The movie nearly made me puke which was
unbelievable since I read the book standing up. The excitement could not
just make me sit still. However, Peter Jackson, the director of the
‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was absolutely brilliant. Watching the
trilogy takes you through all the colours of the human emotional
spectrum. It is world-class!
The
part of the movie where Gandalf had to face the balrog, a demon from
the ancient world, is even way better than the book version. This bit
eternally mesmerizes me. First time I saw it, I kept rewinding to this
piece. It is full of inspiration and speaks to me no end.
The
Fellowship of the Ring, a motley group of men, was on the way to carry
out a destiny-impacting mission when the evil creature appeared to stop
them. This is so reminiscent of life.
Thing is, in life we are all on a mission of purpose like the Fellowship of the Ring, whether we realize it or not. For
the discerning, the purpose is usually for the destruction of evil.
Edward Jenner discovering the cure for smallpox is a leading example.
Even as I write, everybody is on a mission. The mission might be that of
a husband trying to preserve the fellowship of his wife and family,
someone trying to get an educational qualification, another trying to
put his finances in place, a mother trying to get pregnant, a bachelor
who wants to get married to a good wife, a rebel who knows he is on a
wrong track and wants to get back on the path of a divine mandate. Life
is absolutely about fellowship (friends, marriage, etc) and purpose (our
reason for being).
Then
the balrogs come up on the path of life to derail our plans, to stop us
in our tracks. Balrogs are purpose killers, dream destroyers. They
stand on the way to frustrate and ensure we do not get to our
destination. They bring pain and death. Balrogs are demons from the
ancient world, challenges that have existed before we were born,
situations that take the winds out of our sails, huge problems before
which all our resources seem puny. When they come up, we are at our wits
end. We do not know what to do, sometimes the horror they unleash (for
example, cancer) petrify us.
Gandalf
met the balrog at the bridge of Khazad-dum. This bridge in real life is
where we are made or broken. It is at this point that victory or doom
is determined. This is the place we either slink away like
cowardly hyenas into the arid lands of defeat or roar and fight like a
wounded lion. It is where a couple having issues might go on to have a
divorce or go on to a happily ever after fairy tale. This is where a
struggling entrepreneur might jettison his dream or move on to millions
and so on.
Question
is what do we do when we get to the bridge of Khazad-dum? Gandalf
provides the answer to this query. He shows that we must never keel over
in a dead faint. We must stand our ground and fight. We must never
capitulate but look the balrog square in the eyes and fight for
everything we hold dear. Fight for our fellowship, fight for purpose,
fight for destiny!
Gandalf
told the others to run but he stood. He fought with all that was in
him. He refused to be intimidated. He shouted out to the hellish
messenger, “You cannot pass. I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder
of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you,
flame of Udun. Go back to the shadow! You cannot pass."
He
did not walk down the path of dejection wondering why fate dealt him a
bad hand. Instead, he refused to have all his plans scuttled. I think in
life, we cower easily most times while keeping mum hoping the issues of
life will gently pass by. Not Gandalf! The old man did
not keep quiet. He kept saying what he wanted even though the odds were
against him. He believed he could come out of the battle victorious.
Mind
you, Gandalf was not just operating in a realm of bravado. He had faith
in his master, what he believed (the Secret Fire) and who he was
(wielder of the flame of Anor). He was carrying something, o gbe ina sori,
he was a fire carrier. To survive on earth, we need a force behind us, a
Secret Power that others might not know about backing us (Psalm 91:1).
Without it, we are sunk. Life preys on those who have no backing.
Fortunately, our own lot is a whole lot better than Gandalf’s. One,
we have The Ancient of Days, who existed before any ancient demon. He
is The One who existed before any pesky problem. Secondly, we are not
servants, we are sons. Now are we the sons of God! We are
also fire carriers because He makes his angels spirits and his ministers
flames of fire. To have a fighting chance in life, we must know who we
are! Gandalf knew who he was. It is also imperative that we must talk.
Talk at and against your adversaries. Silence means certain defeat! The
surest way we can know who we are though, is by studying the living
letters of God’s word. The dark fire cannot avail our own Fire, because
our fire is the Light that shines through the darkness and cannot be
withstood by any form of gloom.
Gandalf
had a sword and a staff; we have the comforting rod of our Shepherd and
the sword of the spirit. So take a stand on the gap and look that
bugger of a balrog in the eye. Tell it to go back to the shadows that it cannot pass. Stand for God, yourself, your family, your purpose, your world!
It
is important to know that when you engage in such battles, you might
get some hits but you will come out victorious. The balrog’s fiery whip
caught Gandalf as he was falling and dragged him down with it but in
part two of the trilogy, we saw Gandalf resurrected. He had evolved from
Gandalf the grey to Gandalf the white, a stronger and better person
with more powers. We can only come out better and stronger on the other
side. We pass through fire and through water to emerge in a large place
of great prosperity.
Be
audacious against any kind of destiny destroyer, don’t back down for
any reason. Tell that loathsome creature (whatever the balrog stands for
in your case) that IT CANNOT PASS!!!
“…you are of God little children and have overcome them, for greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world…”
No comments:
Post a Comment