Third Day and Frodo

In some ways, the following two things are unrelated, but I wanted to include them in one post. They are both literary things that struck me over the past couple of weeks:

Frodo and Honorable Clothes

I recently read through the Lord of the Rings trilogy again. I was really struck by one passage in The Return of the King. It takes place after the ring has been destroyed, and while Frodo and Sam are talking to Gandalf about attending the coronation of the king (Aragorn):

"What shall we wear?" said Sam; for all he could see was the old and tattered clothes that they had journeyed in, lying folded on the ground beside their beds.

"The clothes that you wore on your way to Mordor," said Gandalf. "Even the orc-rags that you bore in the black land, Frodo, shall be preserved. No silks or linens, nor any armour or heraldry could be more honourable. But later I will find some other clothes, perhaps."

This little interchange brought me to tears because its power so struck me. There was honor for Frodo in Sam in their suffering, and to wear the clothes of suffering was a badge of honor. Power in weakness. Christ still bears His scars.

Third Day and Christmas

Then, I was struck by a Christmas song that I have heard many, many times: Do You Hear What I Hear? I was listening to Third Day's version of this Christmas carol a couple of days ago. I stopped to listen to the lyrics because I realized that I didn't know them. For one part, all I remembered was that the lyrics read, "A child, a child." I stopped to listen to what the carol says about the child. The words were so powerful to me:

A child, a child shivers in the cold

Let us bring him silver and gold.

This is quite a contrast to Silent Night, and the verse in Away in the Manger about Jesus not crying. Here is the glorious King who is worthy of all our gifts, and he is shivering in the cold. Even writing the words now brings me to tears because of the great gift of Christmas. The Son of God took on all of our weaknesses. . .and he shivered in the cold.