The night before a trip is always the same—piles, lists, last-minute packing. No matter the reason for packing your bags, travel is a whole thing. So it’s understandable that if you don’t absolutely have to, why not avoid the inconvenience (not to mention the cost) altogether? Turns out, J.R.R. Tolkien has some pretty compelling reasons for taking a trip.
Inconvenience or Adventure
In today’s modern age, we are all hobbits at heart. Like Tolkien's hobbits of the Shire, we prize comfort and routine. We like our friends and our shows and our favorite latte prepared just the way we like it. Disruptions, even small ones, can throw off our mood or day.
This was certainly the case for Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit. When Gandalf the Wizard invited him on an adventure, he resisted: “We [hobbits] are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them” (p. 6). Bilbo loved his home, his pipe, and his well-stocked pantry. But Gandalf persisted, casting a vision for a brave and magnificent mission of which Bilbo would be at the center.
As they set out, Bilbo nearly turned back when he forgot his handkerchief, but this same hobbit later wields a sword, burgles a dragon, and escapes danger time and time again because of his courageous heart, his sharp wit, and his characteristic small stature (not to mention a magic ring). What began as an inconvenience became the great defining adventure of his life—one he was made for.
When setting out, I find I’m a lot like Bilbo, preferring my little house and manageable life. It’s only once I’ve submitted to the journey and chosen to see the inconvenience as an invitation to adventure with the Lord that my heart comes to life. A change of scenery offers a fresh perspective—on your life, your season, even yourself.
Facing Fears and Missing Meals
We meet more hobbits in Tolkien’s masterful The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bilbo’s nephew Frodo inherits the ring and is swept up in an adventure with the same wizard, this time with the fate of all of Middle Earth on his small shoulders. He’s accompanied by his most loyal friend and gardener, Samwise Gamgee, and cousins Merry and Pippin. While Frodo senses the weight of the mission he’s taken on, Merry and Pippin are initially along for the ride, hoping not to miss “second breakfast.”
As the hobbits are escorted by a motley crew of men, dwarves, and elves, they learn to abandon their routine in favor of a greater purpose. In the company of this fellowship, they charge and ultimately outsmart orc soldiers, negotiate with ancient talking treelike creatures to lead a revolt, and make many mistakes, including awakening a demon monster and uncovering the enemy’s seeing-stone (both Pippin’s doing).
Their journey is full of danger and the unknown but along the way these little hobbits display courage, humility, and sacrificial love that would never have been required of them had they not said goodbye to their beloved Shire, as all of Middle Earth depended upon Frodo and Sam giving all they have for the sake of defeating great evil.
Our journeys have much in common with theirs. Away from home, you’ll have to take risks, make mistakes, think on your feet, and above all pay attention. But as Christians, we do not walk alone. The Holy Spirit empowers us to adapt, inspires us to courage, and provides support along the way through other sojourners. For just “as gold is tested in fire” (Sirach 2:5), so too are we refined by challenges, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
The Inevitability of Dragons
In the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, we meet the dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield whose people were exiled when attacked by the dragon Smaug. In The Hobbit he leads a company of dwarves—Bilbo included—to take back their mountain kingdom. They set out on an impossible mission and together they battle goblins, orcs, elves, and suspicious men all before they summit the Lonely Mountain to face Smaug.
Most of the people they encounter warn against the danger of their quest, for who would willingly seek to challenge a dragon? But the dragon had already come. He pillaged their underground kingdom and took up residence in their mountain. Smaug broke in and stole what was rightfully theirs. The dwarves didn’t have to go looking for a fight; the fight came to them.
So too with our lives. We don’t have to seek out suffering to find it; all we have to do is step out the door. This world is rife with trouble, illness, relational pain, financial struggle, and grief. Our hearts were made for Eden, but we live in exile. Dragons will come, but in Jesus “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). So like Bilbo and Thorin, we face our dragons—and the hassle that comes with them—with the confidence of the children of God.
Made for the Undying Lands
Perhaps The Lord of the Rings is so popular because in it we find a reflection of ourselves and our own battle for good. In them, we recognize our own fears and love of comfort, the familiar mingling of joy and sorrow, and the slow development of virtue. And hope to be as brave as these Hobbits when the moment calls for it.
Frodo and Bilbo face tremendous evil by carrying the ring but are not overcome by it, thus securing the future of Middle Earth. Having endured to the end, they are no longer suited for the humble, predictable Shire. Like us, they are made for greater things. Together they sail for the Undying Lands of the elves, where they can live in perfect peace and rest eternally. This eternal life is an image of our inheritance, for Heaven is our true home and our reward at the end of our race.
What makes travel—and more importantly, life—an adventure is discipleship to Jesus Christ. Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure. He alone can give full meaning to life, he alone is the center of history ” (source). Every season, every scenario, every second of our lives is infused with eternity when we submit our lives to Jesus.
It can be easy to dismiss a road trip or vacation as more work than it’s worth, but the journey of discipleship is an invitation that needs accepting. Just as Frodo and Bilbo embraced adventure for the sake of Middle Earth, so too must we step out of our comfort zones for the sake of holiness. Travel is just one way to exercise virtue.
So the next time a loved one suggests a trip, say yes. Yes to the inconvenience. Yes to the sacrifice. Yes to the adventure. Though Gandalf won’t show up on your doorstep, Christ is always knocking on the door of our hearts, inviting us to follow Him.
Beth Davis is a lover of Jesus, a retired youth minister, the Director of Formation for Blessed is She. She is passionate about teaching women how to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus in prayer through writing, speaking, and mentorship. Her favorite things include being the favorite aunt to her five niece and nephews, making friends everywhere she goes, and whatever book she’s currently reading.
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