Quote:

“But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.” – Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Context:

We all have stories, quotes, or things we turn to in times of trials. When the world is clouded by darkness there is always something we can come back to. Something to hold on to. A form of hope we believe in. 

For me, this quote has always been one of those. It's a promise. An assurance that even on the darkest of nights we know the day is on its way. The sun is coming. The darkness will pass and when the sun does shine, everything will be brighter than before. 

When you can hold on to a promise such as this, the darkness does not seem as heavy. The night feels shorter. And hope is all the stronger. 

If anyone could testify this it would be the characters in Lord of the Rings. That whole book is a promise to the one stuck in the dark of night. A story of hope to hold on to when all else fails. It tells the truth about the very real presence of evil and the thickness of the dark. But it does not dwell in that hopeless state of all is lost. When the world feels like it's ending for Frodo and Sam we see them pushing through, standing strong. Taking one more step and then another and another. When Frodo falls and can’t make it any longer, Sam picks him up and carries him to the top of the mountain. Sam has surely had enough struggle of his own, yet he does not let it weigh him down. He clings to the goodness he knows that is in the world and lets it propel him forward, giving him a battle cry when the fight is at its thickest. 

They cannot fail their quest for the hope they hold onto. They know the day is coming. They are aware that darkness is passing. If only they can make it to the morning. And sometimes that is all we need to keep going. The hope that things will be made beautiful in the end. 

We see this so often in the Bible as well. So many stories of darkness and shadows. But through the hope given to us in Christ we can persevere till the morning. Even Jesus as he hung on the cross stretched out his bleeding arms to hold the broken world he loved so much. He prayed to his Father begging him to take this cup from him. He pleaded with the King of the world that there would be another answer. But there was not. And so Jesus went willingly to the cross and clung to rising of the sun. He held onto his love for us that knows no ends. He knew that Sunday was coming, so all if was worth it. For us. So that we too could hold onto the hope of a better ending. Hanging on the cross, in excruciating pain, with his own creations, his beloved children mocking him and spitting on him, knowing that he could call an army of angels to come right down and rescue him, Jesus humbled himself to the death, providing us with an eternal hope. It was not the nails that kept him on that cross. It was his love for you and me. 

A blessed assurance it is to know that no matter what, we know the ending of the story. We know the night can only last so long. The shadows are passing. The day is coming. The sun is rising. And when it shines on this broken world, it will shine even brighter. 

We wouldn’t know the glory of the light if we never tasted the bitterness of the dark. 

The darkness is what makes us stronger. It makes the light all the fiercer. 

In the depths of your darkest night, when there is no light, remember the sun will always rise again. 

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." – Lamentations 3:22-23

Written by: Adalyn E. Skains