Lessons from Strider in The Corona Virus Crisis:
The poem that identifies Strider as the future king Aragorn holds two truths for those who are experiencing the quarantine of the COVID 19 in 2020. In times like this depression is a real danger. One statistic states that up to 10,000 people will lose their lives to suicide and other indirect causes for every one percent of unemployment. With that number at about 30% right now we need to reflect on how to allecviate the effects.
A primary player in this is the stress from the event being coupled with the uncertainty of when the situation is going to change and if we are going to go back to normal. We don’t know if we will have a job, which many American men use to value themselves. We are often listening to people who don’t directly kow us or have our best intererstes in mind.
Strider faced both of these issues, identity and uncertainty. The first is dealt with in not all that is gold glitters. He was the future king and yet lived in the forest with a group of rangers. He had none of the trappings of royalty. His bed was often on the ground and his clothing but a dark and stained robe. There was no crown and no entourage. The papparizi would not have sought him out. Yet he knew he was gold, he did not doubt his destiny.
A long time had passed and his family had kept faithful to the promise without any sign of change in the situation. Aragorn was a believer, he believed the prophecy and did not live dictated to by his present circumstance, but rather in the hope of that not seen. He was proven right in his self evaluation and his trust in the prophecy.
As a Christian, I must recognize who is my judge. Not other people nor the Devil. It matters not whether they puff me up or blow me down. They look on the outside, but only God sees my heart. Secondly, I must not let my circumstance dictate my final end. This too shall pass. God is shaking all things to prove that which is unshakeable. My feet are on the rock all else is sinking sand.
Our adversary wants to kill your hope and by extention kill you. I pray that you find encouragement to continue the journey in these two points. Your identity and your destiny are in the hands of God.
Lessons From Strider
