There Should Be Enough

    The Shire is a place where want is scarce, and toil is usually only found in your front garden. So picture two hobbits, in the middle of the wilderness within Mordor, having lost friends and seen dangers they'd only heard about in stories from the safety of an inn or around a campfire, and still a long ways to go before the end. 

    In the midst of this, our heroes, Frodo and Sam stop for food. Sam gives Frodo a portion of the Elvin Lembas bread, as he says that he's not hungry for it and that there should be enough. 

"For what?" Frodo asks. 

"The journey home" says Sam. 

    A year ago we lived in a version of the Shire, where we could go wherever we wanted without fear. We could see anyone we wanted, we could travel, and fear was relatively rare. Now, like the hobbits, we have been on a journey. This year we have seen horrors we never imagined. Some on the news, some right in front of our faces. We are tired, and we still have so much further to go. Blaming 2020 is all well and good but let's remember, that on December 31st at the stroke of 12 the spell will not be broken, the world will not magically go back, we will still have a long way to go. 

    So do we have enough to get back? 

    Frodo was so focused on the journey, on the one step in front of another with the ring weighing down his soul, that he never thought about going home. In that moment though he realized that Sam was, that this wasn't going to be the end and that one day they would see the Shire again. 

    So what is sustaining you right now? What are you doing to remind yourself that one day the world will change and families will be reunited, trips will be taken, and connection will be reestablished with the world? Are you making plans for the world after? Are you rationing for the journey home, or are you lost in the quest?