For the LotR fans

We have been on a big Lord of the Rings kick, introducing it to Monkeys 3 and 4. We watched the whole LotR trilogy a week before the GSS diagnosis came in while Monkey 3 was recovering from her tonsillectomy. Then came the Hobbit trilogy the week after. During this time Mon Amour decided it was time we owned the extended LotR trilogy. So we've been watching through that in the last week. Tonight we were watching the scene Arwen's Fate in Two Towers, which is an emotional scene but today resonated more deeply. Her father Elrond tells her:

"Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you. No comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death.... You will linger on in darkness and in doubt as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell bound to your grief under the fading trees until all the world is changed and the long years of your life are utterly spent.... There is nothing for you here, only death." As I watched that scene, I was able to identify that that is how I feel at times now. Looking into a bleak, black-and-white future--all alone waiting my years to pass all alone until my time here is done. Then I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite scenes to come in Return of the King, as Arwen is riding sorrowfully along when she gets a glimpse of her own fate. She races back to her father and demands answers: Elrond: I looked into your future and I saw death. Arwen: But there is also life. You saw there was a child. You saw my son. I love that part--the joy, hope, beauty, and peace that come because there's life in her future even if her husband will inevitably die. And as I repeatedly am reminded, there is not just death and loneliness in my future. I have our children. Parts of him that will remain with me as I continue that part of my journey without him for a time. After the promises of the Gospel and if I keep my covenants, that is my greatest comfort in all of this right now.