Family motto

I find it fascinating what people hang on the walls of their home. You can tell a lot about people and what they value. Maybe it's something to do with Mormon-culture, but pretty much everyone I know has something hanging in their living room or entry that could be called their "family motto." Some are as simple as "Families are Forever," others are more detailed.

We have a motto hanging in our living room as well. It hangs over the doorway into the hall. It's the first thing you see as you walk in the front door.
Yup, our "motto" is a quote from the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. The black-on-black runes behind the lettering even spell "The Lord of the Rings." I imagine some people really wonder why the quote that gets first billing at our house isn't a quote from a prophet or some bit of Mormonish something.

Beorn and I picked the plaque up at the Freedom Festival five or six years ago. I knew as soon as I saw it, that it deserved a prominent location in our home. Not only would it proudly proclaim our nerdy status, but it was truly "words to live by." I have often used it to talk to my kids about making good choices and about the reasons God gave us this life. We are here to learn and to show that we will be obedient to all that He has commanded.

That has been the message (for me) of this quote ever since I first saw it: we only have a finite amount of time on this earth and we need to use that time for those things which are most important. So, all we have to decide is to use our time to obey the Lord. Not a bad message.

Last week Monkey asked to watch The Fellowship of the Ring movie for the first time. Since I was doing a lot of sewing, I got to watch/listen to it with her. I don't know how many times I have watched that film, but this was the first time that I caught Gandalf's true meaning in that quote. I had missed the real meaning, since I so often thought of the quote out of context - independent of the conversation it was part of. Frodo had just been lamenting his "lot in life," the situation and world he was born into.

Frodo: "I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Gandalf wasn't using the word time to mean the hours and days allotted to us, he was not trying to teach Frodo about decision making or time management. Gandalf was using the word time to mean the era we live in, the situations and challenges we are born to face. He was teaching about our attitude during difficulties. We cannot change the time in which we were born, the problems inherent with living during this period of history. We cannot change the challenges and difficulties that our life will bring. This is our time, even if it is not what we would have chosen for ourselves. All we can do, is control our attitude and our actions during our life, whatever that life may be.

I am now even more satisfied with our family motto, since it had already become mine: "...although I cannot control many things in my life, I am in charge of my feelings and reactions. I have been dealt some very challenging cards, but my life is still wonderful. I am learning to enjoy life here and now with all its imperfections and trials, rather than waiting for my life to finally become what I dreamed it would be."

What are you going to do with the lot that you were given?