Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit living in his tidy home in The Hill, enjoying a quiet life of respectability and comfort. All this was rudely awakened one day when Gandalf the Wizard passed by, and got himself invited to tea the following Wednesday. Not only him, but thirteen uninvited dwarfs turned up, and poor Bilbo was run off his feet trying to feed them all. Although the dwarfs did clean up, at the same time they sang rude songs about breaking Bilbo's china (although in actual fact they didn't). It transpired that an adventure was afoot, and this meeting had been set up by Gandalf to include the hobbit as a fellow conspirator to capture a dragon's gold. It was such a horrendously dangerous plan that, together with all the unexpected intrusion and commotion, it set the poor hobbit shaking with fear, and he had to be laid down to recover.
Bilbo Baggins had forgotten that life was an adventure, one that involved taking risks. Gandalf knew that the hobbit needed an adventure to shake him from his life of passivity and respectability.
Tolkein's fantasy adventure often mirrors our lives. We prefer comfort and contentment like Bilbo, to the radical adventure that Gandalf plans. Our Father knows what we need to grow into mature disciples, but this involves choosing the route of risk-taking faith.
Today, ask yourself how your adventure is going. Do you need a new adventure to refresh your faith?
Jon Seaton
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