We’ve committed our lives to learning to live simply. I say learning because it really is a learning process. I’m learning everyday that saying “yes” to simply living means saying “no” to a bunch of other things. Today, that meant saying “no” to a well-loved piece of my life….my Lord of the Rings DVD’s.
While it may seem silly to you, these things have gotten me through some rough times in my life. See, Seth and I are selling our DVD collection. The entire collection of 350. I had committed to seeing it through, I wanted no stone to be left unturned, no DVD left in my life. I’d gotten tired of seeing them, storing them, dusting them, and for some, watching them. So we’re selling them. For $3 or $7 you can have a small piece of our lives. I try not to think about how much it cost us to buy all 350 of them from the beginning, but that’s another story. I’ve been posting 5 a day on facebook and they’ve been selling pretty quickly. But I’ve been looking in the cabinet each day, knowing those green, red, and blue boxed sets were getting nearer and nearer to their ultimate destination and today just happened to be the day.
I do have to admit, part of me is sad about this part of simplicity. It’s sad to see important things go, but I have to ask myself, just how important are those DVD’s? I can pick up any one of my 3 copies of the book and read about the Fellowship of 9 at any time. I can read all about their journey together and their journey individually as the begin to become who their Creator, Eru Illuvitar, is molding them to be. Seeing each character grow and change throughout the story is probably the thing that keeps me coming back to this epic tale over and over again. Watching Samwise go from hiding under the garden window at Bag End to carrying his best friend up a fiery mountain to save the world. How Aragorn goes from an anonymous “Strider”, a Dunedain of the North to Aragorn, King of Men. And who could forget Gandalf the Grey giving his life so sacrificially for his companions only to return as the brilliant Gandalf the White?
I love the scene when Frodo and Sam are embarking off to the village of Bree to meet Gandalf, with no idea what lies ahead of them. In the book, Frodo tells Sam a poem, reminiscent of his dear, old Bilbo. He says,
“The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with weary feet, Until it joins some larger way, Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say”
Frodo didn’t have all the answers. He had his small pack with him and a commitment to see his business through to the end. It feels like that’s all we’ve got too. Selling the DVD’s is just a part of the road of simplicity that hopefully will meet with other life decisions we’re making along the way. Some things have been easy to say “yes” to; others have been more difficult to tread the path. Frodo only carried what he could on his journey to save the world. While I don’t dare to be that presumptuous, I do think selling all these DVD’s is lightening my load as I walk a path my Creator has set out before me. So the next time I get nostalgic, I’ll remember that the Road goes ever on and on, and when in a pickle, I’ll just ask myself, “What would Frodo do?” 🙂