Tuesday, March 25, 2025
“Read for One Hour”
Today’s Lenten Challenge, to read for an hour, was chosen for several reasons. First, reading is a healthy activity. Second, today is National Tolkien Reading Day, referring to the popular and influential author J.R.R. Tolkien.
J.R.R. Tolkien, most well-known as the author of “The Lord of the Rings” series, has inspired the imaginations of countless children and adults with intense characterizations and moral and ethical lessons. Readers don’t have to know about Tolkien’s deep Faith to enjoy the fantastical adventures of a variety of endearing characters in Tolkien’s stories.
However, once we become aware of Tolkien’s Faith, it is difficult to not see Tolkien’s Christian lessons that are prevalent in the stories. As a close friend and colleague of the author C.S. Lewis, the author of “The Chronicles of Narnia”, the two authors met regularly to discuss their books and Christian Faith.
Though both Tolkien and Lewis were incredibly successful and important authors, the resulting films that were produced years later have exposed billions of people to their works who may have previously not discovered their writings. In particular, Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” series is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made, winning 17 Academy Awards and being named by the Library of Congress for preservation in its National Film Registry in 2021.
All this is cool, but guess what? It all began with a book, and, though films and videos are wonderful, nothing and no one else is nearly as creative as our own imaginations. And, of course, the creative kind itself is a gift from the great Designer: God.
Read for an hour today. Yes, you can break it into segments if needed, but open a book and let your imagination take off!
“Examine everything carefully and hang on to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, CEB)
