I find the books and consequent movies in the Lord of the Rings trilogy fascinating on many levels.  I think there are many strong spiritual lessons within this tale.  One lesson, to my mind, is the clear difference between the characters on the good side, specifically Frodo and Sam, and those on the dark side, Sauron and Sauroman.  In the movies the landscape of the homeland of  Frodo and Sam is absolutely beautiful.  The Shire is the epitome of peace and tranquility.  The beauty is otherworldly and perhaps even heavenly.  In contrast to the Shire is the environs of Sauron and Sauroman.  They have destroyed any natural beauty around them for personal gain and power.  The land is fire, soot, smoke, ash and totally deforested.  To me these landscapes reflect the inner landscape of different individuals.  The Shire, the individual who in humility turns to their Creator and seeks to do His service, Mordor, the individual bent on self service and self aggrandizement.  We can see how the person with the humble heart has a spiritual landscape reflective of their loves and desires, and too, how the person with a vain heart has a spiritual world reflective of their lusts, control and greed.  The vanity and power hungry stance of Sauron and Sauroman stands in stark contrast to the gentle and humble ways of the Hobbits Frodo and Sam.  Of course, the power of the ring is seductive (the desire for power and riches for their sake alone), and Frodo has to fight that temptation, as we all do.  

I use this story as imagery for our thoughts as we approach Thanksgiving. I think it is useful for us to look into our hearts at this time of year and see where we make our stand on the Lord’s place in our lives.  We are taught and are familiar with the teachings, “Without Me you can do nothing” and “With God all things are possible.”  But do we take these teachings to heart and practice praying for the Lord’s help and thanking Him for all He does for us continually, or do we depend on ourselves alone and trust in ourselves alone.  I am sure most of us are somewhere in the middle, but which direction are we headed? At this time of year we remember the blessings of the Lord and give thanks.  With this holiday hopefully there is true humility in our hearts, or at least the desire to come from that place in ourselves.   The Lord asks for our humility, not because HE needs it or thrives on it, but because He knows we need it. We read; “The Lord does, it is true, demand humility, worship, thanksgiving, and much else from us, which seem like repayment, so that His gifts do not seem to be free. But the Lord does not demand those things for His own sake, for the Divine derives no glory at all from our humility, worship, or thanksgiving. It is utterly inconceivable that any self-love should exist within the Divine, causing Him to require such actions for His own sake. Rather,  they are required for our own sake, for if we possess humility we are able to accept good from the Lord, since in that case we have been parted from self-love and its evils which stand in the way of our accepting it. Therefore the Lord desires a state of humility in us for our own sake, because the Lord can flow in with heavenly good when that exists in us.” AC 5957

The Lord receives great delight in blessing us with goodness.  When we are humble in heart He can actually do that.  If it works in your mind, keep the images of Sam and Frodo in contrast to Sauron and Sauroman in your mind as you approach this holiday, knowing that the heart of humility creates a beautiful place within us–like the Shire.  A place of beauty, peace and tranquility. “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.  In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.  The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.  Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.  For He is our God, and we are people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” [Psalm 95]