Changing Roles

I've read The Lord of the Rings many times, and watched the movies a few times as well. There is a part in the movie that always makes me cry.It is late in their journey together when Sam & Frodo are talking. They are road-weary but still feeling a strong sense of call. Sam wonders aloud whether the two of them will ever be in stories and songs like the heroes of old, and imagines what it would be like for a son to ask his dad: "Tell us again about Frodo & the ring!" Frodo stops, and turns to look at Sam, telling him he's forgetting a character: "Samwise the Brave". Sam gets bashful and chides his master for making fun. Frodo says "I am being serious Sam. Without you I never would have made it this far."

In the past the reason this has always made me cry is because I've felt God's affirming/confirming love and approval as a "right-hand man". Never feeling a need for the limelight, I've been fully satisfied being a mainly background/support character.

Recently, I was watching the movies again. At that same scene, I cried again -- this time a bit harder, and for a completely different reason. As I watched, I felt God's love and approval on me for who He is calling me to be, and the thought struck me:

I'm Frodo now.
I used to be Sam, but now?

I'm Frodo*

Scary but exciting -- I think the word they use to describe that combination is: "exhilerating".

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 eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

~ Keith

*And immediately I also got the sense that it is not me as Frodo and Cathy as Sam -- it is us as Frodo.