The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 7: Self-sacrifice)

Hobbit Habit #7: Self-sacrifice

One of the great things about Lord of the Rings is that is not your typical fairy tale. The typical fairy tale is often about a quest on getting something, like Prometheus stealing fire from Zeus, Jason and his Argonauts questing for the Golden Fleece and Jack carrying away with the Golden Goose. But the Lord of the Rings is the opposite. It is about a quest to destroy something, the Ring. While the other fairy tale is about the grabbing an item of power, Lord of the Rings is about letting it go.

One of the main themes of Lord of the Rings is about “letting go”… letting go of the self that is.

All the member of the Fellowship was ready to let go of their very lives for the greater good. They were ready to lose their lives for the mission. Near the end of the epic we hear this from the Fellowship:

Aragorn: Not for ourselves. But we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves.

Legolas: A diversion.

Gimli: Certainty of death, small chance of success... What are we waiting for?

Together with Aragorn and Gandalf, Frodo is one of the Christ figures of the epic. Aragorn represent Christ the King, Gandalf the Prophet and Frodo the Priest. Frodo is the priest figure because he was the one who was going to sacrifice his life for the sake of the many.

“But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.”Jeremiah 11:19

Frodo went straight to Mount Doom, ready to be slaughtered by the Orcs, just to destroy the Ring. He knew that he could die if he took on the mission. But still, he did. It was his selfless act that saved Middle Earth.

This is how Jesus saved us. He too came into this world, not to gain worldly power, but to destroy sin. He conquered sin not by a sword, but being pierced by one. Jesus conquered the world by his self-sacrificing love. Like Frodo who went to depths of Mount Doom to destroy the ring, Jesus too went to the depths of sin and God forsakenness, and from there He let love explode and thus defeating sin.

And since then, sin lost its sting.

Self-sacrifice is one of the most powerful things that could change the world and defeat the “enemy”. “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.” says Jesus. And of all the virtues, love is the greatest says St Paul.

One cannot be a Christian without self-sacrifice. For one cannot be a Christian without love.

Our Lord and our God sacrificed Himself for us.

Is the servant better than the Master?

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 6: Humility)

Hobbit Habit #6: Humility

Of all the powerful characters in the Lord of the Rings, it was to an unlikely little Hobbit that the Ring was entrusted. You might wonder why Tolkien, the author, would make an almost helpless chap be the Ring Bearer. Frodo was one of the least in regards to strength and speed in the Fellowship. But he was the one chosen to carry the burden of saving Middle Earth.

So why did the whole epic relied on a Hobbit to save the day?

Because only a Hobbit can carry the Ring.

One of the Rings power was to tempt the bearer of power. Man has been proven unable to resist such temptation when Isildur decided to keep the Ring to himself. And being killed because of it. Even the elves were not immune to the temptation of the Ring. Galadriel experienced this when she try to receive the Ring from Frodo.

So who could carry the Ring?

The one who has no desire for power.

A hobbit was the only one who can withstand the temptation of the Ring, long enough to be destroyed that is. Frodo did not desire the power men, dwarves and elves seek. He only wanted to save Middle Earth for the sake of the Shire. He just wanted to keep his home safe and to go home.

The Bible is filled with passage condemning man’s pride. The proud never survives the Bible. The people of Sodom and Gomorra experienced this first hand and all those who followed in their footsteps of claiming the power of God.

“He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things But has sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1: 51-53

Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The proud on the other hand is not blessed because they don’t want no “bleeding charity” from God. What they wants is to “take over” heaven. They want to kick God out of the throne and sit on it themselves. This might sound too arrogant, but we are all guilty of it in some way. Every time we decide to create our own morality, to be the judge what is good and evil, to control the universe, to be the captains of our lives and everything that denies what is due to God alone, is pride.

And there are no proud people in heaven. Proud people do not like another person lording over them. So there is only one place for proud people after death. Hell.

St. Teresa of Avila says “Humility is truth.” What does she mean? To be humble is to know and accept the Truth. And the truth is that we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, as St Paul puts it. A humble person knows that God is everything, and apart from God, he is nothing. A humble person give God His due… everything.

Humility comes from the word “humus” meaning soil. A humble person is “grounded”, grounded in reality that is. And the reality is that man is not God. Man does not control the universe. He does not sustain his life. God does all of those. And all the good that has comes from him, comes from God. “And Jesus said to him: Why dost thou call me good? None is good but God alone.” Luke 18:19

Humility is one of the few things Satan has no defense against, for he has none of it.

A humble man is always in favor with God.

“Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the humble of spirit.” Proverbs 29:23

So be humble, for our Master is.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 5: Single-heartedness )

Hobbit Habit #5: Single-heartedness

Many of us have never accomplished anything great because of our lack of zeal and devotion to anything. Our desires are scattered all around. We never seem to be headed in one direction, but keep turning around every corner. Our running in circles has brought us nowhere.

Frodo was focus and determined to destroy the One Ring. He was single-hearted to his mission. He did not let obstacles hinder him from doing what needed to be done, even if the hindrance was himself. Frodo kept his sight on one thing, Mount Doom and the destruction of the Ring. He was ready to give up everything for the sake of the mission, even his life.

Frodo did not only have a one track mind, but a one track heart. His track started from the Shire and ended in Mount Doom. And on the track were riding the Ring and the salvation of Middle Earth. It was his dedication to his mission that kept him on track. Even when he was derailed, he always came back on track. There was no stopping this little locomotion.

Another translation of “Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God” is “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall see God.” “The pure at heart” are single-hearted, for the “pure at heart” only have one person in their heart, God. They are called single hearted because their love is not divided. Their heart burns in love for God alone.

We sinners have divided hearts that is why we don’t see God. We don’t see him because we don’t seek Him 100 percent. Along with God, we seek so much worldly things. Even if God was standing beside us, we shall overlook him for our sights are moving all around.

Those who are single-hearted in seeking God shall see Him for He already promised that “those who seek shall find.”

Most of us sinners amount to nothing in the end because our discipleship to Christ is not single-hearted. We don’t have 100 percent dedication, devotion and commitment in our discipleship and to our Christian mission. If we only take really seriously Christ call to proclaim the Gospel to all nations, our lives would have been lifted up to a new level. A level where deep abiding joy and fulfillment exist and given.

Frodo knew what he had to do. Destroy the Ring to save the world. We too know what we have to do, destroy evil with love and in doing saving the world. This is our vocation as Christians, to share the works of Christ.

Frodo almost died many times trying to finish the mission. Jesus died in finishing “the” mission. Are we better than our Master?

Until we become single-hearted in our love for God, to His will and to His work, we shall live aimlessly. Scattered to pieces and never be whole.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 4: Valuing of Friendship)

Hobbit Habit#4: Valuing of Friendship

Friendship is one of the beautiful themes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Fellowship was not just a group, a bunch of individuals on a mission, but they were friends. They were friends who were ready to die to protect each other.

Frodo would have never destroyed the One Ring if it was not for his friends, especially Sam. From the beginning, his friends was with him, whether he liked it or not. And they stuck to him till the end. It was their friendship that kept them together when things got rough.

How many times Sam, Merry and Pippin risked their life so that Frodo may live and continue his mission? Merry and Pippin made themselves bait to the Uruk-hai so Frodo could escape. Sam risked his life time and again to protect Frodo. Sam faced orcs and a giant spider just to save Frodo.

Sam is the greatest icon of friendship in the Lord of the Rings. No matter what Frodosaid and did to Sam, leaving him and casting him out, Sam always remained faithful to Frodo. Sam was always there to the rescue. And in the end, when Frodo did not have the strength to continue the journey to Mount Doom, Sam literally carried him on the rest of the journey.

No Hobbit is left behind.

Sam reminds us of John of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry the cross. A friend is not just someone there for the merry making, but is there to help you carry your crosses. The sign of a true friendship is the willingness to suffer for the other and vice versa.

In this “user-friendly” culture we live in, real friends are a gem, more precious than silver or gold. Gold and silver will not die for you, but a real friend would.

“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” –Aristotle

We Christians are called to be friends of Christ. This means that we must be ready to shed our blood and give our life to our Friend. Like the Hobbits, we must be ready to set ourselves aside for the sake of the Other. We must remain faithful to our Friend at all cost, especially amidst adversities.

We live in a world where Christ is continually persecuted and banished from society. To be His friend means take His side, even if that means to be persecuted by the world. "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” - John 15:18.
Real friends don’t bail out on each other.

Lastly, Jesus is our Friend, the perfect friend. He is the Friend that not only suffers for and with us, but a Friend who paid our debts with his very blood, his very life. Christ sings to us “You just call out my name and you know where ever I am I'll come running to see you again.” He is a Friend that is always, as in eternally always, there for us.

And yes, we are friends of Christ.

“I no longer call you servants… Instead, I have called you friends.” - John 15:15

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 3: Perseverance )

Hobbit Habit 3: Perseverance

It is one thing to win a battle, another to win a war.
Our lives are series of battles. Everyday we do battle against the “enemy”, the world and our very self. One can survive a major crisis unscathed, but it is the daily battles that can wear us down.
In the book, Frodo’s journey from the Shire to Mount Doom took years. The hobbits walked for months, encountering all kind of dangers. But in all of it, the hobbits persevered.

The virtue of perseverance is rare these days. We live in a culture of instant satisfaction. If we find something “too much work” then it is too much work that we don’t want to do. In our society where “emotional high” is king, lack of emotions is a good enough reason to quit. When the going gets tough, the tough bails out. The modern man is allergic to hardships.

How much good work have been wasted or never been started because we quit too early, too easily? How many of us have given up before we reached the goal?

Perseverance is important in life. Without it we shall accomplish nothing. When Frodo decided to destroy the One Ring, he was going against enemies bigger than him. And he had to battle them not only once, but many times. Everyday he has to battle the hostile landscape he needed to pass through. But most of all, he has to make battle with himself every minute as the One Ring tempts him. Even though the tides were against him, he pushed forward. This is most true for Christians, who are asks to go against the spirit of the world. Christ Himself said that the world would hate his followers. Without perseverance we shall all give in to the world, and be traitors, just like Judas.

A big part of perseverance is getting up after a fall and getting back on track. How many times did Frodo and the Fellowship was side tracked because unforeseen events. They were forced to travel underground in the Mines of Moria were they have to face orcs and the Balrog. Frodo was captured twice, bitten and cocooned by a giant spider and stabbed by a Nazgûl . But all of these setbacks did not stop Frodo from fulfilling his mission. We too suffer a lot of setbacks in life. But these setbacks, failures and obstacle are not the end of the adventure. It will only be the end if we choose so.

The spiritual life is not a sprint. We cannot rely on emotional consolations with our journey with God, for emotions fade. How much promises we have made when we were emotionally high and then never really delivered? Life is long marathon. We must learn to persevere amidst hardships and desolations. We cannot base our perseverance with our emotions, but with our decisions. We must continue running the race even if it takes us to the desert. And we need to persevere if we want to get out of the desert to the Promise Land.

In the end we can say with St Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

And the Father will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness!"

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 2: Courage Amidst Adversity )

Hobbit Habit #2: Courage Amidst Adversity

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage, like any virtue, becomes alive when it is put to the test by its opposite pole, cowardice. One cannot be courageous in front of a flying butterfly, but one practice courage in front of flying bullets. The courageous man feels fear, but does not let his fear cripple him. Sometimes courage takes form of a coward moving forward the line of battle.

The Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings are small and peaceful folks. They are not bread for battle. They live their life safely in the Shire.

It takes greater courage for Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin to in taking the mission of destroying the One Ring than anyone in the Fellowship. They not only lack in size but also lack in the skill of fighting. They all have a reason to bail out, for it was suicide on their part. How could four small Hobbits fight against orcs, dragons and Sauron himself?

But the four did not give in to cowardice. They were afraid the whole time, but they pushed through. They have faced giants, literally, with only a knife and a big heart. And in the end, their knives and a big hearts defeated the giants of giants, Sauron

We humans are a fearful bunch. That is why the Scriptures are filled of “Be not afraid” passages. God knows we are fearful. God knows we are cowards. And that is why there is “grace

Like the Hobbits, we all have our giants to face. Our life might look like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, fighting one battle to the next. We might feel the darkness looming in. We are tempted to despair. Is there hope for victory in all of these adversities

The Hobbits never gave up. And there were a lot of situations that they could have. How many times they were captured by the enemy? How many times they were in the brink of death? But they fought. Sometimes they fought even though they knew that it was a no win scenario. The Hobbits had no plans of dying like cowards.

In the end, the Hobbits finished what they set out to do. They were victorious. They won not because of their great strength nor fighting skills. They won because they did not quit. They won because even when the odds were against them, they hanged on.

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” - George S. Patton

So how can we be courageous

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” - 1 John 4:18

Love is the source of our courage. To know that God loves us is the supreme reason for our courage, for if God is with us, who is against us? To choose faithfulness to God is to choose victory. No matter what adversities comes to us, even if death is nearing, it does not have the final word. Death has been defeated by the Resurrection. And we too shall rise in Christ in this life and in the next if we choose Him

Our love for our neighbor is also a source of courage. When we learn to put them before us, we are prepared to sacrifice our very self for their sake. We are ready to carry their crosses with them. We are ready to make risks for them

When we let go of our selfishness we let go of our fear. For in the center of fear is ourselves. We are afraid to lose ourselves. And we will do all things necessary to protect it. And in saving ourselves, we lose our lives. A coward lives in his small protected world. He has cut himself from the rest of the world. A coward’s life is a boring life.

Victory belongs to the lovingly courageous people. It takes a lot of courage to love. But in having the courage to love we shall find life itself. Christ Himself.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Written By Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 1: Cheerfulness)

Hobbits? What can those small folks teach us?

A lot actually!

Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written. And it was written by a devout Catholic, J.R.R. Tolkien, who was also a friend of C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lord of the Rings is full of Christian symbolism and lessons. So let us dig in.

So what can we learn from our little hairy-footed friends?

Hobbit Habit #1: Cheerfulness.

Hobbits are a cheery bunch of Halflings. They like to drink, eat and be merry, which typically translate to singing and dancing. But their cheerfulness is unlike ours. Theirs is simpler and therefore merrier. They don’t need a big event to celebrate. Being together is enough reason to be merry.

Most of us are miserable because we have forgotten to be merry in small and simple things. We modern people want our celebrations big, bold, and gimmicky and attended by the famous. No wonder we do the most stupid things just to say we had fun. We have forgotten that we are celebrating because we are among friends who are sharing our joy.

Hobbits does not really need too much reason to be merry, they just simply do because they like to. Their simple life, their simple hearts makes them easy to please. For the most of us, our lack of the virtue of simplicity is the source of our discontent. Our discontent leads to frustration, which leads to misery.

The Hobbits can sing and dance because they know how to get caught in the moment. They are not self-conscious of what others would think of them. They are more absorbed in enjoying the moment than looking good. Because they are caught in joy, they become heralds of joy to others. When hobbits start singing and dancing on top of tables, everybody joins in. They are the life of the party because their heart is alive with joy.

For us Christian, Jesus is the source and reason of our joy. Pope Benedict XVI writes in his book Jesus of Nazareth (II), “In faith we know that Jesus holds his hands stretched out in blessing over us. That is the lasting motive of Christian joy.”

They say that the sign that the Holy Trinity is dwelling in you is joy. Joy is a sign of a true Christian who is in love with God.

Be a good cheer, Jesus has overcome the world and everything in between.

Written by Daxx Bondoc