To overcome adversity,
to stand and face the challenge, to look boredom in the eye and make a change,
to step outside of our comfort zone and walk into a calling can be easier said
than done. For Annabelle, it was something she longed for but never felt achievable. She dreamed and longed for adventure but to have an adventure
meant she would have to leave behind what she was used to and take steps of
faith towards something new. But what if she failed? What if she couldn’t do
it? What if all she had dreamed wasn’t all it cracked up to be?
But
what if it did turn out? What if it was exactly like her dream? At the age of
24, Annabelle had spent most of her life dreaming. Each season had a different
dream, sometimes a Princess, sometimes a Warrior, sometimes an Elf, but
something. Something not mundane and boring.
Then one morning, something changed. It called beyond the Hobbit Hole
she was used to and whispered, “Come with me.”
It didn’t
come from the man with the long grey robes and pointed hat. It didn’t come from
an uncle who had traveled the earth and returned with a whole new perspective,
it came from a little voice inside of her that said, “Step beyond the Shire”.
So she did.
It wasn’t a shortcut to the mushrooms. It wasn’t just a trip to the Brandywine
Bridge, but it wasn’t a trip to Mount Doom either. Instead, it was a leap of
faith towards Rivendell.
The elves were
different from her. They spoke a different language, they moved differently
than her little hobbit legs. They ate similar foods but not really. But there
she found freedom. She saw beyond what she was and saw what she could be. She
may never unite the whole of the world but she could make a difference. She couldn’t
be an elf but she had a different perspective and not just physically. It was
once she gained her courage to speak out truth something changed in the
atmosphere.
A family took
her in. They taught her how to move within her new society. They encouraged her.
They didn’t find her strange. They saw her dreams and stood behind her. They
let her try new things. When she broke down into tears, they put their arms
around her and walked with her.
Annabelle had moved beyond boredom, moved
beyond what was expected of her, and stepped out in faith. She made a new home.
Sure, she went back to the Shire for visits but it no longer felt like home. Despite all the challenges growing up, she realized that without growing up in the Shire, she never would have
made it to Rivendell. If she had found a nice hobbit to settle down with, she
wouldn’t be staring at the Elves in all their magnificence today. Ever step had
brought her to this moment. Any earlier and she wouldn’t have been prepared or
been in a state of mind that could have handled it. But now, she was ready to
step into her calling to the Elves. Was she frightened? Without a doubt. Did she
think she was good enough to be with them and learn Elvish? Of course not. The
language was foreign but so beautiful. So she pressed on, enjoying
every moment, knowing this was where she needed to be. Anything less, would
leave her with a sense of disappointment.
Step into a
calling. Step into a destiny. Step outside of the box. Annabelle did. What’s
your next move?
No comments:
Post a Comment