Tonight, as nine of us were watching the extended version of "Two Towers," I was caught by two lines exchanged by the man Aragorn and the lady Eowyn.

Aragorn: What do you fear, my lady?

Eowyn: A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them, and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire.

And I wondered, is that what today's Christians do? Do we feel caged in by the expectations of those around us? As we try to pacify the demands of the world and of our jobs and of the Christian community, do we lose our main focus of following Christ? Our passion for the lost? Our desire to know God and make him known?
At first we chafe at the conflicting expectations of people and God, but we slowly become accustomed to the envisioned constraints of the circumstances until all chance of valor/great deeds/real purpose has gone beyond recall or desire.

God, never let us grow content or accustomed to the world, but let us chafe against our flesh and against the world as we seek to do great deeds for you.