The trials of life, or our brokenness, or our wounds will at some point force us to face our need for one another. We all need that someone to lean on, that someone who will stand beside us and walk it out with us no matter what! We need people who will love us, who will walk into the wretched details of our lives.

In Top Gun, Maverick had Goose! In Toy Story, Woody had Buzz Lightyear! In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo has Samwise! I’m sure you could expand this list without much thought…

I was watching ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ recently and this time I was drawn into the conversation Frodo and Samwise near the end of the movie just after Sam rescues Frodo from being snatched up by the Nazgul.

Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.

God sprinkles this idea throughout His word. Moses had Aaron, Joshua had Caleb. David had Jonathan and his mighty men. Paul had Timothy. Jesus had his twelve disciples, etc. God’s Word reminds us over and over again that we are better together than we are alone.

How about you? Are you going at it alone?