Rom Communism

“I believe in Communism. Rom Communism that is. It is a worldview that reminds us that if Romantic Comedies...with all of those attractive people can go through some light-hearted struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. Believing in Rom Communism is all about believing that everything is all going to work out in the end. Now, these next few months are going to be tricky. But that’s just because we’re going through our dark forest. Fairy tales do not start, nor do they end, in the dark forest. That son of a gun always shows up smack dab in the middle.of a story. But it will all work out. Now, it may not work out how you think it will, or how you hope it does, but believe me, it will all work out, exactly as it’s supposed to.” (Ted Lasso from Ted Lasso). Forgive me for making two pop culture references one after the other, but they all tie together, I promise. There’s a scene in the Hobbit when they are about to go into the dark forest, and Bilbo, who is afraid, asks if they can’t just go around. The answer is that they could, if they wanted to go two hundred miles North and then more South again, but this would not actually be an easier or a safer journey. And then later, when they are in the middle of the Dark Forest, Bilbo climbs a tree to see if there is an end. But Bilbo climbs a tree at the bottom of a valley, so that when he looks out, all he can see is trees going on forever and ever, not realizing that he couldn’t see the edge of the forest because he was at the bottom of a valley. We are going to have to go through a lot of dark forests in our lives. Our first instinct may be to avoid it, or run away from it, or try to find a way around it, but eventually, we’ll realize that the only way forward is through. And sometimes when we are in the middle of those dark forests, we can’t see a way out. It may seem like we’ve been in the dark forest forever and we’re doomed to stay in the dark forest forever. But our story does not end in the dark forest. It will all work out in the end. We may wander off the path and get nearly eaten by giant spiders and imprisoned by elves and half drown riding barrels down a river, but we will get out of the dark forest in the end. We get asked to do and to go through and endure hard things, unfair things, cruel things, unimaginable things, but it will all work out in the end. If we get cancer, it will work out. If we get divorced, it will work out. If we get chased from our homes, or beaten in an alley, or swindled of our fortune, or our identity stolen, or get snared by addiction, or consumed by rage and revenge, or dragged down into the pit of despair and suicidal thoughts, it will all work out in the end. Bilbo did not get to the dragon how he was supposed to, or how he hoped to, but he got there and back again alive and changed for the better. We may not believe it, we may not dare to hope it, we may even be passed caring, but we will get through the dark forest and still end up happier than we have any right to expect or even imagine. We started happy in the presence of our Heavenly Father and we are going to end up happy in the presence of our Heavenly Father, and this little part in the middle, in the dark forest in the valley of the shadow of death, is just temporary. We are creatures of joy, children of the Divine embodiment of Love, rescued from the dark forest by the Prince of Peace, destined for eternal glory and never ending Happiness.