My favorite passage from The Fellowship of the Ring is probably the scene where Gimli meets Galadriel. For several centuries elves and dwarves had distrusted each other, and Gimli had been blind-folded when brought into this enchanted land of the high elves, so Gimli’s response to Galadriel is surprising:
She looked upon Gimli, who sat glowering and sad, and she smiled. And the Dwarf, hearing the names given in his own ancient tongue, looked up and met her eyes; and it seemed to him that he looked suddenly into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding. Wonder came into his face, and then he smiled in answer.
Gimli, with undwarvish graciousness declares Galadriel “above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth.” Gimli is smitten by her goodness and beauty.
Many people today have dwarvish suspicions of God. Unfortunately, many raised in the church have been wounded and have a long list of grievances. Others, especially those from a legalistic and lifeless religious tradition, have seen God as an enemy of the joys and pleasures of life. Some folks have spent many years avoiding enemy territory at church.
Yet, I know that if rebellious church kids, indeed all who regard God as an enemy, could look into the eyes of Jesus, they would be surprised to see only “love and understanding”. I pray for the “glowering and sad” to see the heart of their enemy and, like Gimli, declare their former enemy above all jewels.
