The soul friendship of Samwise Gamgee

maggi dawn: "Frodo is enslaved by the Ring - in love with the thing that will ultimately kill him. The only way to be free is to throw the ring into the lake. Frodo is weakened by his addiction to the Ring, and the lake is some distance away. Sam, Frodo's friend, is certain that Frodo has the strength to throw the ring away, and knows that only Frodo can free himself. So waht does Sam do? He carries Frodo to the lake, and waits for Frodo to relinquish the Ring. Sam is no 'co-dependent'. He knows he can't save Frodo: only Frodo can throw the ring away. But Sam does literally pick Frodo up and carry him to a place where he can save himself"



It occured to me first, as I read this [thanks Maggi for the reflection], that this was a really good image for life coaching: only Frodo can throw the ring away and Sam knows it but does what he can in order to enable Frodo to do the right thing. It is also a picture for soul friendship and spiritual direction: we cannot take from someone their relationship to and responsibility before God: but we can support and help them to the place where they can do what they have to do.



Of course the sting in the tail of this is that Frodo couldn't/wouldn't do it in the end; it required an intervention from another freely chosen and redemptive in the way that evil often is self-defeating but you can't exactly plan on how -which really bugs our inner control-freak. SO it comes down to doing what you can and not what you can't [do I hear echoes of the serenity prayer?]