Frodo's initial delay in leaving the Shire: What does it mean?

[Gandalf_theGrey]

That would explain it, mark12_30! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

"Spiritual retreat" now comes in many forms. The form I was referring to has much in common with your favored "rousing worship conference." In fact, I was speaking of RENEWAL WEEKEND, formally called "Christ Renews His Parish."

If you try to look up a satisfying description of Christ Renews His Parish on the Internet, one that does justice to explaining Renewal ... you won't find one, and that's on purpose. Renewal is maintained as carefully and secretly as the finest hidden kingdom of the Elves.

The first time I embarked on Renewal, I was greeted with the words: "Anyone wearing a watch, place it in this basket. The runnings of time will not affect you here." I looked up at this voice, in immediate recognition of its being Elvish. Then, the indescribable music began, or rather, we guests noticed it as we hadn't before.

How then to describe Renewal, which I first called "spiritual retreat"? One way: Go back and reread "MANY MEETINGS." Another way: With your own words, mark12_30:

the line that sticks with me is the line that the Lorien elves say when the fellowship is given their gifts-- "We put the thought of all we love into what we make." That is their skill, their magic, their craft, their... elvishness. From Feanor to Galadriel to Arwen, that's what makes elven things, well, Elven. The thought of what they love shines through in their creations.

Even in the meals they serve and the ropes they make.

As for the House of Bombadil, I've been there too ... Old Tom works as a Historical Interpreter, and every year he and his wife open their home and host a meal for those of us who volunteer in his living history program. After dinner, we talk of adventure in the wilderness, and maybe Tom will get out his fiddle and sing. For the rest of us, he produces percussion instruments of all shapes and sizes, handing rattles and triangles to young and old, inviting us to join him. We then play games from centuries past, moving colored stones through a course of wood ... and Tom's enthusiasm urges us to play despite anyone's possible reluctance about it being a "silly children's game."

When it gets down to it, I'd say Tom Bombadil and various households of Elves offer the same sort of gift of holy renewal (spiritual retreat), though made unique through culture and personality. And bringing it back to the discussion, I'd say that Frodo is wise indeed to choose the better part, the "one thing needful" when it is presented to him, rather than rush about busy with many things, and should not be deprived of it.

Gandalf the Grey