We All Need A Sam

“I made a promise Mr. Frodo. A promise. ‘Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean too. I don’t mean too.”

“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.”

As stated in one of my previous post, The Lord of the Rings movies are some of my favorite. There are so many wonderful life lessons and applications tucked away in these amazing stories. Even though Frodo is tasked with carrying the ring, he has a group around him, supporting him on his journey.

As people are lost, or start to fall away, Frodo makes the decision that he must do this alone. That this is his burden only to bear, and that he must leave so others are not hurt. That leads to this wonderful scene below:

Even though Frodo was convinced that he could and should make this journey alone, Sam knew better. He knew that Frodo needed him. No matter what the journey threw at them, or even as Frodo changed and lashed out at Sam, he continued to walk with him and help him on his journey.

As I took my first steps along the journey of my battle with Parkinson’s, often I had some of the same thoughts. I would look at this as my journey, my battle, my fight, and I would try to walk it alone. I would think, and sometimes voice to my wife and others, how they would be better off without me, how it would be better for them to not take this journey with me, because I did not want them to experience the pain and hurt that was coming. I did not want them to bear this burden that I thought was mine alone to bear.

And boy, was I wrong. This journey into the “Mordor” of Parkinson’s Disease was not my battle solely to wage. It was a battle that, not just I was facing, but one that my family and friends were battling with me. Whether I wanted them to or not, they were bearing this burden, and they were fighting beside me, sometimes holding me up, in the fight of my life, and nothing would stop them from walking this path with me.

It spite of the hurt and pain I was feeling and spewing onto others sometimes, they were still there, walking beside me. It was a picture reminiscent of the promise made to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:6, when they are promised, “..The Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you or forsake you.” Just like the Lord is always with me, these “Sams” in my life were here to walk with me, and help and support me along the way.

Sometimes we all make the mistake of thinking we can or need to do something on our own. In reality, we all need a Sam or two. Someone who will walk into the fires or Mordor with us, and fight the battles we are fighting side-by-side. We need someone who no matter what is always there, someone who never leaves us.

With Parkinson’s I have learned, I cannot do this alone. I need help, and for someone who does not like to ask for or accept help, this is not an easy thing for me to admit. I need people to walk with me, and I am thankful for people, like my amazing wife, my family, my friends, my coworkers – all my Sams – who are committed to walking this road with me and helping me as I journey into the Mordor of Parkinson’s.

What journey are you attempting on your own? Do you have a Sam? Do you have someone who will walk with you and encourage you? Find that Sam. Find that one to walk with you, and even carry you when you cannot go on. Someone who will stay with you until the end. I am thankful to have found those people, and even if you don’t have a person now, remember, you always have the Lord, for He will never leave you or forsake you.