“Eucatastrophe” is one of my favorite words. What? You don’t have favorite words? Weird.
Anyway, “eucatastrophe” is a word that was coined by J.R.R. Tolkien. It refers to the moment in a story when all hope seems lost and suddenly light breaks through and the tides turn in favor of the protagonist. It’s Gandalf at Helms Deep at the break of dawn. It’s the breaking of the Stone Table and Aslan’s return. It’s the moment in the story we’re all waiting for.
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.
It gets me thinking, what if eucatastrophes happen in real life?
Catastrophes are easy to spot, just check the news or your social media feed. The world seems like it’s only getting worse.
But look closer.
When I think of real life eucatastrophe, the first thing I think of are the births of my kids. I watched things get worse and worse for wife but in an instant all that changed when she held our kids for the first time.
I also think of the story I heard about the cellist of Sarajevo.
The truth is, I can’t think of too many eucatastropes in my life or in our culture.
Let’s change that.
Let’s be someone’s eucatastrophe.
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