The Hobbit Option
"Home Sweet Home" by Joe Gilronan
If you grew up either Catholic or Homeschooled (and especially both) then you definitely understand the importance of J.R.R. Tolkein’s masterpiece “The Lord of the Rings.” If you were anything like me then maybe you read it as young as 12-years-old, and if you were crazy like me then maybe you read the entire trilogy in a week (the joys of an electronic-free household)!
“Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favorite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skillful with tools.”
Hobbits understand well how to live a homesteading way of life. They happily live out a phrase that I heard over and over again while growing up on Our Lady’s Ranch: “pray, work, rest, and play.” This balance of life is something that I have found not only amongst family life but within religious communities as well. Monastery libraries contain spiritual books as well as fictional books; monks not only pray and work, but also ride bicycles, play volleyball, engage in social visits, and find comfortable places to rest.
I know that we constantly tried to find this balance at the Ranch, but prayer and work were definitely prioritized in a way that followed me into my adulthood. Is that a bad thing? Definitely not. But as I grew older, I began to realize that rest and play are just as important as prayer and work because, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.”
Tyler (Zeiter) Straight in 2008
This realization began with a an elective class I took while attending John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, California. The class was on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and was taught by our Philosophy professor Fr. Andy Younan. I honestly don’t remember much from the class, but something struck a chord in me when we dug into the root of what the Fellowship was actually fighting for… They were not just fighting for the destruction of evil, but to maintain the peace and happy leisure of the Hobbits in the Shire. They were fighting so that at the end of any given day, the Hobbit men could sit on the porch smoking a pipe in contemplation; the Hobbit children could splash around in a chattering brook; and the Hobbit women could gather together in community to talk and laugh.
The Catholic Family Homestead Movement began much longer ago than we thought, with notable people such as G.K. Chesterton dedicating the end of his career to write about an agrarian, craft-based culture; a movement that he would sum up simply as: “Three acres and a cow.” And more recently Pope Benedict XVI said —
“More than a few young people have already chosen this path; also many professionals are returning to dedicate themselves to the agricultural enterprise, feeling that they are responding not only to a personal and family need, but also to a ‘sign of the times,’ to a concrete sensibility for the ‘common good.”
For myself and my family at Our Lady’s Ranch, The Benedict Option became a prevalent theme around the time I was going through High School and Community College, which is “A strategy that draws on the authority of Scripture and the wisdom of the ancient church. The goal: to embrace exile from the mainstream culture and construct a resilient counterculture.” These are all amazing aspects of Catholic Homesteading, and many have written countless articles and books delving into the importance of this new lifestyle, but I like to take a much simpler approach than the psychology, philosophy, and history found in the Benedict Option. Instead, I like to call it “The Hobbit Option.”
St. Therese of the Child Jesus often mentions how she felt insignificant in the shadow of the “Great Saints,” but found consolation in pleasing Jesus with her “Little Way.” Her little way was a simple way of salvation for ordinary people to reach greatness by “Doing all the little things with great love.” I think her attitude ties into The Hobbit Option because it returns us to that “simplicity” of heart, mind, and daily life, which is so much more applicable to the majority of us.
I am a part of that majority. I need that simplicity — that reminder to slow down and just enjoy life. Prayer and work are good, but so is rest and play because they strengthen us in our human simplicity and renew our drive to continue working hard and continue reaching out to Our Lord in prayer. For a long while I was busy in a way that even prayer couldn’t relieve my stress because I was so worried about making that time and constantly staying productive that I was missing the point: like Frodo, who fought for the Hobbits to enjoy their community in the Shire, so did Jesus fight for us to enjoy our community here on earth. (As well as the community that we’ll be a part of in Heaven, “Thy Kingdom Come… on Earth as it is in Heaven”)
The devil couldn’t make me bad, but he made me busy, and it wasn’t until I began to slow down and take a moment to laugh with my friends, cook dinner with my husband, or knit a blanket for my baby, that I could relax and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from hard work and real quality time with God in prayer.
We’re all at different stages in our spiritual journey, our life journey, and our call to homesteading. But Jesus continually calls us to be like little children; to find the simple joys of life like the Hobbits.
Every day is a step forward in finding that simple joy for myself. Hopefully, I will someday be as good at it as those funny little Hobbits from my favorite childhood stories. Maybe someday you’ll find me with my new daughter splashing around in the chattering brook at Our Lady’s Ranch. 😉
Until next time, God Bless!
Tyler Straight
Oldest Zeiter Sibling
Graphic Design for OLR
