"Can you protect me from yourself?"
I pondered this scene last night as I lay in bed.
I remembered the part where Frodo said the above words to Aragorn as he extended the ring to Aragorn in his open palm. Each day I see the "ring" extended to me in some form or fashion.
Beckoning to just take it. Simply reach out and embrace it.
It speaks to me, calls me...and there is something within me that longs to wear it again...

I pondered the response of Gandalf to the invitation of Frodo to take the ring. The fear in His eyes, the dramatic and godly fear that trembled on his lips as he pushed away the temptation.

"The same blood flows through my veins. The same weakness." -Aragorn

It flows in all of our veins, doesn't it...the venom, the virus, the plague...sin.

...evil is right there with me...-Paul (Romans 7:21)
...waging war...making me a prisoner...wretched man that I am... -(Romans 7:21-25)
...who will rescue me...? -(Rom. 7:24)

I found solace in the image of Aragorn slowly closing Frodo's palm, hiding the ring in the hobbit's hand.

Rejecting the offer...
Resisting the temptation...
Overcoming the lure...

Confirming the reality of his destiny as one who would be king.
King first of his own soul, then of a kingdom of men...