One of the greatest quotes I loved from the LOTRs trilogy was from Frodo wishing the ring had never come to him:
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

It struck me today how often I find myself wishing that the "rings" that have come into my life would just be taking away. I find that I continually have this conversation with God about how these "rings" are really messing up my plans...and that if only He would remove them, I could get on with my life. But I think we all reach a point that we have to decide what to do with these "rings" during the time that is given to us. Are we going to allow it to infect us until all we do is complain about out state of existence? Or are we going to learn to live free and let Christ move you in ways you never imagined. Not easy, but it is the call of the Christian. After all, the Bible is filled with story after story of men being called and used mightly by God through their human weakness. Christ had to make the same choice...."not my will Father, but yours be done". We must decide to fight, and not let these "rings" hold us down from who Christ calls us to be.