Leaf by Niggle

A dreamy parable about life and death and worth.

Tolkien, deep in the midst of creating his now-famous (and now-complete) masterpiece, the Lord of the Rings, wrote this short-form, lighter fiction as a way of working through the difficulty of such long, detailed, and seemingly interminable labor to produce some art that would meet his desired expectations.

Along the way, he re-examines what constitutes art, and how beauty is made not just by the painter with canvas, but by the gardener with soil, and by extension, any who apply their God-given talents and practice-refined skills towards creating beauty in the world around them, beauty that reflects in small part the illustrious handiwork of our own Maker.

I highly recommend this short story, especially to those who may feel overwhelmed by a project, or to those who feel themselves "not artistically talented like those other people".