Fighting dragons alone (Part 1)

Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed that the movie and TV world has become somewhat obsessed with fairytales.  I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and borrow from the magical kingdom a fire-breathing, scaly, luminous green dragon - short stubby wings and all.If your life is anything like mine,  never a day goes by without there being at least one stinking dragon to slay.  While  you imagine damsels in distress, castles and high towers, I want to place a serious question into the lightheartedness of a fairytale.  Do you find yourself fighting dragons alone?

It’s exhausting work this dragon slaying business.  It seems that around every corner lurks beady eyes and smoking nostrils.  So we go through life wearing steel knitted armor meshed over our heart, dragging our sword behind us.  Problem is, it’s not really a fair match.  Soft skin is easily scorched by fire and human hearts are tender for the eating and dragons are bullies.The thing about bullies is that they really are cowards. And cowards, like dragons, don’t like crowds.  Successfully fighting dragons takes more than one brave soul; it takes a village of people with pitchforks and torches at the ready, taking on the dragons together.  We are not meant to fight dragons alone.  We are meant to have a village.If you don’t have a village and you are fighting dragons alone, perhaps it’s because of one of these reasons?

• You avoid connecting with people.  For whatever reason (valid or not) you can’t or don’t want to be close to others.
• You don’t share your fears, failures and hurts with others.
• You keep people at arms length.
• You let others believe that you have it all together because you don’t like showing weakness.
• You don’t want to be a burden on others so you keep your issues to yourself.

To some degree or another, we have all probably done some of the above.  Sometimes it's because we want to be prudent about who we share our lives with and rightfully so.  Other times, it’s because we are too busy and don’t want to make the effort.  After all, we’re busy fighting dragons and don’t have time to make friends.   The problem with this is that the dragons know that we are alone and that we are vulnerable.By making the choice to allow others to intimately know us, we start building a barrier of protection.  When the dragon breathes his flames of destruction, this barrier of friendship helps to quench the fire and soften the blow.Friends are a vital part of a healthy life.  Friends can be found:

• In church small groups.
• At volunteer opportunities.
• Sports, cultural, art and other social clubs.
• Your pastor’s office.
• Your family.
• Next door.

I don’t believe that we should ever find ourselves fighting dragons alone.  We should make the effort to connect our life to the lives around us, reaching out and letting others in.  Find a way.  It is absolutely worth it.This blog is one of my ways of fighting dragons with you.