We can’t always stop the monsters.

There are too many, and they are sneaky.

The sad fact is, that we will be attacked in this life and not all of us will make it. This applies both physically and spiritually.
It’s an uncomfortable fact but we must face it all the same.

We can never know when the assault will come or from where or from whom. Not always. But we can always prepare and always be aware.

Some of us will suffer. Some of us will die in horrible ways. Maybe even in the coming days…who knows what turns our lives will take.

We all want to believe that day will never come. And that if and when it does that it will be far away in our great old age. That in that distant future we will go out in our sleep in peace with our loved ones all around.

Yet sadly the reality is that all too few of us ever get that blissful end. And far too many of us end up in shallow ditches, done-in by monsters.

What a horrible subject matter?! Why are we talking about this?!

Could you think of a more important subject ignored by so many of us yet with more need than ever to be addressed?

This is the reality of life on earth. And the reality of how that life can and, for many of us, does end abruptly and terribly.

So what are we to do about it? If there was nothing we could do about it, perhaps it would be best to simply ignore it and say no more. But though we live in a world of horrors, we are hardly helpless.

And the sheer fact is that it is these monstrosities that test us, prove us, and show us our true selves.

We can be wise and prepared. We can be trained and strong. But there will always be the chance that a monster (in the form of a man) will be more cunning than us, more well trained, more prepared to destroy us than we were to defend ourselves.

That part is beyond our ability to hinder. So it is inevitable that eventually we will suffer their severe wrath without anymore reason than happenstance, the fact that we were in their path when they desired to do the evil in their hearts.

Yes we must be as ready as can be both mentally and physically. But we can not prepare psychologically for an experience we have not yet undergone personally.

And it is the terrifying trauma that makes or breaks us. Yes even the worst sort.

Many people go through life believing they would stand strong against monsters when the beasts beset them, but they cower when the dragons actually rise against them.

And many others believe themselves too weak to face such wyrms yet find in that fatal hour that they braved the fiery gaze, locked eyes with pure evil, and boldly told it to do its worst.

The fury of the trial shows us the nature of the soul inside us. But it also affords us the opportunity to reshape that shallow form if we found ourselves lacking while looking down the gullet of a ghastly creature trying to eat us.

Moreover as it is said, “The monster is the mirror.”

Not only do we get to see our inner selves but we get to see the inner selves of the other aswell.

Why does that matter? He’s a monster. Who cares what his motives are?

Ah but is any man naturally born a monster? No. The worst of us is not hatched from a reptile egg. He began life as a helpless human baby like you. He had fears and loves like yours. He had hopes and dreams like yours. He had all the same potential as you and I to be true and righteous…

So what happened to make him a monster?

Most often it is the case that he himself fell into the clutches of a monster.

In the jaws of the dragon he found himself weak and feeble and fodder for a monster…

And sadly he survived his experience…only to become a monster in turn.

This is where it comes down to us to know the true nature of the world, because we can not, until we have faced fear and terror, know the true nature of ourselves.

A weak and feeble victim of a monster will most likely go on to be a monster too.

But what if he knows he is weak and feeble going into that trial. And what if he recognizes ahead of time that this is infact not a happenstance but a true trial. A test of character. A test of destiny. What then can he emerge as from that terrible testing?

Whereas he would otherwise likely become that very thing that terrified him and become a terror to others, he may instead choose to be better for having faced that hardship and become strong from it but not more evil.

Until we face true evil, we can not understand our own nature and our own potential for great good or great evil.

Till we look the fearsome beast in the face we can’t know how strong or weak we are but only our imagined character.

That is why it is said that the monster is a mirror. Only it can show us how weak or strong we truly are and only that moment can make us understand what we can become if we pass or fail that trial.

By facing down the dreaded creature we can emerge a human being who laughs at dragons or we can find out we were too weak to endure and either become demure as we always should have been or elsewise strengthen our weaknesses to become what we had ever envisioned ourselves to be.

If we think we are too weak to face a monster, only facing the monster will enable us to tell if this is true. We may well be surprised to find hearts full of courage beating in our chests.

If we think we are strong enough, the trial may reveal an innate inner cowardice we could never have imagined would be hiding inside us.

Our trials shape us, and they also show us our true form.

We can not always predict when and where we will have to face them neither the severity of their nature nor whether we will even survive them, but we can prepare now and must. So that if and when we are beset by monsters, we will hopefully be well fortified to face the evil creature with faith rather than fear, with courage instead of cowardice, and with hope rather than horror.

When a dragon comes to devour us, what will we discover in our nature? Demon or DemonHunter?

Will we be able to make ourselves even better thereafter? And if tragically we don’t survive the struggle, will we be able to go out with boldness taunting the monster?

Question Everything
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