Written deep into the masculine soul is the desire to rescue the beauty. We want to be that knight that overcomes every challenge to eventually save the princess. But sometimes we don’t realize that the dragon we must go through and the princess we seek to save is the same person.
Naturally, we want to help someone who is hurting and in pain by any means necessary. And it’s also just as natural to fight back and defend ourselves when someone is attacking us.
This makes it particularly challenging when the person we’re trying to help is also the one attacking us.
The princess and the dragon are one.
It’s often her own wounded heart that brings out her dragon. Her claws and fire breathing words are ways she is trying to protect herself.
But she still longs for someone to see her true heart and rescue her from her own dragon – allowing her to finally rest and flourish in the beauty God has created her for.
It’s tempting just to walk away once we realize the princess is also the dragon. If she really wanted us to love her she wouldn’t be so critical and contemptuous of us.
And, to be sure, she has her part to play in learning how to drop her defenses and allowing others to draw closer.
But our part is to courageously face the dragon – enduring the many hits and daggers that come in order to eventually get to the true heart of the one we love.
This is the example Christ has set for us. He endured the cross for our sakes – beaten, bruised, and spat upon for the very ones he was seeking to save.
This is a high call that only a few will accept. But it is the path to the happily ever after God has for us.
Fighting the dragon frees her heart and ours as well.
Stand firm when the one you love is also the one attacking you. Learn to see beneath her dragon to the pain, suffering, and tenderness of her true heart. Fight courageously and rescue the beauty.
Photo by Paolo Uccello in Public Domain
