I love reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to third graders—they really love it. The old language takes some getting used to, but magicians and magic swords and quests through mist and darkness? The drama keeps them coming back. I’ll be reading to them, and I’ll look up and see somebody’s eyes completely fixed on the book, and I’ll realize they’re right there. It’s all happening in front of their eyes—this story is going to stick.
There are no scary dragons anymore. Dragons are cute and friendly now…the Reluctant Dragon isn’t as funny as it would’ve been when it was published, and they’ve all grown up with How to Train Your Dragon. The bravery needed to slay a monster or capture the gold from Smaug isn’t immediately obvious to today’s youth.
At least we have Godzilla.
Last week, my husband and I went to see the new Godzilla movie, and it was awesome. Black and white really worked for this movie—I focused on the expressions on the character’s faces, and since there were subtitles, you HAD to keep your eyes on the screen. And then, out of the foaming sea, emerged the monster.
Godzilla. He was so scary. He was huge—when he roared, it took everything in me not to cower. My husband said he was surprised at how intently I was watching the screen.
This may seem silly, but I was imagining I had to slay him.
Look, I started this blog because I was scared of a bunch of stupid stuff, like highway driving and speaking Spanish with native speakers. But there’s actual terror in the world. Not dragons, unfortunately, but real live danger. So maybe I got really anxious the other day and I had to pretend I was that guy flying into Godzilla’s mouth. That’s not lame, it’s part of being an adult. So maybe I was really scared of going to the doctor a while ago and I had to quote Gandalf’s speech to the Balrog. It’s fine.
I called my father crying a little while ago—middle-aged as I am, I wanted him to tell me it would be ok. He said, “Lindsay, let me tell you a verse from the Psalms, ok?” Like I was a kid, which to him, I always will be. “It says, ‘When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you, in God, whose word I praise. In God will I trust, I will not be afraid—what can mortal man do to me?’”
I had to cut him off in the middle. “I know that one already,” I reminded him. “You told me that one when I was a kid—remember? I got out of bed scared in the middle of the night.” I forgot the reference, but yeah, I’d said that to myself a hundred times since then.
It’s not childish to imagine fighting dragons, I don’t think. In the end, the Bible is full of them. And the medieval mapmakers knew there probably weren’t REAL dragons in the parts of the ocean that remained unexplored, but you need to prepare people. We are, after all, small. If you didn’t read King Arthur or The Hobbit or any of the good stuff, you should go fix that. But here’s Psalm 121, which, after all, is probably more to the point:
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Trust in God, team.
the heartfelt awkward 