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Dragon
I believe in dragons. Between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper in the northern sky slides the constellation Draco, The Serpent. That’s all the word “dragon” really means, “serpent.” The word has been used for centuries on centuries in the same way we use the word “dinosaur” to describe the same and similar beasts. So I believe in them.
The image is striking, for it connotes a fearful beast and the most selfish one. The Bible speaks of dragons or sea monsters more than 20 times, and some of those uses refer to specific persons. Behemoth and Leviathan and in Job 40-41 describe terrible beasts that give us pause. But there are more horrible monsters still.
A podcast by Malcolm Gladwell called “Dragon Psychology 101” made me realize how dragons are hoarders. Tolkien understood this well in giving us Smaug. Then I realized that, at the time I heard the podcast, I was working for one! Strange how everything about him fits the image. He’s an old, sly, conniving, stock-piling consumer of the innocent and weak. Flames shoot from his mouth as he has nothing good to say. He will find a way to profit and is never satisfied.
Listen to Ezekiel speak to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, “the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ . . . You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers.” (Ezekiel. 29:3, 32:2).
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Welcome, May!
The past few weeks have been stressful. Training new employees, dealing with difficult customers, not sleeping well, not exercising (I’ve gained 20 pounds in the last two years), getting through family drama (two life-threatening events in the same day, 2000 miles apart: my dad’s heart attack in NM and a 9 year grandchild starting the rest of his life with Type 1 Diabetes) . . . My CrossFit lifestyle withered into oblivion when I lost my job at the University in 2020, as Covid got going. Deep depression brought me to a standstill as I took a few months to try to reset. Since then, my physical status has been on steady decline. Now my daily schedule looks something like this: Work 3-11 pm (on a good day), Go to bed at 4 am, get up between 10:30 am and noon, get booted up and go back to work. If I get one day off a week I’m fortunate. At least I don’t have to work all night for now. That was the worst. So I haven’t had time or energy to do much, even read, much less write. And since my