The Vampire Slayer

I'm not a big fan of vampires, and I do NOT love vampire movies. But I've been thinking of them for a few months now, and have learned a lot about living from their illustration of death. With Halloween just around the corner, they seem to be everywhere except the Christmas aisles. I have even seen them in the sugar cookie section at the grocery store! With all the vampire advertising, it feels like the right time to finally share what I've learned about being a vampire slayer.  

The dictionary defines vampires as an unnatural being commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse that sucks the blood of innocent people, disturbs the living, and preys ruthlessly upon others. As I understand legend, a innocent victim becomes a vampire by being bitten by a vampire.

As the old saying goes, “hurting people hurt people.” We could easily equate people who are hurting to “Vampires.” Vampires prey on the innocent. It is who they have become, but it is not their true nature. They are an “unnatural being.” Once, they too lived in innocence until they were bitten. It wasn't their fault they were bitten. The bite was just too much. Their focus on the bite allowed venom to take over their life.  Now they are behaving in a way that is contrary to their nature, and they hurt people. From their bondage to death, they attack someone who is living. Some bites sink a little more deeply than others, but even the little ones can kill you. I once read a story about someone who used baby copperheads as fishing bait. The tiny bites didn't really hurt, but even the multiple tiny bites killed him.

It is terrible to be bitten. We were never created to be hurt. Do you know what is more terrible than the bite of a vampire? Becoming one. Focusing on the bite allows the venom to creep over you, control your life, and turn you into something you never meant to be.

I never want to be the person that brings hurt to someone else. I don't want to forsake God's reality for me by believing a lie about a vampire bite. I never want to be in bondage to darkness and live in death. Being a vampire is not who I am.   I can't fight the venom of a bite on my own, but I can keep my eyes on the prize, and the truth that already lives within me.   Life, not death, flows through my veins. There is an antidote for the death that tries to attack.

Forgiving is choosing to take the antidote. It often sounds like you are dismissing the vampire for their actions, but it is the only cure from the bite. Forgiveness doesn't make what they did okay. Forgiveness doesn't justify someone from behaving unnaturally. Forgiveness doesn't let them off the hook. Forgiveness is a force of life that drives out vampire toxins and heals the bite. Forgiveness will slay the vampire. Forgiveness releases you from the bite to the place just as if the bite never happened. This is innocence and peace.

The vampire is just a victim to a fallen system of hurt. Death, pain, bitterness, and anger fill their veins.  I'm sorry they were bitten, but that doesn't mean I have to hang out with them either. Just because we choose to walk in love, does NOT mean we allow mean people to walk over us. Walking in love means loving ourselves first. (Please don't misunderstand me.) We are taught all our lives to put others first. The airline is a perfect example of this. Before take off, passengers are trained in case of an emergency to put the oxygen masks on first before putting them on someone else. Why? Because if we are incapacitated, there is no way we can help someone else. If we don't value ourselves, there is no way we can value others the way God does.  When we see the value God has for us, we will value ourselves. And when we value ourselves, we will value others. We cannot love other people properly without first loving ourselves. The LOVELY nature of God flows effortlessly through our veins, so we are kind to people, patient with people, giving, faithful, FORGIVING, etc. etc. etc. It is HIS blood as our life-source now. Woo Hoo! LIFE flows here!

I've learned some things, and I'm not afraid anymore to take up for myself. For many years I believed letting people get away with “biting” was the right thing to do. (I'm laughing at the craziness of that!) There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. It also doesn't mean that I go looking for conflict. (After all, I am not a vampire. PEACE is MY nature.) There are easy and effortless ways to slay vampires. Love, kindness, and blessings ALWAYS shine light into their darkness. Getting mad and fighting with them only pulls you down to their level. "Be mindful of the dark side."  Stay on the high ground. None of their weapons can be used against you when you are armed with a higher way of thinking. You live in a grace bubble. Know that! This battle is only in our minds. It is not reality. We make the bite real when we believe more in the bite than in the blood that abides within us. LIFE is worth forgiving.