She Didn’t Slay the Dragon

I came across a painting recently that I can’t stop thinking about. It’s from 1874. A woman stands on the back of a dragon in the water, with a halo behind her head and one arm stretched out toward the shore. In her other hand is a thin cord, tied around the dragon’s neck.

The woman is Martha. Yes, that Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.

The legend

In a medieval legend from southern France, a dragon called the Tarasque terrorized a town along the Rhône River. No one could stop it.

Martha went out to meet it anyway. She didn’t bring a sword. She met it with prayer, and the dragon grew calm. Then she tied her sash around its neck and led it into town.

She didn’t slay the dragon. She walked right up to it.

My dragon

I’ve shared before that the tech wasn’t the only thing that slowed me down when I launched Ezer Bible. There was also an inner critic. A voice telling me to stay small, stay quiet, and not say the true thing out loud.

For a long time, I thought I had to defeat that voice before I could launch. Get confident first, then speak.

Martha didn’t wait for the dragon to disappear. She walked toward it and took the lead.

Martha knew how to speak up

Most of us remember Martha from the kitchen in Luke 10, busy while her sister sat and listened. But in John 11, after her brother dies, Martha is the one who goes out to meet Jesus. She says plainly that she believes he is the Messiah, the Son of God (John 11:27).

She said a bold, true thing out loud, in the middle of her grief. That’s the Martha I want to remember.

You don’t have to win first

Your inner critic may not go quiet before your launch. Mine didn’t. Here’s what helped me:

Name it. When the voice says “who are you to share this?”, notice it. It’s a voice, not the truth.
Take one step anyway. Write the page. Record the video. Send the email.
Say one true thing this week. Just one. Out loud, in a post, or to a friend.

The dragon doesn’t have to be gone. You get to decide where you’re walking.

Why this matters to me

This is part of why I built Huldah. The name comes from Huldah the prophetess, who was bold enough to tell the truth to a king and a priest. I think of her, and now Martha, when I sit down to do creative work.

The setup shouldn’t be one more dragon standing between you and your message. I built the tool I wish I’d had, so your voice doesn’t wait as long as mine did.

What’s the voice telling you to stay quiet? You don’t have to beat it today. You just have to walk forward.