The Truth Always Brings Hope

Truth is not always pretty. Truth is, sometimes the truth is quite ugly, but until we learn to embrace the truth we will have no hope for peace. Hope comes by embracing the truth and dealing with it. The ugly truth tells us that hard times are going to happen. The battle between Good and Evil will have many casualties. Many will die, many will be wounded physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We will see family members seduced by the darkness. There will be times when we feel alone in our battle.
I imagine a great mist of darkness, made up of the filth and vulgar images and sounds that will blind us and make the truth hard to hear. I imagine that many of us will face our own demons in the darkness and will be tempted to shrink away, but if we understand the truth we will not. The beauty of truth is that we know who wins.

In Star Wars Anakin was a gifted child who served as a Jedi knight, but his ambitions to be the best led him to hope for more power, which the Sith Lord used to seduce him. Anakin lost everything he sought power to save. And while he gained great power, he lost all hope when in his final act as a Jedi he killed a Jedi master. Luke, the son of Anakin, on the other hand, carried inside of him the power of hope, and in the end the power of hope defeated the hope for power.

Lord of the Rings plays out a similar story of hoping against all hope, fighting a power that seems unbeatable relying upon the most unlikely of creatures to deliver that final blow to the Evil which ruled over the land without mercy. And again in the end the light purged the land of all evil.

It is easy to see who was right and who was wrong in the movies, but in real life we have feelings that are easily manipulated by those who are masters of manipulation. It becomes our responsibility to trust no one. Put not your trust in the arm of flesh, but trust in God, and in the end the light will prevail...