Last week, a monster of the deep saw the light.
Look at the chompers on that thing!
The black seadevil has earned its name. It lives in darkness between 700 and 5,000 feet, luring in prey with the appendage on its head. Because it lives in the deep, the monster has only been filmed one time in 2014 when a team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium spotted one swimming at 1,900 feet.
This time, a Spanish organization called Condrik Tenerife spotted it in the waters of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa in early February.
Of course, jokes had to be made:
(I mean, that IS a female - the males are tiny and essentially fuse to the females for life.)
But even though the black seadevil is uglier than almost everything else on God's green earth, not everyone reacted with jokes - particularly not those who actually watched the video.
Many people identified with the monster.
People were even sharing this comic, which was actually made long before this incident:
We feel haunted when we see videos like this. Unlike animals, humans understand story, purpose, and the infinite. We too are doomed creatures that struggle for the light.
James, the brother of Jesus, said this about human nature in his letter to early Christians:
Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God's likeness.
We know there are monsters that live within us. Our hearts are as ugly as that anglerfish. We want to be free, we long for the light ... but the darkness within us cannot coexist with that light, no more than this anglerfish could survive on the surface.
As the Apostle Paul writes:
[God] alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light...
There is a chasm beyond comprehension between us and that light.
And yet we are drawn to the light all the same, like this doomed anglerfish or a moth to a flame, because the glory of that same light also lives within us.
So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
The good news is that we have an opportunity that the black seadevil does not. There is a way for us to survive.
Jesus spoke to them again: 'I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.'
Across all the oceans of the universe, our hearts are drawn to that light until we take our final breath in this life.
Let this anglerfish remind you of that truth, your choices, and the journey ahead of you.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
