When it is Time, it is Time… Continued

I started thinking more about King David, there are so many things we love about this iconic figure. I have been encouraged over the years as I contemplate his life and specifically what he did in the “waiting”.David was a young man, a young boy maybe about my son’s age and in his family, he had responsibilities.

I consider the long, lonely days by himself in the fields with sheep. I can see him having his guitar (harp) with him to play and create and pass the time. But this “hobby” or gift became part of his legacy. As he wrote songs in the fields, singing about the mysteries of life. He wrote of longing, heartbreak, joy, expressing himself as he gazed at his flock, words like “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul,” may have poured out of him.

Maybe as he gazed at the mountains the songs of his ancestors may have come out of his soul, “I lift my eyes up, unto the mountains, where does my help come from?” I see someone who sang for no one, created for no one but for the sheer joy of creating and human expression, he sang and played and wrote songs and poems and perfected his gift.

Left in charge of his family’s livestock, he could have easily “cut corners” and allowed a sheep or two, to wander off, to allow a predator to take a sheep, because “who would ever know?” “What is one sheep? We have plenty more.” But the story goes that he fought off lions and bears, with his slingshot and bare hands to protect what was entrusted to him. To leave the 99 to save the one. To be faithful over the little. The things he did in secret, his gifts, made room for him and brought him before kings. He was sent for, he was called for.

I recently was watching an interview with Bishop T. D. Jakes and Steven Furtick. Bishop says to Steven, “I always tell young people, don’t worry about who’s “name” you are working for when you are young, only worry about “your” name.” He went on to explain how important it is that your work reflects your name. That when people think of you or your name they think, “that girl, she does things with excellence,” or “If you need something done, you call him,” or “If you are looking for a true leader you call her.” If you steward your gifts, if you work with all your heart at whatever you do, if your work reflects the creator, you never have to worry because you will be called for.

There will come a time when all the men in line have been evaluated and the leader in charge says, “I am not quite seeing what I am looking for, is there someone else?” And You are called for.

When the King needed a power and healing greater than himself, the skills perfected, the songs composed and poems transcribed, that were an outpouring of a life, were called for.

David sang his songs in the King’s court and his songs have now lived on for thousands of years. Songs sung in fields to sheep are still being sung in temples and sacred places and we echo the cries of a young boy to his creator. His diligence in protecting the helpless and the innocent and what was entrusted in his hands brought him to lead hundreds of men into hundreds of battles and ended up preparing him to lead a kingdom.

It took 15 years from the time David was anointed to be King until he took the throne and led a Kingdom. The time in the waiting, the time in the middle was all necessary. Every song, every lesson, every detail, every mistake, every victory.

I am encouraged that this principle is for you and for me. It wasn’t just for David.

My dear, as you keep becoming fully you, discovering your gifts, your unrivaled uniqueness and the gifts you have to offer to the world, you need not worry about if your dreams and the visions in your heart will “come true”, you can rest, you can “enjoy the journey” because when it is time, it is time, and you WILL be called for.

(Fact-checkers: Many believe that David wrote about half the songs in the book of Psalms, Psalms 121 is considered a song of accent, there are several. These would have been more historical songs of the Hebrews.)