When the Sign is a Baby and Not a Hulk
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12 KJV
The angel had just given the biggest announcement in human history thus far: The Messiah has come!! AND, the announcement came with details, which, as you know, is a HUGE deal! I mean, as much as we all love God, if we’re honest, we have to acknowledge that our heavenly Dad isn’t always big on the details. This time, however, HE came through, giving us the day, location, and even a description of what the Messiah would be wearing! Wow! Ok, can I digress for a moment and make a confession? I have a nickname for Father God. I only dare utter it under my breath with my shoulders hunched over, displaying a posture that screams, “please don’t let Him hear me,” but of course I know that He does. My nickname for Him is Mr. Vague, or to be more specific, Mr. Can You PLEASE Be More Specific! OK! Let’s get back on point; we all know the story. The Shepards go see Him, and it’s the greatest honor of their lives, and the Magi eventually find Him and leave gifts. Does the Messiah begin His ministry at that point? NOPE. His parents begin the long road of raising a son, who IS the Messiah, but doesn’t walk in that calling for decades.
So, imagine yourself receiving a message from an angel. He comes to you with news from heaven, news that you have been waiting to hear for a very long time, and you can barely hold back your excitement. You haven’t skipped in years; you didn’t think your knees and ankles could take it, but you literally skip after the angel as he leads you to see the sign that this “thing” you have been waiting for has finally come. Once you get there and he leaves however, your enthusiasm begins to lessen. That “thing” is your destiny, but it’s small and fragile. It’s an infant and it’s crying! And you ask yourself, “my God, what’s that smell?” It’s then that reality hits home and you realize that destiny begins small, innocent, and seemingly powerless, and it’s going to take a lot of time and energy to get it to look the way you thought it would look from the beginning.
You were hoping to encounter what I call a “Hulk” type destiny. Not the out-of-control Hulk who only says “Smash” and destroys everything in a fit of rage, but the genius, calculating, in-control Hulk who can hold a decent conversation and still take down a few buildings when the situation calls for it. In other words, you were looking to take up the mantle of a fully realized, mature destiny for Christ and walk in the glory and power of it, immediately. Instead, you were slapped in the face with the realization that destiny has to be nurtured into that “thing” that’s going to change the world for Christ. You have to feed it and water it, and then look like you’re taking three steps back by pruning it multiple times in the progression of it becoming all that it’s meant to become. Then, to top it off, throughout the whole process, life happens and takes our attention away from nurturing our destiny. These delays called life, stunts destiny’s growth and prolongs maturity even more, until sometimes you are left with a baby for much longer than you need to be, or God forbid, a teenager!
Have you ever seen a Michael Bay film? You know, Transformers? Or even a Marvel movie like Iron Man, Black Panther, or Thor? How about those Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings, movies? What do they all have in common? They are all big budget, action packed, top talent movies. Every screenwriter wants their project taken up by someone who can turn their first time script into an international multi-million dollar success (I know I do), but the reality is, that’s not reality.
I write this to you as I contemplate, with pain, sending out my 25th query to find a literary agent so that my latest book, Transfigured: The Spirit Realm, can be picked up by a traditional publishing company. Here’s how it’s supposed to work: the agent is wowed by my query and the sample chapters of my manuscript, so he / she agrees to read my manuscript in its entirety. Of course they will love it, and they begin the search for a publisher for my book. I decided to go this route instead of self-publishing, which is what I did with my first novel, The Dating Experiment. Now, in my head, out of my first batch of queries, one of the agents should have gotten back to me IMMEDIATELY, and within a couple of weeks, they would have had publishers beating down their door for a chance to publish my book. I’ve been told that it’s not unusual for authors to send out 100 query letters, but in my mind, my writing destiny was the Hulk, not some snot nosed baby I was going to have to nurture, especially not at my age. Well, reality bites (lol), and I now know what that smell is!
It’s the stench of trying to build a platform and learning how to become relevant on social media, all while being an introvert.
It’s getting logo’s and book covers and trademarks on a limited budget.
It’s being firm with graphic artists and designers about how they represent my vision, when it’s not in my nature to be confrontational.
And, don’t even get me started on the fact that I still have a full time job, a family, lots of stories and characters in my head demanding their chance to come to life, and only 24-hours in each day to do it all!
It clicked recently that I spent years romanticizing a destiny that once I finally embraced, wasn’t very romantic at all. Once I realized what I was in for, I had to ask myself, “Lioness, is this worth it?” (Yes, I call myself, Lioness). You are going to have to ask yourself that question as well. Perhaps that is the stage you are at right now? Honestly folks, we serve a gentle Father, and as much as He wants us to partner with Him in our destinies, He won’t force us. AND, at the end of our lives, He will still welcome us home with open arms and a loving smile. You can get to heaven without doing any of the hard stuff. You don’t have to change the world. If that sits right in your spirit, don’t read any further. God bless you.
As for me, that didn’t sit right with me. Even looking from where I am now, at my starting point as a 48 year old African American woman, seeing what my destiny can look like fully matured, and all the energy that is going to be required to turn this crying smelly baby into the genius Hulk, I can’t settle for mediocre. I wasn’t born-again for mediocre, and neither were you!
So, what do we do? We watch the Hulk on the big screen, we invest in nose tissue, diapers, and booze (ok, skip that last one), and we nurture our destinies like Mary Poppins herself trained us up as nannies! When life gets in the way, we repent and we go back to getting that “thing” ready for maturity. I won’t lie to you, at times, you will get discouraged. When you do, remember Jesus. Even the Messiah had to start as a baby, and if He wasn’t too big to start out so small, then neither am I and neither are you.
You have been called to touch, change, and shape the world in some way, whether it’s through one person or many, one thing or many, one idea or many. It won’t be easy, and it’s going to take you a while, but it will be worth it in the end because all things done for Jesus, are.
Let me close with this. If you are one of those people who don’t feel called to anything, if you’re just “living life” one day at a time, and don’t think you are anything special, with anything special to do in this life, I encourage you to talk to the Lord. He knows better than anyone what He created you for. If you are reading this, and you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, well then, that might be step number one to destiny discovery. Feel free to reach out to me using one of the methods below if you would like some help with that.
Until next time,
Your long winded friend, K