David & Goliath or Goliath & David?

Do you ever catch yourself trying to be someone else and failing miserably? How was it possible for this rather small-inexperienced warrior – shepherd boy to kill the giant warrior god Goliath? What would have happened that day when Jesse called for his son the shepherd boy to put on the gigantic armor and attempt to use a sword and shield that were way too big? Clearly the story of David and Goliath would never have become the classic meta-narrative! David would have been killed in minutes and the Israelites might have been destroyed that day.

Instead history has become dotted with David stories of someone who chooses to live their lives their way and purposely not try to be someone they aren’t. David’s skill and expertise didn’t have anything to do with swords or shields but with smooth rocks and a slingshot. Incredible how much practice David the shepherd boy had over the years protecting his father’s flock. He was the skilled marksman who could see the weakness in the giant while the giant’s blindness to his own weakness became his demise!

How often does the exaggeration of our strengths become the blindside to our weaknesses that will bring us down? The sad fact is that too often our strengths become our deadliest enemies in life. The massive Goliath assumed that this tiny little shepherd boy could never touch him. The giant roared with laughter at David until he felt this stone strategically placed knock him out. It was after this bull’s eye that the young shepherd boy took the bigger than life sword and proceeded to chop the giant down to size. This story has inspired millions over the centuries.

The question is whether we will step back and realize that we need to stop copying the giants around us and be content with being that shepherd boy or normal person with extraordinary potential? Fathom the talk that day when the giant fell at the stone of the tiny shepherd boy? Goliath’s team discovered that they weren’t invincible and the brothers of David realized that the little guy was actually a giant!

I know that many struggle with loving themselves and discovering their calling or skillset in life. It’s important to dream, volunteer, experiment with vocational and career choices. I’m privileged to be able to do what I love and actually get paid for doing it. So stop trying to be a Goliath and see that it’s the Davids in life that will change the course of history!