Salome’s Story | The Flash-In-The Pan Performer
It's Herod's birthday, the food is being wheeled in by the second, the drinks flowing, music playing, John the Baptist is in the dungeons below, but still everything is going well. A dance performance is announced by a colorfully dressed servant. Herod’s niece and step-daughter, Salome, appears on the center stage. We are stunned by her excellent dance technique, standing on her toes one minute and her elbows the next...
Imagine that fine day in Jerusalem, you and I are at Herod’s party sipping our glasses of Pinot Noir, as we gobble up our array of Mediterranean-style cuisine. Everything is going great- it's Herod's birthday, the food is being wheeled in by the second, the drinks flowing, music playing, John the Baptist is in the dungeons below, but still everything is going well.
A dance performance is announced by a colorfully dressed servant. Herod’s niece and step-daughter, Salome, appears on the center stage. We are stunned by her excellent dance techniques, standing on her toes one minute and her elbows the next, twirling her flaming hulla hoops, all with the vigor of Beyoncé and the stretchiness of Ciara, spinning, transitioning into some ballet-krunk footwork; throws in some moonwalking into that medley.
We are all fascinated by her superior motor skills, of course.
The King, himself, is visibly impressed, red in the face, eyes glassy with pride and lips wide in a smile. He's also probably a little drunk, and his next proposition gives some evidence to this.
“Ask me for anything”, His voice thunders, all at once offering everything and nothing at the same time.
All heads turn to look at him and back at her. The whole room is silent, so much that we could hear a pin drop.
“Go ahead. Ask away! I'll give you up to half of my kingdom. Just ask!”
The girl is shocked. She had skills, she knew, but to be rewarded with half of the kingdom! We sip our wines, wide eyed and expectant. What would she say? This girl could be our queen by nightfall, depending on our postal codes.
Sip.
Everyone’s breath is held.
No one speaks.
We only hear our thumping hearts and the labored breathing of the dancing girl catching her breath from the activity and now this proposition!
She doesn't know what to say. Eventually she manages,“Please give me some time to make my decision.”
Smart woman.
She retreats to her mother's side.
The silence erupts into murmurs. We are excited and mildly terrified. Our political system now sat in the balance with this inexperienced girl up for Queen, no thanks to our mildly intoxicated king and this girl’s superior stanky leg dance moves.
What did this mean for us?
Would she increase taxes?
Would she subsidize our donkey hay?
Would we have more public holidays?
Would we have Monday's off?
She returns.
The murmurs quieten; with the look on her face, we are certain she has decided to be queen of half of the kingdom and the issue of donkey subsidies would be debatable.
“I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter?” She sounds unsure and looks at her mother, who nods slowly.
Our blank stares are epic. Your mouth is wide open. I push up your jaw and close your mouth shut. The hall erupts in chaos.
She can’t be serious! John?!
First, John is such a cool guy! Who'd want to kill him? The only reason he was in prison was because Herodias* wanted him there but also, the king loved to visit him in prison, hang out and ask him questions that puzzled him.
We all love John! Well, not all of us, but most. What was this child saying?
The king is distraught, hey, but his word is his word, whether under the influence or not. So a few moments later, John’s head is on a platter.
The end.
Head. Platter. End of party.
The most intriguing and disturbing part about this occurrence is that Salome could have asked for anything. ANYTHING; but she asked for something that held no meaning or value after 2 minutes. I get what they were going for-- some drama, some intrigue, some lip-trembling theatre and they achieved this for about 15 seconds, but the moment they cut his head off, the value of that head decreased by 1000% - and that was how Salome never became anything greater than a flash-in-the-pan dancer, forever lost to obscurity because she asked the wrong person for advice. She could have been queen. A renowned dancer. A warrior, maybe. A Queen-warrior-dancer but no, she had to ask for advice from some woman who was past her prime and buried in bitterness, a woman who lacked judgement.
The women in this story are just plain sad. They really could have been something, maybe Queen and Queen-Mother. Two weeks after, they were still Heroidas and Salome who depended on Herod for money to buy earrings and ankle bracelets. Hurrah, at least they still had the rotting head on their dresser. A few years later, Herod died, and with him probably died their livelihood. Tsk.
In life, we get the opportunity to become what we were destined to be; this very important moment presents itself to everyone and is dependent on two things: time and chance.
It all aligned for Salome that day, the entire universe aligned, breaths were held, the silence throbbed. All she had to say was "Half."
She didn't.
She took the wrong advice. Seek out your counsel wisely, there are so many influences out there. Seek out the right influences and advice cautiously, think it all through. Weed out your Herodias and watch the universe align as you walk into your destiny.
Sipping that Pinot.
What are your thoughts?
*[Quick backdrop, Herodias got married to Herod, her brother-in-law and moved into the palace with her daughter, Salome. John, the Baptist called them out and said it wasn't lawful for them to be married and found it eeky. Herodias held a grudge against him because of this and when the opportunity arose, she asked Salome to have him beheaded]
Leah's Story | When your Dad sells you: Buy One, Get One Free
If you've ever seen the words "Repeat class" or "Retake course" on your report card, the realization of those words come with dramatic chest palpitations, a huge feeling of inadequacy, you lean on the wall to steady yourself and take quick successive breaths- if you are a drama queen.
However, what your teacher or course director is really trying to say is, "*insert your name*, you need to get 'IT'; you just have to get 'IT' before I can let you move on to the next level".
"IT", being the general gist and point of enrolling in this class in the first place.
I've repeated too many times to count now. Well, I've never actually repeated an academic class, but my life lesson classes, sometimes, are stuck on repeat. My 'forgiveness' class probably took 4 years to pass, with a D (aka room for improvement, mildly speaking).
Early in the year, a story caught my eye about a woman who just didn't get IT either and it took her a pretty long while to figure out what life lesson she was supposed to be learning. It was the story of Leah; the least-slaying girl in the bible (we'll get to that in a bit).
Leah was the third wheel in Jacob and Rachel's relationship. Leah was Rachel's older sister and was given to Jacob as a wife because in their culture, it wasn't cool for the older daughter to remain single, while her little sister ran in tall meadows and rolled around in the hay with the man of her dreams. It just wasn't allowed. So, her dad, Laban, tossed her as a surprise add-on into Jacob's cart. Talk about discounted merchandise. Imagine what that would have done to the poor girl's esteem!
Leah, by the way was not a hottie, it was clearly stated in the bible and when the bible denies you as a hottie, best believe. She wasn't slaying, was definitely not styling or fleeking or whatever. Basically, she was this girl that dad was really, really trying to get rid of; that Jacob did not want AT ALL; that her sister probably despised because she kind of stole her man and that girl whose esteem needed a little a lot of a ummph!
Here are some quick facts about this story: Jake had always been in love with Rachel; Rachel was also in love with Jake; Leah was in love with Jacob but no one cared. Really. No one. Not even me, not until last January when the true impact and relevance of this girl's story hit me right in the face.
Where were we? Yeah, no one cared, I imagine Jacob and Rachel running around a tree (or a cactus), carving their names into it and blushing at each other, then suddenly, Leah comes into the scene, looking for some carve-blush-love action, but that never happened. Rachel and Jake paid her no attention at all and Leah complained incessantly about it.
Then God noticed, that she was unloved! He actually noticed and because of that He gave her children. Why did He give her children? Was that supposed to make up for her love-cactus denial and love starvation? I've wondered about this since January. Then one day, I realized, He gave her the kids to teach her something; but what?
When Leah had the first baby, she thought to herself, 'Yay, Jake is so going to love me! *Sigh*! My initials will finally be carved into that cactus!'
Baby Rueben came, no one cared.
She got pregnant again, she thought, 'OK, this isn't a drill. He will love me this time!'
Baby Simeon came, crickets.
Then Baby Levi, nothing. No roses, no party, no blue stone of the Nile. Nothing. Just the same ol' crickets.
It was after this baby IT hit her! Jacob was never going to love her or her kids (in fact, it was later recorded that Jacob loved Joseph, Rachel's son, so much that he gave him the famous coat of many colors. He didn't love Leah's kids that much).
On Leah's delivery of her fourth child, she finally got what God was trying to teach her all along!
When her fourth son, Judah, came along, she said "This time, I will praise the Lord." When I read this scripture in January, for the first time, I initially thought she had given up hope on being loved by Jake but in actual fact, she had gotten IT! She got what God was trying to teach her. You see, God had been chasing after her maniacally! He wanted Leah. He chose Leah. He wanted her to turn her attention from pining for Jake's love. He wanted her to look and focus on him. The unwanted, unpretty, third-wheel, non-slaying, add-on wife was being chased by the God of all things!
He chose her. I can't get over that! This has excited me for about 3 months now, that a person that people do not regard as important would be chosen by God.
“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being may boast in the presence of God”
It took Leah 4 children, to understand that God was saying to her "Hey, darling, stop trying to get that guy to fall in love with you. Psst. Fall in love with me."
Sometimes we hear stories like this: "God is not giving them children because he wants their attention." And we think God is this mean, stingy person who only knows to withhold before he gives but that's not who he is! He gave Leah tons of children to get her attention! And then one day, Leah got IT; and from her, son, Judah came Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all mankind, 36 generations later.
The day we get IT, heaven begins to unwind the scrolls of our destinies.
Psst! Get IT. Fall in Love with Him!
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you know someone who might need it, please share!
Abi's Story | Married to a Jerk
Nabal, i think, might have been the most notable jerk in the bible, other than Judas, of course. Nabal was also married to one of the coolest girls ever recorded- Abigail. I mean, for David to have married her as a widow, it must have meant she was pretty cool or she was severely endowed. Endowed with whatever made David tick....probably, virtue........Yeah, right! Grin.
If you don't know the story, you could read it here. I had always imagined David marrying Abigail because he pitied her, because she was old and raggedy with creases on her face, cloaked in grey; because no one else would want her. That was not the case, the bible actually says she was quite the hottie and when the bible calls you a hottie, you best believe.
Unfortunately, she was stuck with this less-than-desirable man, Nabal.
It was a typical "How-did-a-beautiful-girl-like-you-end-up-in-a-dump-like-this?" situation. What makes the story unique is the familiarity of the situation. We all know an Abigail; one girl stuck in a "dump-like-this", stuck with a fool. It happens all the time.
Abi, somehow makes dump-situations quite promising, mainly because she ends up with David, another hottie. Most importantly, Abi makes this life of hers a bit more bearable by making the best of her dumpy-situation, without ever imagining she would ever come out of it. Sometimes, we think we are in bad situations and so we'd have to live dreary, miserable lives where we mope all day or distract ourselves with social media or Game of Thrones. She was very aware of Nabal's folly and its potential for impending doom and was able to manage it very well.
I think there are many things to be learnt off this woman, whether we are married or single; dating or not, dating fools or not, married to Nabals or not. She wasn't just a pretty face, not at all, she was endowed, like i said with so many "virtues". On a more serious note, here are 6 things to learn from this girl, Abigail. Here they are below:
1. She was very prepared for NABAL's stupidity
It would appear Nabal did stuff like this often enough, so, at some point she must have acquired wisdom and would counter his folly often and swiftly. He was rude and literally a fool. It's sad to think people like that exist, even worse to think amazing women are stuck with them. Get wisdom and get understanding. They are the most universal currency you'd ever know. They would save your life and set you on the path to destiny, in Abi's case, her wisdom set her on the path to becoming queen.
2. She was approachable to her servants
The servants could talk to Abi. She wasn't stuck up and lofty. By contrast, Nabal was. His servants called him a brute and called him unapproachable. Our subordinates should find us approachable, not perceive us as the kings and queens of tyranny. Take care of people in lower ranks and be friends with them. They may save your hide and hook you up, again, with destiny.
3. SHE DID NOT PROCRASTINATE NEITHER WAS SHE A G.O.T FAN!
Not kidding, if that was me, David might have killed us all. I might have said to the servant who reported the situation to me, "You do realize, Game of thrones is on right now. I'll go and meet this David person right after I find out if Jon Snow is dead for real." She did not procrastinate or take situations lightly. She was also quite informed about David and she knew he was an fugitive. She had probably seen him on TV. I guess that means we should watch the news and not just GOT.
4. She sent the servants ahead with the food
Dang, this girl though. She sent the food first. Your gift makes a path for you. This shows us not to be stingy, to know how food pacifies people (yup) and how to deliver gifts (with humility). Then she appeared right after the food had been delivered, probably not too bad looking either. She was the dessert.
Was that too much?
She was the dessert though....eventually.
5. She saw david's potential
Note these were David's broke days, like Chris Gardner (In Pursuit of Happiness kinda broke). David's hustle was too real but she saw he would be great, despite it. She saw substance and potential. She wasn't clairvoyant, she saw because she had substance too! She wasn't superficial or drawn to wealth, maybe she used to be and ended up with Nabal and now had come realize that money couldn't buy many things (in the case of Nabal, common sense). Her values had probably evolved with depth, as should ours.
6. She spoke into his life (ok, officially my fave girl in the bible)
Abi spoke into David's life and he literarily burst into a song and began to praise God. That's deep and you need to think about that. She spoke words of life into his being and evoked praise from him.
Now looking at Ed while he's asleep and I'm thinking about speaking words into his life even as he sleeps. Maybe tomorrow while he's awake. Nope, I'm going to do it right now.
Speak life into his being.
xx