The Right Motivation

For a moment, it took her back.
She gasped as she saw her son.
He had on his daddy’s uniform jacket.
Arms flapping at his side, hem dragging on the floor.

Look at me, Mommy!  I look like Daddy!
He did look like his daddy.
He wanted to be just like him.
As if his daddy’s jacket could transform him into a soldier.

There was no better man to emulate.
There was no better job than to serve his country like his daddy.
He wanted to protect other Mommies and other little children just like him.
He was proud of his daddy; a man bigger than life, strong, and capable.

He was not aware of the cost that must be counted.
Counted, known, but laid aside in the place where dreams are put for another day.
That place where families wait and families pray.
That place of the unknown.

The place of waiting to face time with the man who is on the other side of the world.
The place of longing for the seat at the dinner table to be filled.
The place of remembering as the picture gets looked at one more time.
The place of understanding that this time will not last forever.

As the little boy runs over to hug his mother, he trips on the long jacket.
Tears were shed, because of the pain and because his pride was hurt.
You are a brave soldier, his mother said tenderly.
Just like Daddy, the little boy said proudly.

Just like Daddy.

Daddy who is home now after two tours of duty away from his family.
Daddy who doesn’t talk about his time on the other side of the world.
Daddy who gets a look in his eyes sometimes that cannot be explained.
Daddy who is still fighting battles that did not remain in the other hemisphere.

Daddy on whose lap he loves to sit.
Daddy who is here but who is sometimes miles away.
Daddy who says over and over that thinking of him and Mommy brought him home.
Daddy who salutes him, man to man.

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall…Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
(1 Samuel 17:4,8-11)

No one could subdue Goliath.
Goliath taunted the Israelites day after day.
The Israelites were afraid.
The taunting went on for forty days.

Jesse, from Bethlehem, had eight sons.
The Lord told the prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem.
Samuel was told to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king.
Seven sons, more handsome than the rest, passed before Samuel.

None of the seven were chosen.
The eighth son was in the fields tending the sheep.
Jesse was told to get him and bring him to Samuel.
When he came in, the Lord told Samuel, Rise and anoint him; he is the one.

David went to the battlefield to see how his brothers were doing and report to his father.
David saw the Philistine taunting the Israelites.
David said to Saul, the king, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine.
You servant will go and fight him. (1 Samuel 17:32)

Saul did not believe that David could fight Goliath since he was only a boy.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it, and rescued it from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in a pouch of his shepherd’s bag, and with a sling in his hand approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:34-40)

David could not wear the uniform of another soldier.
David had to fight the enemy with what was familiar to him.
A sling and a stone and the experience of being in the field with the wild animals.
David fought the enemy in his own unique way.

David, a young boy, killed the mighty Goliath.
David fought the enemy in the Lord’s strength using his own simple skills.
David went to battle for one reason.
That the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. (1 Samuel 17:46)

That is why the Daddy fought.
That is why the little boy wanted to be just like him.
The arms are flapping and the hem drags on the ground.
But there is an enemy who is defying the armies of the Living God.

Then and still.

All those gathered here will know that it is not by the sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands. (1 Samuel 17:47)

That the world may know is all the motivation in the world.