Last night I went to the Evening Muse to hear a friend’s daughter, Natalie Royal, play in a singer/songwriter’s competition. During the night there were ten bands and individual musicians that played, all varied and entertaining.
Natalie, just seventeen is a fresh, talented young woman who wowed the audience with her depth and creativity. Although I didn’t stay until the end to see who won, my friend emailed me this morning to announce that her daughter won the competition.
It wasn’t until much later in the day that the Lord reminded me that when I was sixteen and in NYC on a trip to see a publisher about a children’s book I had illustrated, I stopped into a historical folk-rock club in Greenwich Village one night named Folk City. Folk City was famous for being one of Bob Dylan’s haunts in the 70s.
I had no idea when we entered the doors that it was open mic night or that my friend was going to sign me up to sing. And every where I looked there were well established professional musicians, one of whose guitar I borrowed for the original song I sang.
At the end of the night they announced that I had won the competition (I didn’t even know there was one) and was invited for a week to be the opening act for Buzzy Linhart, who is famed for having written the song, “You Gotta Have Friends” that Bette Midler made so famous.
As I sat recalling these two similar experiences, I felt the Lord gleaming with anticipation that His royal daughters are about to emerge. These are the ones that no body knows. They may not be the shoe-ins, the most skilled, the top professionals of their filled, or part of the boys club, but they are the ones with passion burning in them.
They may not be teenagers any longer, but they are wide eyed and young at heart. These are His daughters who are all glorious within, the ten virgins spoken of in the Parable who saved themselves for their Bride Groom and who kept their lights burning brightly. Ladies it is time for the royal daughters to emerge! What are you waiting for? There is no need to hold back any longer. Whatever is it that is in your heart to give to your King, this is the time.
