What if your son asks you to record an episode about "The Little Drummer Boy," a very overtly Christian Christmas song, and you don't have a faith-based podcast? Well. That's the situation I'm in this week.

Let me give you a little back story. Two years ago, I did an art series based on four of my favorite childhood Christmas tree ornaments and then actually turned those art pieces into ornaments. We've loved them and this year I decided to do it again, but I thought I'd base the series on a song this time.

Do you see where this is going yet? I let my son choose the song and he picked "The Little Drummer Boy."

Now, I never liked that song much. But, the same year I did the ornaments, my son played it for his Christmas piano recital. And watching my own little boy offer up his music as a gift forever changed my relationship with it.

I just couldn't tell him no.

I've struggled with it for several weeks. I sit down to write and I can't focus. I can't articulate ideas clearly. And my mind feels muddled.

I do know that as I processed through it and immersed myself in a thousand or so versions of the song, that it did have lessons for me. Particularly around the first few lines.

Come. Draw near.

But as I started to write about what I took from it for you and figure out how to share it with the mixed audience I have--both Christian and non-Christian. It just wouldn't come. It wasn't right and it refused to be written.

A Lesson From The Little Drummer Boy

And then I realized it. I realized what the drummer boy wanted to share with all of you today.

So, Here it is:

The boy. He was young. He wasn't powerful. He was poor. He had a simple skill.

But, he was enough.

He gave of himself. And he pleased his audience.

My friends, you don't need to be older. Or younger. You are enough. Right now.

You don't need to be wealthier or more powerful or influential. You are enough. Right now.

You don't need to be more skilled. More complicated. More marketable. You are enough. Right now.

What we need. What I need. Is more of you. More of exactly who you are out in the world.

We need what the little drummer boy did. He played anyway.

I know it's fiction, but I'm sure as that child looked around him and saw the other fine gifts given to the young king by people with more resources, more wealth, more stature, more influence and more experience, he had reason to feel inadequate. Unworthy. Unsuitable. Circumstances told him he was unimportant.

But, he played anyway. He gave of himself. The lyrics say he played his best.

You can too.

Every day you have the option of showing up in your life or not. Of being seen. Of sharing yourself and your gifts out in the world. Of engaging. or not.

I know it's not easy. Most people spend their lives hiding. Comparing. Condemning themselves. Bowing out. It's much safer. It's easier. Less painful.

But it's not what you were meant for.

You were meant to play your drum, whatever means for you today, right now. It might be as small as wearing something unusual, something that might let others see who you are. It might mean being emotionally vulnerable in a relationship. It might mean starting something new. It might mean setting an example. Or, going first.

It certainly means showing up. Being brave. Playing anyway. But, like the little drummer boy, you are enough.

So, play your drum, darlin'. Get on out there and play your drum.

Episode Download and Links

Spotify playlist of my favorite version of the song
(aka How To Make Your Son Sorry He Asked For It)

Coffee Talk Worksheet and Phone Lock Screen