In His Time

A young friend provided some much needed guidance on her Facebook post this week: She is awaiting the birth of her third child, who still has a few weeks in protective custody before he’s due to make his appearance. She warned, “If I see you in person this next week, I am fully aware of how ‘ready to pop’ I look, and I’m positive there is only one” [bun in the oven]. 

 

Thirty-eight years ago today, I was very, very pregnant, and as I would soon discover, only one day away from welcoming Andrew John Shade to our family. Happy birthday, Drew! It had been a hot July, and I was more than ready to deliver that baby. I was convinced that July 1983 had more than thirty-one days in it.

 

All these years later, I’m well past my child-bearing years, but I’m still giving birth from time to time as writing projects come to fruition. My latest book, “The House of Women: A Feminine Presence Under King David’s Roof,” has taken longer than anything else I’ve written, longer than nine months of human pregnancy, longer than the twenty-two months an elephant waits to birth her young, and longer than the female frilled shark, who carries her babies up to three and a half years before giving birth.

 

I’m in good company in the “taking forever to write a book” business. J.K. Rowling spent five years developing the complex culture of Harry Potter, while The Lord of the Ringswas sixteen years in the making as Tolkien imagined the world that has enchanted readers for decades. With that in mind, I better start working on my grand novel today!

 

As someone who writes a regular newspaper column every week, how could it possibly take me ten years to complete a book? I do have a streak of procrastination in me, but ten years? Perhaps it had something to do with the scope of the project. In an earlier book, The Other Woman, I attempted to draw out Hagar’s story from two Genesis chapters, but now I was tackling an entire family system as I looked at every biblical woman who had a connection to King David of Old Testament fame. Since David lived in a time when polygamy was accepted, especially for powerful men, he had a number of wives and concubines (secondary wives), as well as grandmothers, a daughter, and even a beautiful woman to warm the elderly king’s cold bed. 

 

Much of my prep time was spent in research, determining what scholars have to say about these women. But I was also able to turn to a favorite pastime, day-dreaming, as I imagined what life was like centuries ago. Was it possible to learn anything from these historical women who were so often at the margin of David’s life? Three hundred and thirty pages later, I guess I found my answer to that question. 

 

I follow Heather Cox Richardson, a professor of nineteenth century American history, as she intertwines familiar and sometimes obscure moments in history with current-day political happenings. Her comparisons are striking as to how applicable the historical lessons are to us in 2021. So are the whispers I’ve heard over the past decade from women with names such as Abigail, Tamar, Michal, Bathsheba and Rizpah. As I wrote about their experiences with an abusive spouse, a rape-intent brother, a fickle husband, a demanding summons from the king, and a heart-wrenching loss, I thought of so many I know who are walking a similar path to these ancient sisters. Yes, historical voices have much to teach us. 

 

When my kids were little, we’d often sing along with the Psalty cassette from Maranatha Music, and Linda Ball’s words came to mind as I put the finishing touches on my book: “In his time, in his time, he makes all things beautiful in his time.” For the “ready to pop” mom, the lumbering elephant, the frilled shark, and the sluggish author, that’s a promise. Yes, good things do come to those who wait.