I begin my tale by pleading to be thought humbled by the circumstance I relate. By no means have my musings and the answer I derived from them made me wiser or more worthy than any other holy man. But it is fitting that I next tell you that I was once a mere shepherd, plain and dirty. But God has more than once sought out men of lowly birth and through His glory, changed them entirely, body and soul.
I was tending the flock one night, sitting very near the fold, for it was my turn to keep watch as the others slept. My father always told me that to sit and think too deeply was not fitting for a shepherd boy. Yet I questioned so much. How, indeed, can one man sit beneath so many stars and not wonder at the power of Him who made them?
So sat I, pondering why I was made a shepherd, while my cousin was made a knight, and why the king who my cousin served was made a king. My thoughts then went to the summer I spent with my grandfather, a priest, at his parish. I asked him then why holy men were permitted to read the scriptures and other men could not. Of course, I could not read to begin with. But he taught me enough Latin in one summer so that I could read the words of the kings of Israel, and the words of Paul.
As I sat in contemplation, I then began to wonder if it were possible for a man like myself to become greater than what I was. How is one man better than another, if we are all equal in God's sight? I remembered a verse of scripture to that effect. To my surprise, a voice broke into my thoughts, and a shape emerged from the darkness and seated itself on a rock near the one on which I sat. He looked like a shepherd as well, but none I was acquainted with. He said, "Of what thinkest thou, shepherd?" and I had no choice but to answer, lest I appear uncouth. I told him I was baffled, and he offered his advice. I saw no harm in taking advice from someone in the middle of the night. There was no reason I had to take it to heart. If I never saw this man again, did it matter if I told what weighed on my soul?
"I wonder, sir, do you think there is a certain sort of man that God will exalt to the place of nobles and kings, or is it that any man may be glorified, but that those who are, become so only by chance?" I asked, and waited patiently for a reply.
He set his wooden crook down on the cold, wet grass and smiled with a smile that made me believe this man capable of knowing the answer to anything I wanted to ask.
"Think you, then, that Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Paul, or Peter were chosen by chance?" Before I could answer he asked, "And if not, do you suppose each of those men were a certain kind of man?"
"From what I know of them, they were chosen by God alone, and strengthened by Him. It seems to me that all of them were men of a very different sort. David was even a shepherd, like myself."
"Your question is answered then. Do you doubt you could ever be what some might call a hero?"
"I do. I have not felt that God has called me to nobler things than to watch sheep."
"Neither did David, I would hazard a guess."
"Perhaps not. So then, if you believe that any sort of man could be a mighty man, or a hero, how does he become one?"
"I suppose all the men I mentioned were those who simply gave assent to do God's will, whatever it may be. Abraham became a father of Nations, and David a man after God's own heart."
"I would like to be a man after God's own heart," I admitted. The stranger then smiled even more broadly, with an appreciation for my statement.
"Look then at the ways described in the scriptures. God says, 'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.' And also 'be ye strong therefore and let not your hands be weak.' And forget not, 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'"
"Those are things, certainly, which I must do. But what then must I be, in my soul?"
"Remember where it says, to serve 'Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.'"
"I am a free man. So then, my service need not be a heroic service to be the kind of man after God's own heart? If so, then God does not require a man to do heroic deeds to be a hero. What then does He require of me?"
"Do you remember the words of the prophet Micah who answered that question? He said, 'He has shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'"
"A hero is just, merciful, and humble then. Indeed, that is what is said of Christ himself: 'Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.' From this I conclude that a ruler, a hero, is one who serves." I looked inquiringly at my strange but wise companion, and he nodded with a satisfied smile. I recalled suddenly a verse from the scriptures that thrust itself upon my notice, and I spoke it softly aloud to myself: "'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.'" And as I spoke those words aloud, I looked up to find my strange shepherd gone. His staff lay there still, and I picked it up.
I was perplexed by this occurrence for some time after that, but when I told it unto my uncle, he praised God and said that the very angels see the lowly shepherd's heart, and speak with them to teach them the way they should go. Because of this, I left behind my life of shepherding, and took a place in the church. I am not a hero today, for I shall leave that to those God has called to be knights and to slay beasts and win fair damsels and the king's favor. I keep the staff the stranger left in the field, however, to remind me of what heart a hero should have, whatever he is called to do. That is, to be a servant.
postscript
Also from the Old English project back in '09. This was not meant to be Old English, but it was meant to further explore the concept of a hero, as well as immerse me in research of the Medieval church. Fun stuff.