All We Like Sheep

          One day last month, I came home from taking one of my dogs for a long walk. As we turned onto the road on which we live, I saw a few dozen sheep in the front yard of a house at the far end of the street. I was fairly sure I knew where the sheep belonged. I put my dog in the house and then started down the road to do something (I had no idea what) to get the sheep to go peacefully back where they belonged. The closer I got to the sheep, the more they began to bleat and run away from me. The faster they moved, the faster I tried to follow. The faster I followed, the more they scattered. They had no idea where they were going and I had no idea of how to stop them. Since most of my experience with sheep was feeding them in petting zoos and occasionally getting to hold baby lambs, I decided to seek help. I stopped walking and decided to seek advice from someone more familiar with herding the fuzzy white bleating creatures than I.

          I thought I knew to whom the sheep belonged, but I didn't have her number. I called the man she had once dated, but he no longer had her number. After I tried to call a few other farmers, I finally got in touch with a farmer friend. Bobby's advice was that I get an empty bucket and then locate the ram in the herd.  If I showed the ram the bucket, Bobby said the ram would follow me wherever I wanted him to go. I went back home, got a bucket and cut through neighbors' back yards until I ended up ahead of the sheep. Shaking the bucket in front of me, I walked toward the large wooly ram. He looked up at the bucket and started to amble towards it. Shaking the bucket behind me, I started up the drive to the farm where they sheep belonged. Our slow moving parade made it

to a fenced pasture. I walked into the pasture, the ram right at my heels still trying to get a look into the bucket. Once all the rest of the sheep were in the field, I shut and locked the gate then sat in the grass and watched them do what sheep do best- peacefully graze.

          Thinking of those sheep, Handel's "Oh We Like Sheep" comes to mind. In so many ways, we are like those sheep, only we are more fortunate. Those sheep were dependent on me, or whoever would have come upon them. We have Jesus as our shepherd. He has laid down his life for us. He has gathered us to himself. He has filled us with a spirit of love and compassion. When we feel lost, Jesus in his great mercy has the power to lead us back home. Jesus feeds us, loves us and when we have gone astray, he takes us into his loving arms and forgives us our human sins. Fortunately for us all, Jesus is a much better shepherd than am I.