Sheep of His Pasture

Once upon a time when I was a young wife living in the hills of West Virginia in a little log cabin, my father-in-law brought me two lambs and I became their surrogate momma.

Baby Lucy

He'd been in the mountains turkey hunting and one of the neighbors where he hunted was a sheep farmer. Bronson could be an intimidating man but he loved animals so he stopped to look at the new lambs. The mother of the lambs had died so he must have thought to himself, "I'll take these little lambs to Cindy, she can't have babies of her own, this is the next best thing" ...they did have to be bottle fed, after all. He was a man's man, but he did have a soft spot for me and I know this was an act of love. I was thrilled for I love animals too!

I began mixing formula and getting my babies on a schedule. I was in heaven until one of them died. I was grief stricken. I couldn't even
keep a baby lamb alive. I pulled myself together and vowed that the remaining lamb would live. I named her Lucy, after my grandmother(she was honored). Since lambs have to eat like babies, with a bottle and nipple, we bonded very quickly. She grew and flourished and eventually moved to other foods but our bond was cemented.

Our little log house sat on thirty acres and we didn't keep her in the fence all the time so she would wander down to the house. If I had the windows open and she could hear my voice, she would follow the sound of my voice from window to window. It was the sweetest thing...by now you know where I'm going with this.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me." John 10:27 NASB

Last summer, I clearly heard His voice telling me to "Be still and know Him." So...I gave up some responsibilities so I could do just that. I've been "busy" in the church for most of my life and though I know Him, He wants me to REALLY know Him, intimately like no other. Everything I've read or studied since last summer goes back to, "Be still and know Me." I want to know Him so well that no matter where I am or what I'm doing I will go from window to window just to catch a glimpse of Him. I want to look for Him in the everyday, ordinary things.

They say sheep are very dumb, and that may be. I'd rather be the dumbest sheep in the pasture than the most brilliant scientist on the planet that has just discovered the serum that would cure every disease known to mankind, if that brilliance kept me from the simplicity of the gospel.

I learned so much from my adventures with Lucy and her offspring. She gave birth to Desi and then twins the next spring. The parables in the Bible came alive for me during this time. Sheep are defenseless and need a shepherd to guide them. They are easy prey for wild animals and easily led astray to greener pastures.

We are much like sheep...we too are easy prey for evil attacks but there is so much more at stake. We want to go our own way, and many times find ourselves in what we thought were greener pastures. 

Lucy with her twins
Desi in the background

But, the good news is if we'll listen to the sound of the Shepherd's voice, He will guide us and lead us. One of the most quoted passages of scripture in the Bible is also the most comforting, and pictures the Lord as our Shepherd and we, the sheep of His pasture.

The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Psalm 23:1-3 NIV



Isn't that reassuring? Then, when we get quiet and still before Him, He speaks.

Have a blessed day,
Cindy