God has the Earthly distractions removed from our lives for the health of our spiritual souls.
The other day – before Easter – my family and I visited the Easter Show. It was a lovely family day – Albeit with nothing at all to do with Easter in any way shape or form. But my children really enjoy the Show and so although I have never been a huge fan of the Easter Show, I have made it a point to go along each year with my children to make sure that we do things that they enjoy doing.
While we were at the Easter Show we saw lots and lots of animals. And I was watching – with particular interest – a flock of sheep.
There they were, those sheep, huddled together in the heat. And when the farmer – or shepherd – opened the gate to let them out of the paddock and into the wider area so that they could run around a little, the sheep stayed pretty much where they were.
Eventually, with a bit of prodding by the sheep dog, those sheep managed to escape the confines of the smaller paddock and could move around in the open. And even then, those sheep stayed huddled together and refused to split up and move away from each other.
And I watched those sheep and reflected on the decision of God to call Himself the Good Shepherd.
You see, that tells me that God Himself thinks of me as a sheep. And sheep are not the most clever or brave or self-sufficient of creatures. In fact, if a domestic sheep is left alone in the wild, it will die of starvation within a few years because its fleece will grow and continue to grow to such a point that it will be overwhelmed by its own fleece and will starve to death as it will not be able to bend its head to eat.
Sheep have no way of protecting themselves from predators. Wolves and foxes can attack them very easily. And sheep cannot fight back – they cannot even outrun their predators. And for this reason they bunch up and stay together.
And I have been thinking about how similar we humans are to sheep. We have no way to defend ourselves against the Evil One. We cannot outthink him or outrun him or our live him or out stand him. All we can do is humbly rely on the strength of our Guardian Angel and the power of God to protect us.
You see, like sheep, we are unable to fend for ourselves. Left alone we would perish, just as a sheep would. We would starve to death – spiritually – because we would become overburdened by the things of the world that would consume us. And this means that God comes to our aid. For just as the shepherd has the sheep sheered of its fleece, so too does our God have the Earthly distractions removed from our lives for the health of our spiritual souls.
And I have been thinking about those sheep today – and the Good Shepherd who ministers to them. For without Him, I would die lost and alone in the wilderness…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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