I was out on the front porch shaking the dust out of an area rug when I turned my head and saw "Angel" our Llama staring at me with her big brown eyes. She lifted her head and made a soft humming noise, which usually means she is nervous and trying to tell me something.
"Angel, how did you get out of the fenced pasture?" I questioned her.
She hummed back , looked nervously around and munched on a big tuft of grass.
My husband had just left for a farm auction in town so I quickly called him asking if he could turn around and come home and get Angel back in her pasture with the sheep.
I looked around the corner and there was Angel rolling around under the big Cedar tree enjoying a nice dirt bath! That's when I saw that all of the Sheep had gotten loose and they were huddled together in the orchard nibbling on a fresh new carpet of greens.
Now I know what Angel was trying to tell me. Angel is such a great Guardian! Every time a Mama Ewe was having her baby lamb, Angel would come by the back fence and look for me at the kitchen window to let me know what was going on.
She would do the same thing when one of the sheep was sick.
I figured it would be a while until my husband got back home , so I thought I would try to coax Angel back in the barn with a bucket of her grain and then the sheep would follow.
What was I thinking? I have been laid up for months with a foot injury and I can barely hobble around on a cane and now I am going to wrangle sheep and a llama?
I managed to get the bucket of grain shook it and called Angel who is such a good girl she came right to me. I lured her a few feet at a time as her snout was stuffed in the bucket crunching her treats and lifting her head up only to get the grain to slide down her long throat.
We walked right through the open gate that I quickly locked behind us.
Whew, now if I can do the same with the sheep. I filled the bucket up again with a corn and grain mixture and shook it and called "Sheepy, Sheepy. Come on , Sheepy, Sheepy. Let's go girls."
Nothing. No one even lifted their heads up! Again I called "Sheepy, Sheepy, come on girls."
Nothing. I limped a little closer . Bucket in one hand , cane in the other.
They all ran away and headed to the other side of the property. The more I called them the more they ran further away.
After a few minutes Stanley came pulling in the driveway, dust from the gravel road chased behind him like a storm cloud in April. He grabbed the bucket from me , shook it and hollered "Sheepy, Sheepy, come on girls." Just like that, they lifted up their heads and looked where my husbands voice was coming from and they all started to run after him straight through the opened gate into the pasture where Angel was waiting anxiously for them.
So what was the difference between when I called the sheep and when my husband called them?
He is their Shepherd and they know his voice. Although I spend time with them and even bottle fed some of them when they were babies, I am not their Shepherd. I am not with them all the time and they don't know me or trust me like they do with him.
That is how our relationship is with the Lord. He is our Shepherd. How do we know the difference between his voice and the voices of others? We spend time with Him and we get to know Him. The more time we spend together the easier it will be to know when He is talking to us and trying to lead us down the safe path away from danger and away from the enemy. Jesus is our Good Shepherd and He loves us very much.
When was the last time you listened for the Shepherd? Do you hear Him calling you , bidding you to come closer to Him?
Psalm 23 says:
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures...."
Won't you rest in the arms of the shepherd today?
"He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul."
Who do you follow?
The Good Shepherd is at the gate waiting for you to follow him into the green pastures that will lead you safely home into his arms.
"Praise the Lord and Share the Good News!"
Donna Selma Lind
