Today’s scripture: Luke 15:4-7 & Matthew 18:12-14 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Melody Merida):
This is the famous Shrek with his devoted shepherd.
Shrek wandered off from the flock one day near his home in New Zealand. He took shelter in caves nearby while his shepherd searched for him. When he was finally found, six years after wandering off, he wasn’t the same sheep that had been lost years before. It took only 28 minutes for a professional sheep shearer to get all that extra wool off that Shrek had been stuck with for years. The fleece that Shrek was carrying around weighed a whopping 60 pounds! Just to give some perspective, an average fleece weighs in around 10 pounds. Shrek was so thrilled to have his fleece removed that once it was gone, he jumped and played like a little lamb.
The story Jesus tells in today’s parable is a familiar one to most of us — the parable of the lost sheep. But it isn’t very often in our modern times that we get a chance to see it play out in real life with an actual sheep.
Instead of focusing our attention on the gentle shepherd this time, let’s think about the lost sheep for a minute. Shrek wandered off little by little, one patch of grass to the next. He didn’t leave a note that he was running away. He didn’t get mad about something and storm off. He just lost focus on the patch of grass he was munching and before he knew it he was lost.
That’s really how it happens to all of us, isn’t it? We ever so slowly move away from God one small patch of grass at a time, one small decision at a time. Then, before we know what happened, we are lost in a cave somewhere, wondering how in the world we got so far away from our shepherd.
After a while, we collect so much baggage that it weighs us down like Shrek’s 60 pound fleece. Sometimes, the way that we imagine our shepherd will respond to that baggage keeps us away longer. We wonder if our shepherd will even recognize us under all that extra weight. We wonder if the shepherd will reject us because the baggage makes us different. But just like Shrek’s shepherd, ours knows exactly who we are and rejoices when we leave the caves to come home.
Oh, what it must feel like to shed the weight of that burdensome fleece! The shepherd wastes no time helping his sheep get free from the baggage because he is delighted to watch his beloved friend jump and play like a little lamb.
This is Shrek’s story, but it’s our story too.
Thought for the day: What patch of grass has your focus today? Does it take you closer to the shepherd or lead you to the caves? Wherever you are, you can always come home. The Shepherd is waiting to jump and play with you, little lamb.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.