The Great Shepherd

"He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11

     Lately, as time rushes by and I get busier and busier I cease to take the time to care for others. With just life in general we can get wrapped up with ourselves and whats going on around us. Its hard to see the blessings unless they involve us and what we are doing at that moment. Its hard to be there for others as they have been there for us. I've noticed myself slip into this cycle of being busy with whats around me.  During those moments  in this cycle, we sometimes don't realize that we are not living for others but rather for ourselves. I find myself praying for God to help  me with this and that... but really we need him to help us get out of this cycle. As I walk through this season of life I realize we need a shepherd. And more importantly we need to be a shepherd to others. So I did some research and I found out that                       

     1. That way back when shepherding was the most important job in society. 

      2. They were important to society but not of it. Meaning they were in the fields outside of the towns most of the time.

   3. They weren't weighed down by people. They were in the fields with sheep there was nobody really there to pressure bunch of rules about society on them. 

God is our shepherd and his presence is the fields where we can find peace. Where he can tend to our deepest needs and desires. When we run away he will come after us with this unconditional love. I have the hardest time accepting Gods love during the times I really need it. I feel like I need to work for  his love at times.  But do sheep have to work for the shepherds care? The shepherds have to take care of the sheep no matter how good or bad the sheep is. We are the sheep and he is the shepherd. At the same time we need to be the shepherd to others. We need to tend the flocks with encouragement and discipleship. If God is important to us then through us we are the most important part of society because we are the ones who need to go and tell of his great love. We are the ones who can be important to society but not be of it. 

     

“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”-C.S. Lewis (Mere  Christianity) 

I love this quote because I still want to do what God commands but I also want to enjoy the earthy pleasures we have. When we aim at heaven God will provide those joyous moments and memories. Finally, we to live life with what we know and not the rules we feel like we have to follow. I know society today is not the best. But, this is the world we live in and I'm not trying to be one of those people who just bashes society and doesn't do anything to help it. As I'm going through High School I notice some of the pressures or expectations I feel like I have to follow. On sunday in church we talked about this and there was this great story they shared which I may not have room to write about but long story short he was a 68 year old man who had never ran a marathon but he was a sheep farmer who would run all day and night for three days to herd the sheep. So he entered this ultra marathon and all he had was a pair of overalls and cowboys boots to run in. He had no training no proper clothes all he knew was what he had done at home which was running to herd sheep. So this marathon goes for three days or so and at night the marathon runners would sleep for a couple hours and then run. But this man knew was to run he didn't know that you had to sleep at night for a couple hours and run. So he just keeps running and he was first one to finish that marathon. the next person to finish finished 9 hours after he did. From saying all of this all he did was what he knew. As shepherds we need to run with what we know and that is God. We know to care for others, we know to trust in him, and we know that he will be faithful and provide. So this has just been something thats been on my heart for a while :) Thanks for taking the time to read this long post! :)