Each year at Christmas, I give my friend, Janet, a gift card to thank her for the rides she gives me to our local writers’ group meetings. Last Christmas, I decided to do something different. Janet has a collection of sheep: stuffed animals that have names and sometimes accompany her to meetings or on trips. Adding to her collection would be different and special. It shouldn’t be a hard gift to find. After all, sheep and shepherds share the spotlight with angels and wise men, coming to worship Jesus. So the hunt began.
My husband was quickly enlisted in the search. While I went into a craft store one day, I sent him elsewhere to look for a sheep. He came back and said, “There was one but I don’t think it was exactly what you wanted.”
I thought of another store. “Would you check there?” I asked.
He walked off to the second store but with no success. We kept searching. “I found an animal,” my husband said, “but I am sure it was a llama. It had a long neck.”
One afternoon, I searched through another pile of stuffed animals and pulled out one that I thought might pass for a sheep. The little knobs at the top of its head were troubling, though. Could it possibly be a sheep? I had the unhappy thought that it was likely a goat. Still, time was running out. I whipped my cell phone out of my bag and googled sheep and goats. The pictures weren’t promising. The sheep had smooth heads while the goats had horns. One article did say that some species of sheep have horns, but I thought it unlikely that this stuffed animal was one of them.
I was about to totally embarrass myself by asking a complete stranger her opinion when my husband walked in. It was a good thing. She might have questioned the sanity of someone blathering on to her, in the midst of a crowded store, about the characteristics of sheep and goats. “Do you think this might be a sheep?” I asked my husband. “It has knobs on its head.”
“Well, perhaps,” my husband ventured, “but with those knobs, I really think it is a goat.” Reluctantly, I placed the animal back on the shelf.
It was becoming apparent that sheep were not the hot Christmas commodity that I had imagined. “I may have to look for a sheep at Easter and give it to Janet next Christmas,” I told my husband. “There are sure to be lots of lambs for sale then.”
Early one evening, we went into a store to mail off some parcels at the postal outlet. There at the front of the store was a stack of stuffed animals. One last try. My husband pulled one out and said, “The neck is too long. It’s a llama.”
“Yes, it is, and I want a sheep.”
A sales lady said to me, “Are you looking for a sheep? I may have one!” She reached to the bottom of the pile and just like that pulled out a sheep. I waved my arms in the air with excitement! She waved her arms in the air with excitement! I was excited because I had a sheep! She was excited because she had found one for me! My husband refrained from joining us in this public display, but he was pleased, no doubt relieved, that the sheep quest was over.
The Bible contains many stories and references to sheep. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who has 100 sheep in his flock. One wanders off and the shepherd leaves the 99 to rescue the lost sheep, the one who needs him most. When he finds the sheep, he is filled with great joy and shares his happiness with his companions.
Jesus uses this story to illustrate God’s passionate love for the individual. The shepherd cares for the 99 but he cannot rest until he rescues the one. No one is dispensable. No one lacks importance. No one is outside of God’s love. The shepherd will not sacrifice a single sheep in his flock.
The parable also teaches us the value of persistence. The shepherd refuses to give up his search. We need that type of tenacity. A new year has arrived: a year to love, to create, to show kindness, to dream big and to keep going, keep going, until we reach our goal. The sheep we are searching for may be right ahead of us, among the llamas and goats, at the bottom of a pile of stuffed animals.
May 2019 be your best year yet!
Note: The recipient of our sheep is a Canadian writer of devotionals and Christian suspense stories. Check her out at: https://janetsketchley.ca
And the sheep is now part of my fold 🙂 Thank you, Ruth Ann, for the thoughtful persistence that you and your husband invested in finding her.
I am glad you like her, Janet, and that she is in your fold! It was an adventure finding her. She was there all along, just waiting to be found!
So true. We can use Jesus’ example of tenacity looking for the lost sheep as we move into the New Year searching for ways we can show His love to others.
I borrowed Janet’s sheep awhile back to use as props when I & a friend did a little skit about the shepherds in the fields the night Jesus was born. Perhaps your sheep was part of the lot. 🙂
Thank you, Bev! We had some fun finding her. I was trying to look for a New Year’s application to the story and the lost sheep came to mind. I like what you said about how Jesus’ example teaches us to look for ways to show his love to others. I hope your skit went well, with the sheep!!