The Shepherd Within

On the way home from picking her up. 

We adopted a dog over the weekend. A three-year-old long-haired German Shepherd. She is such a sweet and well-behaved girl. The way that she fell right in with the rest of us makes it seem like she has always been around.

Of course, it’s always hard to tell at first how everyone will get along. The first day home had to be overwhelming to her. She came from a large home with 5 acres of land that she shared with a smaller family with younger children; an infant and a toddler.

In contrast, she was deposited into our less than an acre yard with six kids ranging three to twelve. Not only was the yard smaller, but it was also more crowded and more rambunctious. Not to mention it included things she’d most likely never seen. Anxiously, she remained on patrol. When the kids got on the swing, she nipped their toes. When they got on the zip line, she grabbed their ankles. When the younger ones took off in their motorized jeep, she was grabbing elbows.

I’ve never had a shepherd before. Some of our previous dogs had been freaked out by different things, so I was trying to figure out her trigger or pattern.  She didn’t seem aggressive. I wondered if she just didn’t want anyone getting hurt. I’ve since realized that, as their name suggests, shepherds are herding dogs. As long as everyone is in the same area, she is okay. It’s when someone wanders away from the pack, or gets too close to danger that she tries to correct them. 

On a different note-

When I started writing and sharing my faith; giving my own testimony. I was too afraid to tell someone to do as I do. To walk as I walk or go where I go. Mostly because I am figuring it out too. It wasn’t that I didn’t take my role seriously or that I wasn’t living as best as I could. –But I know that I am human. The Lord takes seriously heretics and false prophets. I make so many mistakes that I was just as concerned about telling someone incorrectly, as I was afraid of someone following me too closely.

This week I started a bible study on the book of Titus. It deals with mentorship and more specifically, this type of relationship between women. In many ways, it too is like shepherding.

1 Corinthians 11:1 [HSBC] says 'Imitate me as I imitate Christ'. But the NIV translation is in this week’s homework (class - see p4), and it’s what stands out to me the most. It reads: ‘Follow my example, as I follow Christ.’ 

When I first shared the story above about our dog, I was thinking that as new believers, it is SO hard to know who to follow and when. Our new dog was pacing, and you could tell that she was thinking ‘Is it this one or that one? Who do I go after first?’ Many times, listening to preachers and leaders, I found myself wondering the same. How do you know who is who?

Psalm 23 tells us that The Lord is our Shepherd.

I can attest that it is my personal time with Him that has been the most correcting and life changing. I’d like to say that as a shepherd, He’s gentler than our k-9 version. But in all honesty, while He may not break the skin, at times, His convictions have been just as startling and piercing to my heart.

As I write this devotion, it reminds me that as we spend time with him, we too shall become more and more like him. From glory to glory they say. As followers and indeed, imitators. –Perhaps, even in the shepherding part. 

A concern for others should develop, along with care for his flock. Even leadership in various forms will appear. As we change and grow, we can expect to find ourselves wanting others near us to do and experience the same. 

If we see something in a friend’s life that might be a source of their pain, we should want to speak life into them (in a prayerful and loving way). –To care so much about the health and safety of the flock that if we see something out of line, we want to encourage unity and restoration.

I can tell you that as I am maturing in my faith, I too have questions about my personal life and occasionally need that insight. It’s sometimes hard to find someone that will speak the truth that is needed. It can also be just hard for us to give that honest feedback when the time comes. Each of us needs an example or several of them. Even the lead dog, will need someone to guide their leading. 

I am not suggesting that we should be as forward as our new family member was in this example but in the same token, there is an etiquette that has to be learned, and you won’t really know how to lead without learning how not to. They go hand in hand. And as I noted earlier, even good correction can still have a sting. 

As a body of believers, we are accountable to each other. When we collectively care for and lead our different corners of the pack, we glorify God. -Even when we don’t know what our specific ‘gifts’ are. Mentorship in itself is a gift to us. We each have lessons that we’ve learned that are for the good of each other. Living in such a way that honors God, can help others more easily identify us too. But also, simply sharing our testimony and the bit we're learning as we go, is used and speaks just as powerfully to those we are alongside. 

Application:

Where is your flock?

Who are you leading?

Is there anyone from your pack that is slipping away?

What are some of the biggest lessons that you've learned in your faith walk and who can you share them with?

Prayer:

Father God, I thank you for the tiniest ways that you speak to us and the components of our daily life that you can use, when we let you. I pray that you show us our mission field and even the boundaries we need to remain in so that we don't take on more than you intended. Mold and shape each word. The ones we receive and the ones we give. Let them all come from you for your glory.