On Sheep

"Dumb, dirty sheep." The phrase shocked me when I first heard it. As best I remember the context, I was grousing about demanding, uncooperative, nit-picky people, and I was challenged with the idea that I should see people as dumb, dirty sheep! As I have thought about that over the last six months, the idea grows. I have been around sheep, so I know about the dirty, smelly part. As for the dumb part...well, that depends on the definition of "dumb".

As a matter of fact, sheep are social; they prefer to be in a herd, and will follow one shepherd or a dominant sheep. If flocks accidentally merge, say at a crossroads, the shepherd can walk down the road and call, and his sheep will follow the familiar voice. (Nothing necessarily dumb, just herd behavior. It would seem very important, however, who is being followed, eh?)

Sheep spend more time eating than any other activity, and will not necessarily eat what is best for them, nutritionally, but will select what they prefer (that sounds familiar). Sheep are neophobic, that is they fear anything new. Introduce an unfamiliar sheep, strange sound, different handler, and they will become anxious-sometimes frantic. Moving water makes them nervous, and they will avoid drinking, thus the need for the still waters spoken of in the Shepherd's Psalm (Psalm 23). One interesting fact I read about sheep-herding spoke of how a shepherd rescues a sheep that has gone out on a ledge to forage. If the shepherd approaches the sheep to rescue it before it has eaten all the grass, the animal will leap to its death. The shepherd waits until the sheep is hungry and tired; then it will submit to being rescued.

I recognize much of myself in all of the above (hence the need for the post-holiday diet). Despite the protests of many that I know, I see them in those facts, too, not necessarily the eating part, but the choosing inferior "feed" in their pursuits, or the anxieties... Although I know many who claim to love the adventure of change, change as a stressor is fact. In the same way that change causes discomfort for me, so it does for the people that cause my impatience. Hmmm.

I could go on and on, exploring the metaphor, and often do, which causes one of the guys in my Sunday School class to start "baa-ing". What fun! But we enjoyed discussing how appropriate it was, that our Savior came to a stable, among herd animals and the smell and the dirt, to be born. How like a shepherd to sleep with the sheep. It is a story we love to hear over and over, but not just a story, the truth. No wonder we love Him!