Sunday, July 17, 2011

'Twas a Sheep Not a Lamb that Strayed



’Twas a sheep not a lamb
That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong,
It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when the sheep are lost
What a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay.

The Echo by C.C. Miller

I heard this poem for the first time in at our Church's General Conference this April.  It really touched me and want to pass it along to you; it points out the awesome responsibility of parenting.

A few weeks ago our family went to Joe's Valley, a favorite place to do a bit of mild cliff jumping.  On the way there, and then again on departing we found some sheep and some lambs who had wandered away from the fold; I thought of the poem, "The Echo" when I saw them wandering.



A sheep farmer had been moving his sheep from one field to another; they had got lost and were on the road.  As we approached them to take a picture, they would speed up as soon as we got close.  This sheep had led its lambs astray.


The water level is very high at Joe's Valley this year; it will lower throughout the summer as it is drained for irrigation purposes.

Some pictures of my lambs jumping in.  The water was so cold when I first jumped in that I panicked a bit!





These are actually very low and fun to jump off.  No, I am not a sheep leading my lambs astray.


I hope you have a great Sunday.



7 comments:

Pondside said...

What a great poem. As my children have grown up and as grandchildren have arrived I've often thought of what a great responsibility parenting is. I don't think I was conscious of that as a young mum - I just knew I had to take good care and I had the advantage of great parents myself.

Renée said...

Thanks Joni for some great food for thought. I'm thinking of so many; my children and grandchildren and YW.

Yvonne @ StoneGable said...

Joni, what a fabulous picture of how we influence those who are our lambs! My son is a youth pastor (see his picture and blog on my sidebar) and his heart is broken for where so many of our lambs are going for lack of sheep that will lead them into blessed pastures!
Here is a post he recently wrote, I thought you would be interested.
http://chrispratt-doulos.blogspot.com/2011/07/inputoutput.html
Wonderful truth today!!!!
I am blessed by it!
Yvonne

Jacqueline said...

How true and how sad when the sheep are the parents. Your little lambies are so cute jumping in the cold cold water! Now we know why the goats are separated from the sheep too as Kirk tried backpacking with goats! Not little followers and soooo naughty. We had to laugh. Your pictures are gorgeous. Sounds so fun. Luv ya! Jean gets in town sometime soon.

Unknown said...

Love that. love, love, love it. I'm keeping that to show my hubby tonight. We literally were just studying the roles of fathers and mothers last night before going to bed.

Valerie said...

I loved this! Thanks for sharing! So true. This is a poem that will stick w/ me forever I'm sure.

Sue said...

I missed this poem. THANKS so much for sharing, Joni! Very touching and and so true!

Engageya