I will search for you in the shadows
I will search for you in the light
I will search for you in the morning
I will search for you in the night

-Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

 

Once upon a time, there was a wooden fence that embraced a large piece of land.  There was lush green grass, outcroppings of rock, and even a steady stream of water, with wildflowers growing along its banks.

Inside this fence lived a flock of sheep, and as sheep do, they gathered in groups and began to talk.

“Isn’t this pasture just beautiful?  We are so blessed to live here,” said an ewe.  Her friends nodded in agreement.  A little lamb was wandering around, and overheard this.  “Are people who don’t live here blessed?” he wondered.

The lamb meandered elsewhere in the pen to where a few rams were gathered.   One ram stood on a rock as he addressed the others.  “Rams, you need to step up and be more ramly with your ewes and lambs.  Be a better example of how to be a sheep.”  “What if I don’t want to be that kind of a ram,” he thought to himself.

Over in another corner of the pen, a few other sheep were talking.  “We have such a nice place here.  I know there are other sheep out there.  How can we get them to come join us in the pen?”  “Why can’t we join them out there,” the lamb wanted to ask, but he was too shy.  And after all, no one was asking him what he thought of anything.

Other sheep heard this question and agreed it was a good one.  So they all began discussing it in earnest.  “Maybe if we built a waterslide going down into the stream, sheep will see it and want to come play.”  This idea was met with approval.  “Yeah, we need to make this pasture more fun!  Then sheep will want to live here.”

So the sheep formed a committee and built a waterslide.

“Look at all the sheep coming because of the waterslide,” they told each other, celebrating their ingenuity.  “You know,” one suggested, “since we have all these captive ears, we really should tell them about all the benefits of our pen.”

“Yes!  We should encourage them to stay here.  It really is the only way to live well, you know.”  “Really, the only way?” thought the little lamb.

So a ram walked to the top of a hill and began extolling the benefits of the green grass and the fence.  He explained the blessings of eating fresh food and the necessity of the boundaries.  “If for some reason you find yourself unhappy, just eat more grass and be thankful for the fence.  They keep you safe and alive!”

So life continued on, the sheep milling in the pen, encouraging each other to be true sheep, to eat grass and enjoy the fence, to be more ramly, and all the while wondering how to get more sheep to join them, while the little lamb felt more and more out of place.

One morning as they were discussing the issue of new sheep yet again, the little lamb in the back finally spoke up.

“Hey guys?  Um, we have a door.  What if we used it, and went out of the pen to find sheep?”

There were immediate reactions.  Some sheep laughed at the idea, while others were shocked and horrified.

An older ram walked up next to the young one.  “I know what you are saying, but it just isn’t wise.  It’s dangerous out there.  There are wolves and snakes, and areas of bad grass, or even no grass!”

“Not to mention dirty water,” someone else added.

The ram nodded gravely.  “Not all areas are blessed like we are.  There’s no way to guarantee your safety out there.  No, it’s much too dangerous to wander outside the pen.”

Chastened, the lamb wandered off alone.

Some time later, an ewe, the secretary of the group, climbed the hill to overlook all the sheep milling around.  She counted the number of them, as she always did, making sure everyone was safe and accounted for.

She got to 99 and frowned. “Surely I’ve miscounted,” she said, and counted again.  Panic began to well up.  She counted again and again, and ended up with 99 every time.

Alarmed, she ran down, where she quickly spread the news.  “We’re missing one, we’re missing one!”

The sheep formed into groups to discuss the news.  They discovered the missing member was the little lamb who had spoken up earlier.  Some talked about leaving to go look for him, but others reminded them of the danger.

“We explained it to him.  He knows the danger.  We all do.”  Other sheep nodded in agreement.

“He knows where the pen is.  If he wants to come back, he will.”

“We can’t give up the truth of grass and fence just to get him back in here.”

The sheep all nodded and the consensus was that no one would be leaving the pen.  It just wasn’t wise or safe.

 

In all the commotion, no one noticed the shepherd, who always quietly wandered among the sheep, get up and quietly go out the door.  Almost no one, that is.  A couple of sheep noticed and spoke up.  “I think he’s going to look for our missing lamb.  Maybe we should go with him.”*

“Oh, that’s such a relief,” said a ram.  “The shepherd will find him and bring him back.  There’s still no need to risk exposing ourselves to the elements.”  All the other sheep nodded in agreement, and soon life was back to normal for the sheep in the pen.  It was like the lamb had never even been there.

 

No one ever noticed the missing lamb hiding behind a large rock, just outside of the pen, watching the whole debacle.  And no one saw the shepherd sitting beside him, arms wrapped around wool, still watching the pen.  And no one ever saw the tears falling from four eyes.

No one ever saw, because no one ever wanted to look.

 

Everyone’s got their own set of troubles.
Everyone’s got their own set of blues.
Everyone’s got their own set of struggles.
Walk a mile in another man’s shoes.

If you ain’t learned that by now,
go ahead and walk another mile.

If you ain’t learned that by now, 
go ahead and walk another mile.

If you ain’t learned that by now, 
go ahead and walk another mile.

If you ain’t learned that by now, 
go ahead and walk another mile.

-Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

 

 

 

*I heard this idea of following the shepherd out by someone else,  probably in a sermon or a book.