Lost Sheep
2.24.2008 (updated 5.19.2008) - Started reading again in a book called "The Jesus I Never Knew"... very good book. In the current chapter he's talking about the new grace - about how in a world that exalts the best, most beautiful and talented, yet God seeks out the opposite... those who are considered undesirable, the broken and rejected.
The author refers to a parable I've heard so often and skimmed past... the concept seemed simple and so I didn't give it much thought. A shepherd has 100 sheep and 1 is lost. Instead of tending the 99 he leaves and searches for the single lost sheep, and rejoices once he finds it.
So many questions come to mind - why has the shepherd left the 99? Didn't he fear they would stray also? Why risk the abundance you have in the 99 to pursue a single sheep?
It struck me this time that many many times I am that single lost sheep. So many times I feel that I am so different from others, and often feel a rejection because I'm not as skilled, or witty, or talented, or industrious, or ambitious or any number of things that cause me to be valued less than others.
And it's really a no-win game that runs over and over in my thoughts, reinforcing and magnifying itself with every perceived failure. Why can't I be better at this or that? Why do others seem to have their act together when I struggle over the smallest obstacles?
And there you have it - I'm the single lost sheep, so different the rest. So incapable of blending in, never quite sure of my place, so hopelessly lost in my own confused meanderings.
But this Shepherd, he's crazy - he's not like the rest. Instead of guarding the remaining 99 sheep... he risks it all by leaving them and coming after me! And he doesn't simply take a token stroll thru the local neighborhood poking bushes and calling my name - he's really working and searching, checking dark alleys, following up leads and eliminating every possible place or reason that would prevent my return.
Why? I don't know... but I know this - this Shepherd, the Good One who's better than the rest - he wants me. He. Wants. Me.