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ANGÉLICA MARIA LIMA MANSANO GARCIA |
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Assuntos Teológicos |
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October 6, 2004
John 10:3-4 (NIV)
The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
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Two Little
Lambs As I arrived from Itajubá last Wednesday night still sad by my father’s death, my husband and I decided to go to my father-in-law farm located in the west neighbor state named Mato Grosso do Sul. Since my father’s brother had came with me, my husband wanted to give him a weekend of country rest. This uncle, as well my father, was born in Rio de Janeiro, where he still lives today.
The farm is a large farm for cattle, but they decided to raise sheep, although nobody is trained to take care on them. Several sheep had given birth to lambs and it was a pleasure for me to see them walking together with their mothers. Two small male lambs with their mother captured my attention because one was brown and rather large while the other was small and quite white. I took a picture of all of the lambs, but especially this ‘family’.
The other day I noticed that I hadn’t seen this small pair of brothers. Later that day my brother-in-law took me to take a picture of a very beautiful yellow tree that we could see from the house. When arriving there we saw the pair of lambs lost among the cows. I remembered that Jesus once compared those following him with sheep that have no shepherd and he had compassion on them (Mark 6.34), and I also remembered the Parable of the Lost Sheep of Luke 15.
And, here were two small, lost lambs that still were showing their umbilical cords. I saw that they were not in good health because they needed water and milk from their mother. I tried to help them but my brother-in-law was concerned about the risks from the cattle, so we decided to go back and call for the help of the farm overseer. This way, we all together (including now my father-in-law himself) went to the place with the goal of saving the two lambs. My husband’s relatives would not allow me to go by myself to catch the lambs. But with the help of the overseer I faced the wild cattle (which became afraid of us and went way), and we rescued the lambs and happily reunited them with their mother.
I came back thinking about this adventure and asking God what more could the experience have to say to me. Now, when writing it to you, as a devotional, it seemed that I realized, as I was able to take the two lost lambs to their mother for food and comfort, Jesus himself had just done the same thing for my father.
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Dear
God, Help us to be at peace knowing that you are our shepherd.
Dr. Angélica Mansano
Dracena, SP. Brazil |
