Week 185

Positive post Sunday, September 6, 2020- Week 185. 

Earlier this week I was doing my usual reading and research preparing to write this week’s PPS and the following quote I posted in 2010 popped up on my Facebook page:

“I Believe that if the shepherd doesn’t stop trying or give up hope and the other sheep open their hearts with forgiveness, the lost sheep will eventually choose the right path and find its way back to the flock and stay”! Our family and closest friends know our journey and the profound and deep meaning this has to us. As I reflect on the ten years since posting this and look at where my flock is today, I do so with a heavy heart. I am a grateful shepherd who is very proud of his full flock! Prayers do get answered, in God’s time, not ours.

This reminded me of the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Luke 15:1-7:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

This parable has been interpreted in many ways. My interpretation is that the shepherd is not abandoning his sheep as he knows they are together, safe and on the right path. Rather, he recognizes that his flock is not complete without his lost sheep and is willing to do what it takes to reunite the lost sheep with the flock.

Who is your lost sheep and what are you doing to get him/her back in your flock?