We are Poor Little Lambs and We Have Lost Our Way

Sometimes I attend church expecting to not learn anything. Of course this is not the ideal attitude, but then again, sometimes, in my human weakness, I do not live up to the ideal. However, last week, a man in my ward addressed a very typical and common topic but in a very simple yet profound way. It is my hope that this posting will touch you as it did me.

Sheep are stupid. They are one of three species that will literally eat themselves. And I am not talking cannibalism; I am saying that a single sheep will eat itself. Being stupid animals, they will often follow the stupidest sheep there is.

There once was a sheep named Dolly who had giant buck teeth that went upwards, instead of the expected downwards. Dolly also was ridiculously cross eyed. She had nothing intelligent to offer, and so of course most of the sheep just followed her and they followed her blindly. On this same farm on which the sheep lived, was a baby sheep that was able to learn directly from the shepherd instead of Dolly. This baby sheep learned how to follow the way that the shepherd expected and the two formed an actual relationship. For example, if the shepherd was guiding the baby sheep and the sheep felt like it wasn’t receiving enough attention, it would softly push its head into the shepherd’s leg to indicate that it needed more attention.

Here is the bad news: we are each like the stupid sheep. As much as we wish we weren’t, thinking that we have been raised to be a smart sheep, we really belong in the stupid category. I do not mean to dismiss that our experiences in our lives have been for naught, but I am suggesting that even though we may believe and experience great things, we are still prone to fall into human weakness and stop following the actual shepherd. However, just because we are stupid does not mean that we are hopeless. When we choose to follow our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, we become more like that sheep that relied on its shepherd, and less like the sheep that followed Dolly. We learn that when we follow his path, we will not simply fall out of our weakness, but we come to rely on him to guide us through our weakness. The sheep that followed the shepherd was still a sheep and was prone to the stupid behavior, but it learned through experiences to rely on its shepherd. I also know that I am just human; I mess up, and hurt myself and others. Yet I can learn to avoid that and come closer to God when I rely on His Savior to guide my life and when I choose to humble myself and follow what my Shepherd has in store.