1st March

I’m reading RT Kendall’s book ‘The Complete Guide to the Parables’ – it’s taking ages, as it’s not a light read and each chapter is stuffed full of wisdom. I’ve got as far as the parables of the lost sheep – where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep which are safe to look for the one which is lost – and the lost coin, where the woman turns her house inside out all for the sake of one coin. Then there is the joy of successfully finding what was lost.

It must have been terrifying for the sheep to be lost. A lost sheep cries and calls out constantly for help, running this way and that, until it is too exhausted to move. Then the shepherd comes: “And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.” Luke 15:5- 6.

I sometimes feel lost like that. Overwhelmed by busyness, by work, by relationships, by sheer distraction, I wander away from The Shepherd. I’ve always thought that the lost sheep must have been alone – but now I wonder if it might have strayed and joined another flock. Hmm.