How open am I to the voice of the Shepherd in my life? Am I open to instruction and direction? Am I attentive? How receptive am I to feedback? How reachable am I in the depths of my soul to the leanings of the Shepherd? How teachable am I? How flexible am I? How available are we to the Shepherd? Are we distracted by the many other voices competing for our time, energy, and attention in our lives? I can honestly say that the answer for me varies on any given day. My answer to these questions is also based on how tired I am or how centered I feel. At times, don’t we all feel the tug of too many commitments and voices from others and from ourselves to do more, to be more, to get more?
There is a wonderful opportunity here to learn from both the sheep and the shepherd. What if the invitation here for all of us is to enter into the fields with the sheep and the shepherd? What if we bowed our heads low? What if we waited? What if we were silent and stood still? What if we postponed our own plans and delayed them in response to a call or a clarity in direction from Jesus? What if we truly listened to our good and gentle shepherd? As we know, as we have seen, as we may have felt, known, or experienced, God is faithful, even when we’re not. There have been times and there will be times in all of our lives when we may feel like sheep without a shepherd. What if in our humanity we were able to enter into the sheep pen more fully? What if we hung out in the fields and stayed there for awhile? What if we listened for the voice of our Shepherd? What if we took all that we learned there and applied it in our own lives?
--Jennifer Berridge, CSJ
Image source: https://www.goodnewsfl.org/sheep-listen-voice/
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