I once was a shepherd
in My flock, there were twelve;
they scattered from My side
but found their way back to My realm.
They had their instructions,
to be shepherds themselves,
so their arms reached out far,
gathering many to My realm.
Oh how My flock grows
to vast numbers unknown,
yet the sheep begin to wander
seeking their better seeds to sow.
I weep for those sheep
that have sown their new fields
although My name lingers on grains,
ground with many - disorder revealed.
What am I to do
calling sheep of many names?
They are unable to answer
to My unified exclaim.
Do I allow them to continue
wandering in their named fields?
Or do I remind them of the one grain
their ancestors did once yield?
All their ground might be fertile
by what they have planted,
but food leaches unneeded nutrients
into the compacted soil now granted.
The land begins to separate
the joined flock once created;
although, producing abundant grain
forgotten becomes seed twelve cultivated.
I am a shepherd of sheep,
and as so I forever long
for My flock to remember,
and unified, come back home.
Reflection:
Roughly 1000 years after the twelve left us to live among eternal pastures with our heavenly shepherd, Christianity began to branch. These branches, perhaps even, justified in their growth, I would imagine in the end only separate His flock. It no longer matters the facts on which we once based argument. The reality is the one branch led to another and another and another and continues, today, exponentially, for once a tree branches, there is never any need for it to cease, only seek new ways to balance its now unstable trunk.
What the question then becomes: is it possible that which was originally planted is now recognizable from one branch to the other - or one flock to the other. Unfortunately, if the answer were yes, there would not be such hostility, resentment, pride, and desire to branch out among the flocks. All would recognize in one another, and therefore remember, the one seed that provided them life. Instead, I sadly believe we have lost sight of this tree, and now view our branches as independent of one another.
Do I recognize myself as part of a unified flock of Christians or as a named sheep in a vast field I deem nutritious?
Do I hope and pray to be eternally reunited with all who love and follow Christ, or am I content to eat only the earthly grain I am given?
Do I view the branch on which I rest as part of one tree or an independent sapling?
Let us all pray today that we, as a scattered flock of Christians, become reunited; that our branches become one, and again are filled with the one life-giving grain that is Christ.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.
(Matthew 18:14)