The Lost Lamb

Last month the city paid 1,000s of sheep and goats $30,000 to graze in the local preserves. I suppose the goats and sheep didn’t see much of the money but their full bellies served as a unique fire prevention method. There is a large preserve between our house and a local park. I knew nothing of the upcoming grazing and so awoke one morning to unusual barnyard noises. The first thing my sleepy mind thought was that Christian must have a horrible croup because his cry sounded odd. As I further awakened I realized there were farm animal noises coming from my backyard. I looked out to thousands of sheep and goats. I had no idea what they were doing but I was excited to wake Nicky up to see our own backyard petting zoo.

The animals were there for two days so I observed. The sheep and goats love to eat. In fact, I don’t think they do much else other than the occasional pause to make a deposit in the soil. I also noticed that they love to be together and move together. They don’t seem too bright. They go in whatever direction the sheep dog scares them into. I had to laugh as I remembered there are many scriptures in which Christ compares people to sheep. Though it isn’t too complimentary, the comparison is spot on.

A day after the animals moved on to their next location, I took the kids on a walk on the bike trail that borders the preserve and the park. As we walked I heard a loud and panicked bleating coming from the middle of the preserve. I immediately knew it was a baby lamb left behind. I had three kids with me and I didn’t feel like traipsing through the preserve. I wondered if the baby lamb would be poopy, broken up, flea-ish. What would I do with it if I found it? It stopped bleating so I talked myself into believing it had just been a loud bird. Deep inside I knew it wasn’t. I walked on. On our way back, I noticed a young man jumping the fence behind his house and coming down the hill into the preserve. He found the baby lamb and I watched as he carried it home.

Again, I thought of the Savior and one of my favorite scriptures about left behind sheep. Luke 15:4-5 “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

They’ve had many a lesson at church lately on rescuing the lost. They apply it to missionary work and re-activating the less active. I wonder how many times I talk myself out of rescuing because I’m busy or scared of the consequences. How often do I leave it to someone else to come along and take care of what should have been my rescue?

I loved Elder Uchtdorf’s talk last conference on the statue of Christ with the missing hands. I want to re-commit to being His hands. Next time one of his lambs is in trouble, I’m going to get dirty and make a rescue.