Aug
11
2014
The Sheep On The Hillside
Posted in Salvation 2 Comments
I am not a traveler.
I am a homebody, if truth were told.
The travel angst does not call to me as it does to my husband.
Close-by places are more desirable to me than faraway places.
This trip was different.
This trip was a celebration.
This trip was a once in a lifetime event.
This trip was one for the memory books.
My husband decided to book our trip last fall.
We knew that there would be three upcoming graduations in our family.
Law school, college, and high school, all within a few weeks of each other.
This was how my husband wanted to mark this time in our lives.
Soon, everyone will be scattered, doing what God is calling them to do.
Before the scattering happens, we went off together.
Across the pond.
Thousands of miles away to another homeland.
A place where the color green is in all its fullness.
A place where the people speak as if in a song.
A place where the simple agrarian life is more fulfilling than anything store bought.
A place where the rain comes as quickly as a smile and disappears just as fast.
The place of our ancestors.
The place where one gaze across the ocean brings you back to another time.
I tried to imagine what it must have been like to look across the water to a better land.
To dream of loved ones who went on ahead and would call for you to join them.
The highlight of my trip was a visit to a farm.
A farm in Kilkenny, Ireland.
A farm that has the footprints of a deserted 12th Century Medieval town.
A farm that contains the Tomb Effigy of St. Nicholas (Bishop of Myra).
Joe and Maeve are the owners of this working farm.
They have two children who sold their own homemade raspberry jam.
We had tea in the main house with a beautiful stone floor overlooking the countryside.
We dined on jams and scones with tea brewing in lovely teapots.
We walked the paths with such incredible views; we didn’t know where to look next.
We were summoned to a fenced-in area.
A border collie waited patiently at the gate.
I watched him as he crouched low to the ground, anticipating the call of his master.
Oh, but if we all wanted to go to work as much as Tack, Joe said of his faithful dog.
In one quick motion, Joe opened the gate.
Tack took off in a flash.
The sheep that were quietly grazing scurried this way and that.
Away!
Come!
Go back!
Sit down, Tack!
Man and dog working together.
The dog followed each of Joe’s commands perfectly.
No matter what Joe said, Tack obeyed.
The dog herded the sheep with perfection.
I never saw such loyalty between a dog and his master.
I never saw a group of sheep follow a dog wherever he led.
Tack was enjoying every minute of his work as he panted and ran with vigor.
Tack successfully herded the sheep exactly as his master commanded.
That’ll do, Tack, as the dog followed his master out of the gate.
Driving another day around the Ring of Kerry, we saw more sheep on the rocky cliffs.
Sheep grazing on the hillsides far from the road.
It was explained that the farmers allow their sheep to graze uninhibited.
The farmers have an ingenious way of calling their sheep home.
The wool from the sheep used to be a desired commodity of Ireland.
Today, the price does not allow the farmers to raise the sheep for their wool.
Instead, they raise sheep for their meat, which brings a high price on the market.
Since the wool is not what sells, the farmers are able to color code their sheep.
There on the hillsides, splotches of bright colors on their hind legs, mark the sheep.
Turquoise, orange, and green patches of color that are easily seen from a distance.
The farmer knows which sheep are his even though they are far up in the hills.
The farmer uses his voice or a whistle to command his sheep dog to bring his sheep home.
The dog knows the voice of his master.
One command, and the dog goes to work.
That dog can bring an entire herd of sheep down the hillside.
That dog will bring the correct sheep down the hillside.
That’ll do!
When I saw the sheep scattered over the rocky hills, God’s Word came alive to me.
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice…I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.
(John 10:3-5,14)
Jesus, the Good Shepherd leads His sheep.
Only those sheep that are His will follow Him.
They will not respond to another Master.
The sheep are scattered over the hillside; they respond to His voice.
One look, one glance and you see another Homeland.
Others have gone ahead to a Better Land.
Family members that you will one day see again when you cross the Great Divide.
The gathering of His Sheep to a New Home.
The sheep will all be gathered.
Come!
Sit down at the banquet that I have prepared for you.
And the sheep come; and the sheep follow.
That’ll do!
This brings back such memories of our trip to Ireland in 2011! I felt so at home there, even though I’m only a little part Irish. Your parallel of the sheep you saw was wonderful! If only we all obeyed our Master like this! I’m glad your family had such a great trip; Ireland is not to be forgotten. When I read Psalms 65:12,13 I thought of Ireland (the Good News Bible says “pastures are filled with flocks….fields covered with sheep”.
Sue
Sue,
The sheep on the hillside spoke so clearly to me of Jesus, the Good Shepherd: to hear His voice and no others, to follow where He leads, to obey. What a lesson to be learned.
Gina