Left: Photos of shepherd's crooks used for leading sheep (taken by Crag Face, 7/4/02Yesterday I participated in a 1/2 day retreat with the Fuller class I'm auditing on spiritual formation. We were given Psalm 23 as our focus Scripture to meditate on.
"He makes me lie down in green pastures..." I realized it says "he MAKES me"...but the image it conjured up was my new role as a parent, "making" my baby's schedule, putting her to sleep at her bedtime though she at times seemingly protests. Am I being paternalistic? You bet I am! But at this fundamental stage of life, she needs me to shepherd her in this way.
And speaking of roles, this Psalm also reminded me that with all my roles, especially the ones where I take a leadership role, I must never forget the one role that will always be around, no matter what other roles fall to the wayside: being a sheep--a child of God. It is an eternal role I will never outgrow. Like my daughter, I must also be like her in that implicit trust she has when I take her out of her crib. I may not always be able to DO something for God, but I can always sit at his feet attentively.
The last thing about this verse is that only when the Lord my shepherd makes me lie down/besides still waters does he "restore my soul." I never saw this as a process before, just an unconnected list. But now I see I can not find refreshment of the soul if I have not stopped and ceased from all the activity in my life periodically.
There were some final questions I never got to at the end, but helped me to frame my thinking about next year with Kingdom Causes:
1. How has the Shepherd been preparing you to extend his reign through you in the role to which he has called you?
2. How has he been shepherding specific people in your place of ministry/work? How might he want to shepherd them?
3. How is he shepherding structures for which you have responsibility?
No comments:
Post a Comment