Like A Sheep

        Have you ever seen a sheep in real life? The sheep that I see in paintings are always so clean and white; so perfect.  Recently, our family took a trip to the zoo and when we came up to the sheep I was a little surprised to see how dirty and hairy they were.  The sheep that I saw had blemishes and were in desperate need of a makeover to look like the perfect one's that are portrayed in so many paintings. 

             Recently, I heard a study on sheep.  The study peaked my interest so I took to the internet to further my research on sheep.  I read that sheep see each others faces, they study each others faces and they remember other sheep for years just by their faces.  They see past the blemishes and imperfect hair that they sometimes have and just see the other sheep's faces.  They know that the hair can be cut and the blemishes refined so they don't focus on any of that and instead focus on the face of the sheep around them.  They study the faces and they know the other sheep by the way their eyes slant, the width of their nose and the shape of their mouths.  I also found that sheep travel in herds and they know each sheep's voice in their herd.  They each have a unique voice and when one sheep from the herd has wandered the others are able to find the sheep and recognize that he is from their herd by the sound of his voice. 

           I couldn't help but think of us as Christian's when I read about the sheep.  So many times we paint these pictures of what the Christian should look like; when in reality most Christian's that I know, especially me, are full of blemishes.  It is so easy to look at people who call themselves Christian's and see their needs for improvement.  The way that sheep see each other's faces should be the way that we look at other Christian's hearts.  We should know each other by our hearts and not focus so much on each other's blemishes.  We should be like the sheep and focus on each others hearts knowing that in Christ, the blemishes and imperfections can be refined and transformed. 

          I think we could learn a lot from sheep.  Less focusing and judging of each other's imperfections and more loving and admiring of each other's hearts.  I just want to be a sheep!