[ampaterry]

I believe that here in the USA, in 2012, such mothers are a rare thing, BlackEagle.

For today:

In the Scotland, up in the highland grazing areas, a sheep will often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they can't get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can't jump back again. When the grass is gone, the sheep will start bleating in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint that they cannot stand, and then he will put a rope around himself, and he will go over the edge and down to the sheep, and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death.

Do you wonder why the shepherd does not go down and get the sheep when it is first stranded?

The answer is simple: Until the sheep have eaten all the grass, they would foolishly jump back down to reach it as soon as they were rescued. Until they have become weakened from hunger, they would fight the shepherd who was there to rescue them, and often cause themselves to fall off the cliff to their death.

Does that remind you of the story of the Prodigal son in Luke 15, starting at verse 11? The prodigal son was not pursued by the father that loved him; he had to run his course, he had to waste his substance, he had to be ready to return, and then the Father received him gratefully.

Isn’t this the way it is with you and me as well? We drift away from God, and we don’t want to come back until we are broke, hungry and miserable as the Prodigal! We will have no thought of him as long as there is good grass to eat in the place where we have wandered! If anyone attempts to bring us back, we will rebuff them, and insist on staying exactly where we are – until we are completely sick of our condition.

May God bless you, guys -