1986 July/August issue Part 2

The Master's Will

Years ago I spent a night with a Welsh shepherd and his wife in a place called Llany-mawddwy. In that short time I saw many spiritual lessons enacted in the relationship between the shepherd, his dog, and his sheep. Mari, the shepherd's wife, told me many others.'

The following is from her book, In the Shelter of

the Fold.

  "A farmer from Peebles, Scotland, had bought some sheep from another farm a good way off. All by herself, his faithful dog started out to drive the sheep to her home on the other side of the mountain. Her master was tempted to linger awhile, over his pint, perhaps, with the vendor. When he returned home later that night, he realized to his consternation that the sheep and the dog had not arrived. In real anxiety he and his son set out in different directions to look for them. But what did the farmer see almost immediately coming to meet him but the flock of sheep with the dog behind them, and in her mouth a new-born puppy, still wet from the womb.

  "On her way home, the expectant mother had given birth to her pups. She had delivered herself of them while keeping the sheep together lest they mix with other sheep on the mountain. Then, when she was able to resume her duties and the responsibility of bringing the sheep home, she picked up one member of the little family in her mouth, to bring him with her to the shelter of the farm. When she had finished the work of getting the flock safely into the fold, she made a warm snug nest and laid the

pup in it. Then she disappeared into the darkness and reappeared later with the second pup in her mouth, and then a third. When she arrived back with the fourth, the poor little thing was dead.

  "Her duty and faithfulness to her master and her work came first in her life. It was as though she were consecrated, as though she had dedicated her life to please her master and to do his will before considering her own instincts."

  The sheep dog puts me to shame. I find it easy to "go with my feelings," but that is no way for a Christian to live. "Indeed," said St. Paul (Romans 8:12, 13, Phillips), "that way of living leads to certain spiritual death. But if on the other hand you cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying the Spirit, you will live."