(My friend and bible study sister, Su DeGroot, sent me an email and I asked her if I could publish it here.)
Meet Melvin, one of two little lambs born earlier this week. Melvin has had a tough go of it in his short life. He was born first in a little stable but then his momma decided to walk across the field before delivering his brother.
Something went wrong. It was her first birthing and she was confused. In the natural order of things, the ewe bonds with her lambs beautifully. She is always near them, protective as they drink and cuddle with her.
But Melvin was rejected by his momma and we had no idea why. We looked it up online and found it has something to do with smell. If a lamb gets separated during birth, dries off and loses its initial smell that the mom identifies it with, she will think it belongs to another and reject it. Sometimes a ewe is just a bad mother; she gives birth and walks away.
Melvin spent his first hours cold and baaa-ing for his momma to come feed him. It was heartbreaking to hear. He got weaker as his brother nursed and got stronger. Eventually he collapsed and was quiet.
We took him into the barn, dried him off, warmed him up and fed him from a baby bottle. The next day we put him back in the pen but every time he got near his momma she would buck him with her head. Now what? Back to the internet...
"Lambs that have been rejected will go from ewe to ewe trying to steal milk to survive, usually nursing from behind. Typically a ewe lets her lamb nurse by her side. She smells the lamb to make sure it's hers and any intruder will get a swift butt from her head. Together they develop a communication that helps them distinguish and identify with each other even if randomly placed in the midst of a thousand other lambs and ewes."
"The rejected lamb will be on its own to survive. Often you can pick them out of a fold because of their dirty heads. They resort to stealing milk while a ewe is relieving herself and thus end up 'getting marked'. To the lamb this is a small price to pay; he knows he must steal or die. The lamb spends its early years craving nutrition as its stomach is never full. It can never rest for a moment and lives with the reminder of rejection every time hunger calls. Since the lamb is marked, it is rejected by the rest of the flock as well."
Why share this with you? I think it is such a visual picture for us, the sheep of His pasture.
We've all lived with rejection and experienced a gnawing spiritual hunger. Like Melvin, we can try to fill it on the sly, getting marked in the process. What Melvin needed most of all was for someone to adopt him, marks and all, and nurture him. He needed acceptance, healing, love, restoration. Do you know a Melvin? Perhaps you have been a Melvin. You are not alone.
Jesus understands rejection, loneliness, hunger. He knows what it feels like to be a 'marked man'. Yet He chose to carry the shame and hopelessness of us all to the cross. He chose to give His life so that we would not have to live as orphans. He rose again so that death is defeated. And until He comes again, He calls us to live in flocks and nurture and care for each other - no head-butting!
"Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 100
I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me...
and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10
"His unchanging plan has been to adopt us into His own family
by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.
And this gave Him great pleasure." Ephesians 1
Lord, may our own marks lead us to nurture those who feel rejected and lost. Give us compassion for them and passion for You!
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