The dog wasn’t really lost, but it’s owner was. She woke at three in the morning in distress. She was in her bed and her little doggy friend was safe by her side. Still, she was all at sea. Dementia has many faces. Some of them appear at 3am in the morning in the middle of winter.
Her neighbour from St John’s heard her through the wall. As is his routine after many years, he popped the key in her door and went in to check on her. This kind of love of neighbour is unusual enough in our world for Jesus to have to tell a strange story for us to see it. It is unusual enough to have raised the suspicion of her family more than once. you can hear them thinking, ‘Why would someone else be caring for our mum?’ No good deed goes unpunished. None uncommented on or viewed without cynicism. Our world is in the middle of its’ own long winter. Jesus will bring spring.
She was all at sea. Its’ waves and its’ breakers crashing over her. She couldn’t be settled. Not even the little dog safe by her side could make her safe this night. When your best friend can’t calm you down, you know you are in trouble.
Her neighbour, though, stayed with her until the waters were still. She finally fell back asleep. The dog was still there, but didn’t do the trick this time. What did it were some old words she remembered in her distress. They came to her aid. They calmed the storm and stilled the waters. She had begun to say to herself…
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.
And he did. She went back to sleep. And the dog went back to sleep too. And so did our friend from St John’s.
Did David have any idea what he was giving to the world when he wrote that one down? How many people can one short poem help? There must be a God behind those words - calming spirits and bringing a spring to people’s hearts.
That dear old lady is now in care. She already was, of course. But this is the kind that most people accept - it being institutional and all. The dog? Well, six gentle hearts at our church enquired after its’ well-being. One took it home, and now that little dog is befriending a new elderly lady. One of the St John’s members’ mum. Happy dog.
He leads me in green pastures.
We are the lost creatures. Calm me a dog if you will. I’ll be nicer and call you a sheep. We need someone to adopt us too. And we need a shepherd. Isn’t it really something that we have one?
The Lord is our shepherd.
If you haven’t already, put this one to heart.