A Reflection on Mid-Wales
5/31/2014
Reflection on Mid-Wales
Yesterday I drove about a half hour north of Rhayader to the Borough of Newtown, where my great, great, great, great grandfather moved his family for better opportunities in the flannel weaving industry. It was an absolutely gorgeous ride, full of winding, narrow roadways in and through steep, green hillsides and equally steep and green canyons below. The beauty is just breathtaking. While in Newtown, which has been established as a town for over 900 years, I visited the street where my ancestors lived, although the actual house no longer exists. And at the bottom of the hill is the National Textile Museum, which unfortunately doesn’t reopen until June, much like the Newtown Genealogical Society. Oh well, leave that for another day. It was a good place to be nonetheless.
On the rides up to Newtown and then back to Rhayader and then further down to Swansea on my return to St. Teilo’s, I was reflecting on the number of sheep I have seen during my time in Wales. It is fair to say that at no time when I have been driving – except on the M4 (the equivalent to I-95 on the east coast) and inside city limits – has there been a time where there was not a flock of sheep within my purview. And in the silence, I began to reflect on what God’s purpose was in creating sheep, with the obvious exception of what they do for human beings. I mean, as I see it, they serve four functions: They eat grass, which is useful if the landowner wants to keep the grass trimmed; they reproduce their own kind, for the benefit of their owners; they provide their coats to make wool while they are alive; and they provide a wonderful meal when they have been slaughtered. All of these purposes, however, only serve the purposes of their human owners and their eventual customers.
What about the sheep qua sheep? What would sheep do if there were no shepherds? Presumably they would just eat, reproduce, and get very hot in the summer – would their coat stop growing eventually if they didn’t need to grow it back? Does our hair stop growing when we don’t cut it? Or would they shed it, like a dog or a cat? In any event, what is the inherent value of a sheep? Except for their utility to mankind, what is the purpose of their existence?
I’ve only come up with one reason: As I was walking past a herd of sheep yesterday, I was able to just watch them as they didn’t need to keep my eyes on the road. What I saw among the adults are very calm, contented creatures that derive all that they need from sources that God provides for them. They roam freely about the pasture, eating when they want to and sleeping when they want to. And then I saw three young lambs, literally romping across the pasture, seemingly filled with the joy of being in their surroundings. And then it occurred to me that another purpose of sheep is to remind us that we are also the sheep of God’s pasture and that God knows each of us by name and calls us to place ourselves in the care of The Good Shepherd. Another good place to be.
Have a blessed day! don
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