Little Lamb


When I was just a baby, a neighbor gave me my very own bottle lamb.  Of course, I was too little to care for her, so the job of feeding her fell to Mom and Dad.  But, even so, she was my pet.  She was named Lola, after a popular song of that era, "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets."

Mom says that Lola provided support for me when I was first learning how to walk.  I don't remember that, of course.  When I think of Lola, I think of soft, white wool.  Dad took her back to our neighbor once or twice a year so her wooly coat could be sheared.  I still have a warm, purple paisley comforter that is filled with Lola's wool; in fact, we refer to the comforter as "Lola," too.

We moved to town, into Norfolk, in December, a few months before I turned five.  I vaguely remember the farm sale, when neighbors came from miles around to buy all of the farm implements and livestock that we would no longer need.  The same neighbor, who had given Lola to me in the first place, bought her back, and took her back into his flock of sheep.  I don't know how much he paid, but I find it somewhat ironic that he bought back the same sheep he had so freely given to me just a few years earlier.  I guess you could say that he redeemed his sheep.

The Bible often refers to people as sheep.  Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, who takes good care of his sheep, giving us everything we need.  But Jesus did more than most shepherds do; not only does he care for us every day, but he also redeemed us--he paid the ultimate price, his death on a cross, to buy us back when we were separated from God, so we could live with him forever.

Lola's story reminds me of one of my favorite children's hymns, "I Am Jesus' Little Lamb."  It goes like this:

I am Jesus' little lamb; Ever glad at heart I am;
For my Shepherd gently guides me, Knows my need and well provides me,
Loves me every day the same, Even calls me by my name.

Day by day, at home, away, Jesus is my staff and stay.
When I hunger, Jesus feeds me, Into pleasant pastures leads me;
When I thirst, he bids me go Where the quiet waters flow.

Who so happy as I am, Even now the Shepherd's lamb?
And when my short life is ended, By his angel host attended,
He shall fold me to His breast, There within his arms to rest.
                                                                                                                        Henrietta L. von Hayn, 1778


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

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