here come the sheep

Back in the day, while teaching remedial classes in summer school, I thought it was important to make it as fun and memorable as possible.  After all, who wants to be stuck in the classroom during the summer while everyone else was at the park or the pool!

Since it was necessary to accomplish a great deal of work in a limited span of time, being creative was a major challenge.  Since my task included getting the students a step closer to grade-level (especially with reading/comprehension) skills, I was determined to make learning more fun and less stressful.

I found that the best tactic was to go back, all the way back, to a level that they were comfortable in.  Often, that placed us at very low levels.  Thank goodness, there is no shortage of particularly wonderful children's literature to glean from.

One of my favorite author/illustrator teams was Nancy E. Shaw and Margot Apple.  Their "Sheep" books were so valuable for beginning readers.  And once the children were engaged, the sky was the limit!  Oh! What great memories!  But, I digress.

There were several titles in the series, but my favorite will always be "Sheep in a Jeep."
"Beep! Beep! Sheep in a jeep on a hill that's steep." 
Can you predict what might happen next?

"Sheep in a Shop" / "Sheep on a Ship" / "Sheep Out to Eat" ... well, you get the picture.

I was thinking of these wonderful stories, when a profound thought hit me.  According to the Word, we are the sheep of the Lord's pasture.  That's significant...to be His sheep.  Because, one day there will be a reckoning, a division will take place.  The "sheep" (those who will spend eternity with Him) and the "goats" (those who will not) will be separated for eternity.  What a thought.  In the meantime, we are here, and life here is not always rosy.  It's downright hard to always walk-the talk. 

Oh, we're okay with being the sheep, but sometimes we get a little distracted, and our adventures take us away from the long-term plan.  Like the sheep in the stories, we do what sounds like fun, but then we realize there are consequences to our choices...and it seems that the more reckless or foolish the choices, then all the more dire, are the consequences..

To complicate things, someone is always 'watching' us, as if waiting for us to mess up.  Theses days there is a very real chance that whatever we are doing could be 'captured' and transferred to social media without our knowledge or permission.  I'm not saying that we are to go off and hide in a cave somewhere, I'm saying that the choice will always be yours...that's the way our God rolls...so when you think you need a diversion from the straight-and-narrow, take a good hard look at the consequences, there is a reason the "jeep (is) on a hill that's steep."  The road we travel is not easy, it's hard.  Traveling carefully will cause you to arrive at your destination, safe and sound.  Ramrodding your way along the path, on the other hand, will most certainly lead to consequences that you might not be prepared for.  Life is a garden of delight, it's supposed to be, so have fun, enjoy all that God is doing for you, and whenever you have a choice to make...choose wisely, my friends.

Beep! Beep! Here come the sheep!