Good Shepherds and Bummer Lambs

By Steve Gwisdalla

Occasionally, baby lambs are rejected by their mothers. Sometimes, the mother is ill. Other times, she gives birth to twins or triplets, and she knows she only has enough milk for one. Occasionally, she dies giving birth. Lambs that are rejected by their mothers are called bummer lambs.

If the bummer lamb isn’t taken care of by the shepherd immediately and completely, it will most certainly die. Shepherds have many duties and taking care of a bummer lamb only adds to their already busy days and nights. But a good shepherd does this without hesitation. They nurse the baby lamb until it is old enough to forage and feed itself. They keep it warm and keep it close. Once they are fully grown, shepherds always know who the bummer lambs are in their flock because when they call the flock to group up, the bummers always come running first. They do this because they know the shepherd’s voice and remember it from being cared for as a baby bummer.

What does any of this have to do with the Tribe of Up you may ask? My friends, everything! Think back to when you hit a rough patch in your life. Think back to when you felt like you were truly alone. Hard times found you and refused to let you go. Perhaps you are in one of these times now. At times in our lives, we are all bummer lambs. We all need help and care and compassion from a good shepherd to help us get through. All this begs this question. If you could only call one person to help you, who would it be? You get one call and only one call. Who is getting it?

That person is your shepherd.

That person helped you when you needed it most. Just like the bummer lamb, at our most vulnerable, a good shepherd helped us get back on our feet and back to our flock. Who is that person? What is their name? Say it aloud. Here is the call to action my friends. Reach out to them. Find your shepherd and thank them. Perhaps they know how much they helped you. Perhaps they don’t. Reach out to them and let them know what a treasured shepherd they have been for you. Let us take this a step further. Imagine this. You are driving home from work, or you just finished dinner and your phone rings. You see the name of a family member or friend and answer it. They then thank you for helping them through a rough time and how grateful they are you shepherded them through one of the roughest periods in their lives. That’s all. That is all they wanted to say. They thank you and say they have to run. Imagine how that call would make you feel. Maybe you know the exact situation they are referring to. Maybe you had no idea you had that kind of impact in their lives. Imagine the deposit into your emotional account a call like that would make for you. You saved a bummer lamb. Now think about who your shepherd was.

Make that call my friends.

Let someone know what they did for you and thank them. Ask nothing in return. Make that deposit for someone who helped you at one of your lowest times. If not now, then when? If not them then who?

Make that call my friends.

Bummer lambs always come running to the voice of their good shepherd. Let today be the day that good shepherd hears your voice saying thank you for helping you. I can think of few things more necessary to advocate for more joy than by thanking your good shepherd.

Steve is a Dexter resident and the Owner, Chief Shepherd Thanker, Vice President of Bummer Sheep Helping and a grateful bummer sheep himself at Better Place Consulting, a success, career and small business coaching organization. Reach out to him at [email protected].