Pastor Ben Patterson tells about his 5-year-old niece, Olivia, and her best friend, Claire, who were participating in a nativity play at school. Claire was playing Mary, and Olivia played an angel. Before the show, a young boy was going around the dressing room proclaiming to all who could hear him, “I’m a sheep.” Then asking, “What are you?” Each child responded politely, including Olivia, who proudly declared she was an angel.

The boy then turned to Claire, who was still struggling into her costume with her mother’s help. He repeated the question to her: “I’m a sheep, what are you?”

Claire simply said, “I’m Mary.”

Realizing he was face to face with a lead character, the boy felt he needed to justify his own role. “It’s hard being a sheep, you know,” he said with all the seriousness of…