A couple retired to a small Arizona ranch and acquired a few sheep. At lambing time, it was necessary to bring two newborns into the house for care and bottle-feeding.
As the lambs grew, they began to follow the rancher’s wife around the farm. She was telling a friend about this strange development.
“What did you name them?” the friend asked her.
“Goodness and Mercy,” she replied with a sigh. (1)
She was referring of course to a line in everyone’s favorite Psalm, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (KJV).
Our lessons for today from Scripture all refer to sheep or shepherds. It is probably the most familiar image in Scripture. God is a shepherd. We are God’s sheep. Sheep were important to the agricultura…