Leaving the others for the one
I don't remember when I started to feel this way, I just remember reading the parable Christ tells of a shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to find the one who is lost in a seminary class as a teenager, and thinking "But aren't the needs of the many more important than just the one?" I was grateful to know that if I were ever—rather, when I was—the lost one, that He would always come for me, and not give it. It wasn't that I felt it best he gave up on anybody, I just thought the metaphor of leaving all of the others who also have their problems to get just a one and possibly put the others in danger (I was thinking of it quite literally, that was part of my problem), was a little much.
But I was reading the story in a little parable board book my grandparents gave to Ada for her birthday, and it suddenly struck me that we could all constantly be considered that lost, one sheep. And Christ is all-knowing—He isn't going to leave the 99 without still keeping continual watch over them. Lastly, it really hit me that I am so grateful I don't have to beg a loving, compassionate, all-reaching Savior of mine when I have loved ones who are the one, who need somebody coming for them, being there when nobody else is. I don't have to be on my knees pleading to have He run into the flames of somebody else's burning tribulations or personal anguish. I don't have to ask over and over, hoping that just once He may listen, when He is the only one who can reach the heart of the people I care about.
I am so grateful that He has always, will always, go after the one. I am so grateful for a Savior who makes it the most important thing he has to do, to be there for the individual, because that's where the work of caring for and converting a soul to Him happens. I'm just grateful that I am one of His many 100.
But I was reading the story in a little parable board book my grandparents gave to Ada for her birthday, and it suddenly struck me that we could all constantly be considered that lost, one sheep. And Christ is all-knowing—He isn't going to leave the 99 without still keeping continual watch over them. Lastly, it really hit me that I am so grateful I don't have to beg a loving, compassionate, all-reaching Savior of mine when I have loved ones who are the one, who need somebody coming for them, being there when nobody else is. I don't have to be on my knees pleading to have He run into the flames of somebody else's burning tribulations or personal anguish. I don't have to ask over and over, hoping that just once He may listen, when He is the only one who can reach the heart of the people I care about.
I am so grateful that He has always, will always, go after the one. I am so grateful for a Savior who makes it the most important thing he has to do, to be there for the individual, because that's where the work of caring for and converting a soul to Him happens. I'm just grateful that I am one of His many 100.
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