Lost Sheep

This Sunday in church, the Gospel was a familiar story from Luke, and it was the story of the prodigal son. If you are not familiar with this story, it is from Luke 15:11-32, and I highly recommend reading this story and thinking about how it applies to you in your personal life. To me, it makes me think about my values and how, growing up, I was living how my parents raised me to, and my relationship with God and health was a good one. I got away from that as I grew into a young adult and squandered those values away through an unhealthy lifestyle, but now I feel I am living the life my parents and the Lord can be proud of. I feel like the prodigal son who has returned to find my Father welcoming me home with open arms, and I have been reunited with those wholesome values that I knew early in life and now am able to apply those by helping others find their way to better health and a better life. I only touched on this story briefly because I wanted to talk about a related lesson.

While going over this story in the Bible, I read a bit before this about the story of the lost sheep. The following is from the Good News Bible:

"One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, "This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!" So Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them--what does he do? He leaves the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and goes looking for the one that got lost until he finds it. When he finds it, he is so happy that he puts it on his shoulders and carries it back home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says to them, "I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!" In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent." Luke 15:1-7

This is a simpler but similar story with a message like the story of the prodigal son. As a growing fitness professional, I feel it is my mission to help my team achieve success, and for most of us, that means losing weight and reaching seemingly unattainable fitness and health goals. I am already finding that much of my team takes guidance well and runs with it, but sometimes people can get off path or lost as the one sheep does in the above story. Likewise, there are many people in life that are doing well health-wise, financially, and in other areas, and they don't necessarily need the support that others might, but many of us face hardships at one point or another, and we need that guidance. I am happy to be a coach and offer that guidance and support, and when I find a lost sheep and I can carry it on my shoulders back home to help that person overcome their obstacles, I, too rejoice and tell others the good news! Also, there are times that I feel like a lost sheep myself, and my family is here to support me and bring me back home, and for that I am eternally grateful. Identify the times in your life when you've felt like a lost sheep, one of the flock, or the shepherd. What role do you play currently, and how can you be a better shepherd to your flock? If we all help each other, surely, we will all belong to a flock and also be a shepherd to others. I hope you enjoyed that, and I'm glad I could share that with you today. Thanks for reading everyone!