A Call In The Night

When I was a very small boy, my father found a lamb all alone out in the desert.
The herd of sheep to which its mother belonged had moved on, and somehow the lamb got separated from its mother, and the shepherd must not have known that it was lost.
Because it could not survive alone in the desert, my father picked it up and brought it home.
To have left the lamb there would have meant certain death, either by falling prey to the coyotes or by starvation because it was so young that it still needed milk.
Some sheepmen call these lambs "bummers."
My father gave the lamb to me and I became its shepherd.

For several weeks I warmed cow's milk in a baby's bottle and fed the lamb.
We became fast friends.
I called him Nigh--why I don't remember.
It began to grow.
My lamb and I would play on the lawn.
Sometimes we would lie together on the grass and I would lay my head on its soft, woolly side and look up at the blue sky and the white billowing clouds.
I did not lock my lamb up during the day.
It would not run away.
It soon learned to eat grass.
I could call my lamb from anywhere in the yard by just imitating as best I could the bleating sound of a sheep.
Baa.
Baa.

One night there came a terrible storm. I forgot to put my lamb in the barn that night as I should have done.
I went to bed.
My little friend was frightened in the storm, and I could hear it bleating.
I knew that I should help my pet, but I wanted to stay safe, warm, and dry in my bed.
I didn't get up as I should have done.
The next morning I went out to find my lamb dead.
A dog had also heard its bleating cry and killed it.
My heart was broken.
I had not been a good shepherd or steward of that which my father had entrusted to me.
My father said, "Son, couldn't I trust you to take care of just one lamb?"
My father's remark hurt me more than losing my woolly friend.
I resolved that day, as a little boy, that I would try never again to neglect my stewardship as a shepherd if I were ever placed in that position again.

Not too many years thereafter I was called as a junior companion to a home teacher.
There were times when it was so cold or stormy and I wanted to stay home and be comfortable, but in my mind's ear I could hear my little lamb bleating, and I knew I needed to be a good shepherd and go with my senior companion.
In all those many years, whenever I have had a desire to shirk my duties, there would come to me a remembrance of how sorry I was that night so many years ago when I had not been a good shepherd.
I have not always done everything I should have, but I have tried.

James E. Faust -Responsibilities of Shepherds -April 1995 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

Some pirates had been shipwrecked on a small island, unable to get off. All around them was this red river...It was a toxic waste. Acidic. Basically if you touched it your skin would burn off. And floating along this river that had reeds growing along the banks, but within it. were these little canoe -Italian like boats- that had a bunch of different...dark creatures in it. Skeletons, green blobs, hooded dementor sort creatures. Some seemed like an extension of the river, where they would vomit out stuff and totally melt other creatures in their boat. And cautiously, moving around them, was me. Bilbo Baggins, and yes, I was a hobbit. But I wasn't in a boat. No, I was cautiously making my way to my friends in the river. The river that was supposed to burn you to nothing if you touched it. Yet, holding onto some device, created a bubble of sorts. Yellow tinted. That protected me. Not just from the water, but from being seen. I had to move cautiously though, as it wasn't totally full proof, since I wasn't sure of the extent of the invisibility, I used the reeds in the middle of the river to hide as the boats came pass. It felt like I had a power, like that of a sorcerer to get away with it and I would help my friends, defeat the one that had them trapped and....

then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D