Valleys and Shadows | Nicole Marble | The Good Shepherd

From time to time, shepherds would need to take their flocks beyond the safe confines of familiar pasture and towards valleys and mountains in search of fresh food. This was a yearly practice done towards the end of the summer months to help the sheep prepare for winter. The shepherd would journey with his flock as they faced unfamiliar terrain. In this journey, the sheep would find their deepest security in their close relationship to the shepherd. The shepherd would be fully prepared to safeguard his flock and tend to them with skill under ever circumstance. Nothing would take the shepherd by surprise. Never would a shepherd take his flock where he had not already been before. In the same way, Jesus our Good Shepherd has gone before us into the valley of death and overcome it through resurrection. We do not serve a shepherd that is distant and removed from the valleys and shadows. No, our Good Shepherd joins us in the valley of the shadow of death so that “now [we] sheep who have gone astray, have returned to the Shepherd". This Good Shepherd is with us in the valleys and shadows and wants to guide us into his way of life.