The Sheepish Scribe

A shepherd breaks up fighting among the sheep. In our modern sheep husbandry practices, this means keeping the rams separate from the ewes and lambs. Rams need to be kept in a small enough stall that they can't hurt each other, or in a large enough pasture that they can get away from each other. The term "battering ram" comes from fighting sheep. They can do a lot of damage to each other in a short amount of time.

Back in the old days, a shepherd had to wade in among the flock, swinging his staff and probably calling in the dogs for back-up. Breaking up a pair of fighting rams is a dangerous thing to do. A ram can take out a shepherd's knees in a moment. Once on the ground, the shepherd is pretty much helpless without a good dog.

We've had our share of ram fights out in the ram's paddock. We keep a pair of rams in a paddock of roughly a half acre. Included in that paddock is plenty of brush, a huge rock pile, an old bone pile (don't ask), and a broken-down farm wagon. With all those obstacles, the weaker ram has a good chance to get away from the aggressor. That's the best we can do to keep the peace.

Our Shepherd is all about peace. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, no let it be fearful." John 14:27

The world may place obstacles in your paddock to keep you from fighting, but the Lord has left you with something more. His peace is here, today. That can be a difficult thing to remember when we're troubled and fearful, but that's when we need to remember it most.