Optimist’s Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. .When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know His voice.” These words are from the gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 3 and 4. This passage reminds us a great deal about Jesus being our shepherd.

We are already familiar with the words in the 23rd Psalm as it reminds us that the Lord is our Shepherd, but in this portion of scripture it tells us of how our Shepherd goes before us, leads the way for us, and calls out to us and we know His voice. As He prepares the way for us, it means that the Shepherd has already been there and He will make a path that is clear and safe for us to go to. There may be bumps in the path, or there may be hardships along the way, or tough times, but our Shepherd is there to get us through whatever comes our way. He has prepared the way, no matter how long or how rugged the path may be. All we have to do is continue to listen to

His voice.

The Good Shepherd promises to lead us to green pastures and beside the still waters. He promises to restore our souls and leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. The voice of our Shepherd is there to whisper His love for us and is calling out to us, hoping that we will hear His voice and want to have that close relationship with Him. His voice goes before us to lead the way, His voice guides us through the pathway of life,and His voice is always there to protect us from the fears of this life. The Shepherd loves us all, even those who don’t want anything to do with Him. He even cares for those sheep who wander away, or who are distracted by that little clump of a brighter spot of greenery and suddenly find themselves separated from the rest of the flock. All we have to do is tune our hearts, our very souls, and our ears to hear the voice of our Shepherd in order to follow Him.

From this passage it is interesting to draw an analogy from the love that our Shepherd, our Savior, has for us and the love of a mother. From the minute we were born, our mother’s voice was our safe place. Our mothers loved us unconditionally since the day we entered this world and nothing can change that. We all have things to be grateful for when we think of our mothers . Our memories of that love from our Moms is an eternal memory.

On this Mother’s Day I will be thanking God for blessing me with a mother that taught me all about the love of Jesus, not only through her words but mostly through the way she lived her life. How about you?

Happy Mother’s Day to the many mothers out there and even the ones who are like a mother to someone.