The West Pasture Gang

    Out in the pasture,  on the left of our house,  on our little farm, we have put our silly and sassy assortment of barnyard animals that I fondly call "The West Pasture Gang". Members are Rosemary, my pet sheep. She was the last lamb born last spring, and the smallest. The other lambs, larger, would butt her away from the food and water. Then she got sick so we put her in a pen by herself and fed her food with medicine in it. My husband said if she pulled through we would keep her as a pet and never sell her. She is very sweet and serves as a mother figure for the little goats.
    Then there is Harriette. The sheep we have are katahdins. They are a hair sheep-not wool-and are supposed to shed their hair each spring. Harriette has not shed her hair for two springs so no one has wanted to buy her. She's quite rotund and foul tempered, probably due to the fact that she has a large cocoon of hair around her middle. Handy in the winter but not so much in the summer.
    The other members are pygmy goats. The ring leader is Louise. Louise has a propensity for head-butting anyone in her vicinity. I would say she is doing it in order to protect her babies, Lola and Lynn, but she has been head-butting the other animals ever since she came. She's just mean.
    Then there is Thelma. She is the same age, 3, and size as Louise; and is the target for most of Louises's hard hits. I've been thinking that she was getting awfully independent because she's been staying away from the others. But she surprised us Easter evening by giving birth to a baby goat I've named Taylor. We didn't even know she was pregnant,
   Then there's Peggy. Peggy is younger and smaller than the others. She's a feisty little thing. She can usually be seen frolicking in the sun or standing on top of the doghouse begging me for animal crackers.
    Louis's two babies are Lola and Lynn. They had a brother but he died, so sad, They love to run and jump their 4 legs straight in the air. Right now they stick close to each other and close to their mother . Louise is a good mother and doesn't head-butt her babies.
    All of the gang, sheep and goats, love animal crackers. They can't get enough. Other than that, they live a simple life. The follow each other to the front of the pasture in the mornings and parade back to the fence closest to the barn around sunset for the evening and to sleep.
    What's the spiritual lesson in all this? Community. God made us to live in relationship, with Him, and with other people. No matter if people are mean, or different, or don't act like us, we should try to build a relationship with them. No matter if they're a different shape, a different color, or a different race, we are to love them.
"Owe nothing to anyone-except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law', Romans 13:8.
"And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows", I Thessalonians 3:12.