The Good Shepherd

As a therapist, I often hear my clients complain that addressing self-care in a meaningful way is overwhelming. I always point out how exhausting the alternative is. Think about it: How much energy do you expend tamping down emotions, ruminating, or worrying? How defeating and depleting is it to work on something for hours and feel like you’ve gotten nothing done? How is the strain of not connecting well with family or friends working for you? What is the cost of having an anemic or stunted relationship with God? This is the stuff of exhaustion and burnout. Doing the work of learning how to practice soul-restoring, life-sustaining self-care may require intention and effort, but the result is freedom and energy! In the end, an unhealthy soul will exhaust you far, far more than a restored one.

The idea of a restored soul makes most of us remember Psalm 23:2- 3: “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” (ESV). Our Good Shepherd wants to help us with our practical needs of rest, safety, eating, and drinking. Beyond this, restoring my soul can mean movement from discouraged to encouraged, from fatigued to rested from fractured too whole. The idea of a restored soul evokes a feeling of peace and steadiness that intersects with the deepest cravings of my spirit.

People who work with sheep will tell you that a sheep that has gotten stuck on its back and cannot right itself is called a “cast” sheep. A “cast” sheep is utterly vulnerable and will not survive if not rescued soon. The image of the “cast” sheep is rich, real, and hits a little too close to home. How often are we stuck on our backs, struggling mightily, with no clear idea how to help ourselves or access the help of the Good Shepherd? Jesus is all about rescuing cast sheep, but I believe he wants us to know how to access his help before we are helpless on our backs, feeling overwhelmed and burned-out.

What would it look like to let Jesus be your Good Shepherd today? Will you let him lead you to green pastures and still waters before you are too exhausted to get up?