You, me, and the shepherds

Personal Photo: this pretty leave stood out to me while on a run. Isn't it lovely?

It has been a common theme throughout my life that I have really felt like a misfit. I struggled to find environments where I felt confident, friends that I could really trust, and talents that came naturally and without practice and time. I usually didn't mind, as home was my favorite place to be and my family my favorite people to be around. However, there has been more than one time when I have felt explicitly like the misfit of the group. Here are a few examples: My friends on the cross country team were on junior varsity, but I was on varsity. I got in trouble because I was running with my friends, instead of the girls I knew were talking poorly about me behind my back that were on varsity. I was forced to run with them, despite me knowing they did not like me. New job changes where everyone else seems to know what to do, but me, and everything I ask feels like something I should already know. I have changed industries three times, making me feel like I am starting from rock bottom each new job I took. I majored in Communications in college, but I don't really enjoy watching movies, television, or the news. This can make it hard to find common ground with others, do the class activities, and more. I lost almost all the friends I made my freshman year in college, and it was a hard pill for me to swallow that it had happened and that it wasn't my fault (Check out my article "The closer you get to the cross..." for the full story).

And the ways in which I have felt like an outcast the most come back to my faith. Most of my friends lost their virginity in high school, and people would pry about my decision to abstain from the time I was sixteen through when I got married. I sat in college classes trying to teach me things like evolution, abortion, same-sex marriage, and more that my faith does not agree with. Many people that I knew became agnostic or athiest once they left high school. The change in our culture from when I was a child to now is drastically more inclined to bring us to places and expose us to beliefs that challenge and contradict the Bible and what we know is historically accurate. I could go on and on. These moments when I felt and feel like an outcast because of my relationship with God, is only the devil trying to use my insecurities about fitting in against me and trying to tempt me to give in to a lapse in judgment. Luke 6:22 reminds us "“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!" However often the devil tries, my faith has become the single most important thing to me throughout my life and because of this, I would tell myself, "If you can't fit in, you might as well stand out." I remind myself of this phrase often. My goal is not to fit in with the world. I do not want to fall into the temptation of the devil, but instead I want to stick to my roots, cling to my faith, and do work for the Lord. Our uniqueness and our faith are what make us powerful for the Lord and vessels for His glory.

I think everyone can relate to feeling like a misfit. We have all lost a friend, felt embarrassed for one reason or another, and took a backseat because we felt like sore thumbs. It could have been because your family moved to a new place and you were the new kid at school. Maybe you changed jobs. Maybe you found God and had to navigate how to handle your sins, express how it changed your life to your loved ones, and more. Maybe you disagree with your family or friends and have the odd sensation that you do not belong. Maybe you had a big life change and you are trying to maneuver the new chapter. Maybe you have similar experiences to the ones I included above. Regardless, there are so many scenarios in which we can feel like an outcast, when we can feel overlooked, made fun of, or excluded. Honestly it can cause us to feel unvalued, unloved, and disappointed that we are not part of the in-crowd, the popular group, or invited to the party.

I entitled this article "You, me, and the shepherds" because I think we really can relate to the shepherds. What interesting characters shepherds serve in the Bible. Have you ever really sat down and considered the role of the shepherd, the importance of their placement, the rank of their roles in society? I think we can easily skip over them, as I am sure most of their peers did during the time period in history. Shepherds were responsible for caring for the sheep; they would protect the flock from danger, guide them to safety, food, and water, and they would look after them. As sheep were critical to the culture of the time for their wool, skin, and meat, it is understandable why there are so many shepherds sprinkled throughout the Bible. The profession was important, but it was also not considered a high-ranking position in society. Because it was looked upon an 'unskilled labor,' many times the shepherds were overlooked, ignored, and forgotten. Just like we have been. We are not so different from the shepherds, right? We do our best, we handle challenges, and we usually are the ones in the background, holding down the fort. We don't have the most friends, we struggle with acceptance, and we can feel like the misfits.

However society chose to rank the profession and importance of a shepherd, I find it interesting that when the angels appeared to spread the good news about Jesus being born, it was the shepherds who learned first. My dad actually brought this up recently to me, and it took me directly to this article. Because it is the Christmas season, it really highlights how interesting it is that God uses the shepherds as His vessel in telling the world. In Luke 2:8-12 we read "That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”" Here is the exact passage of when the angel appeared to the shepherds and the message about Jesus. The verses go on to talk about a host of angels coming and singing praises to the Lord. Then the shepherds go to see Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, and then they tell everyone about what the angels had told them. Finally they "went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them" (Luke 2:20). This moment in the Bible is magnificent, but the fact that the shepherds, of all people, were told first, is astonishing.

My point in using this particular moment in the Bible is to highlight that even though the shepherds were the misfits, the outcasts, the ones often forgotten, they were also the ones that God chose to tell first. The shepherds listened, believed, and told others about what the angels had said because they were faithful to God. God did not tell the news to the richest, the highest ranked, the one with the most friends. No, He chose the ones that most people don't. This is important for us as believers. Think about it. We have all felt like the misfit. We have all been overlooked, excluded, and left out. But this holds no weight in the eyes of the Lord. He never forgets about us, devalues us, or loses love for us. Instead, the people like you, me, and the shepherds, are often the ones that make the best vessels for God's glory and His message. We can make good vessels because we are used to standing out. We do not fit in, so we might as well stand out. I cannot think of a better reason to stand out than for God. I would choose that every day over fitting in with the world. We are told in Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Our faith guides us, not the trends of society. And by remaining strong in our faith, God prepares us for the moments when we feel like misfits. He prepares us for the moments in which we are serving as His vessel for His message and His glory.

The entire point of this article is that we are important to the Lord, we are valued in His eyes, and He chooses us, even when no one else does. They would not have been given such an important job as telling of the Messiah's birth, if it had been up to the world. Regardless, God chose them, He made them aware first, and He used the shepherds as the vessel for the good news. He can do the same with us. He talks to us, He chooses us, and He makes us vessels for His glory. So even when we feel as though we do not belong, we can seek the Holy Spirit in our hearts and find peace that we are accepted into His arms, chosen for Him, and standing out for Him. The symbolism of the shepherds is vast and expansive, but my focus here is on specifically on how shepherds fit into society, or more so how they did not fit into society. We can relate to them because we are just like them in many ways. The shepherds, just like you and me, are the ones that God often chooses as His vessels in order to spread His glory and praise His name.