By Pastor Linda Skinner Every creation of God is unique in its beauty.  When I was ten years old I decided I wanted to join 4H. (4H at that times was for farm kids to grow and learn life skills needed for living in the rural area).  As my project, I chose raising sheep.  My family had raised chickens, cows and pigs, but no one had every tackled sheep.  I wanted to learn more about being a sheep farmer so I went to group meetings and we learned about raising sheep.

My first step after some training was to purchase a young lamb and raise it up.  So we drove to a local sheep ranch and asked about purchasing a lamb.  The owner of the ranch said, I have a lamb I will give you for free.  But it is very young and it will need a lot of care.  His name was “Bo” and he had been rejected by his mother because he was born with only three legs.  He had to be bottle fed and helped to learn to walk on three legs.  He had a stump of a leg but it was too short for him to put weight on and stay balanced.

He took us in the barn and here was this poor little white lamb, looking so dejected and bewildered.  He wasn’t cute and happy like the other lambs and I knew was sure “Bo” would not be a good lamb for my 4H project because I’d never be able to show him at the fair. However, I felt so sorry for him I wanted to take care of this poor little thing. (I was always taking in sick and broken animals.)  The sheep rancher knew I wanted little Bo and he said to mom, he’ll be a good friend for her show lamb.”  So, Bo went home with us.

Just a couple of weeks later, the sheep rancher called and had a show lamb for us to pick up.  He was cute as a button without a single flaw.  I raised both sheep and they played together and when I took my show sheep to the fair Bo would accompany us, but wait in the pen when we went to the show ring.

My show sheep won several blue ribbons.  Bo, however, was the apple of my eye.  I loved that little guy and he loved me.  He followed me around the farm and when I came to his pen, he’d come running to greet me.  To this day, I think Bo knew I had rescued him.  He never became a beautiful sheep, he was a little deformed due to his handicap, but to me he was something really special. I didn’t see his deformity; rather, I saw a loving sheep that was loving his life.

Isn’t that the way it is with our heavenly Father.  He chooses to love us despite all our sins, flaws and even deformities.  He sees the beauty he has created in each and every one of us.  Then when we choose to love Him back, what joy fills our lives.  Join us this weekend as we continue to learn about “Love First” as we explore Romans 9-11 and learn that “Love is a Choice.”