In
Shepherds’ Field

While attending college, I studied
in Jerusalem with approximately 170 students during the fall of 1998. As the
Christmas season approached, we began to focus our studies and field trips
around the birth of the Savior.

It was cool and windy the evening
that 40 of us pulled up to our last and most anticipated stop for the day.
Tradition held that Shepherds’ Field, located just outside of Bethlehem, was
the place where the ancient shepherds sat watching sheep on the night of the
Savior’s birth, never anticipating what would soon be proclaimed to them.

The field was nothing like I had
imagined. I saw a terraced hill with hardly any greenery. We walked down a
rocky path, and each of us found a quiet place to sit and write in our
journals. I finally found a large rock to sit on. It was cold, uncomfortable,
and surrounded by thorns.

When we were told we would be able
to see the local shepherds and their sheep, I wasn’t prepared to see children
in rags. But even though they were dressed in worn, secondhand clothing, their
eyes were bright. Open-palmed, they approached our group’s chaperon. After
asking the children their names, she gave each one a few shekels. One of the
children carried a newborn lamb. He approached me and offered to let me hold
it.

As I took the warm baby lamb in my
arms, I began to see the situation differently.

The Savior knew about the life of a
shepherd. He knew about the cold nights, rocky trails, and danger of thieves
and predators. He knew shepherds sometimes held the baby lambs in their arms,
standing watch while waiting for the darkness to pass.

While the Wise Men were able to
bring the Christ child gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the shepherds
could offer little in the way of material gifts. Their sacrifice was simply in
coming to offer humble hearts and joyful spirits in partaking in the
celebration of their infant Lord.

The Savior has brought the gift of
joy to our cold and dreary world. He has promised to stand watch through the
long, dark night, despite the terrors and hardships this life can bring. He
knows us, His sheep. He is our Shepherd.

That night, for the first time, I began to understand the
promise in the gift of our Savior.

*On a personal side note (from JoDee)*

I raised Dogey aka “bummer” lambs for years growing up.   These are the lambs that the mom rejects or are left alone when a mother ewe dies.  Without being bottle fed they would starve to death and die in a matter of days.  Local sheepherders would give me these dogey (pronounced dough-gee) lambs to bottle feed and raise.  The first week was the hardest.  You had to teach them to drink the formula and how to drink from a bottle.  Some would catch on right away and thrive, and some wouldn’t and would determine their own fate.  They had to be fed every 4 hours for awhile, then gradually were weaned off the bottles as their teeth grew in and they could eat the grass.

These lambs learned the voice of their master- aka me, the one who fed them.  All it took was for me to say something, anything, and they would all come running- knowing my voice.  One time all I did was cough and they recognized it as my sound and came running to greet me.  Once by your side they would follow you eagerly wherever you went.  You walk, they walk, you ran, they ran.  Their affection, love and loyalty to their master was unlike any I had ever seen.

I hope some day we can raise some dogey lambs again so my kids can get an experience like I did.