Many of us, Mongolians, engage in stock-farming. In a vast meadow, we raise five kinds of livestock together—cows, horses, sheep, goats, and camels. Among them, we raise sheep the most. One family keeps approximately more than a thousand sheep. Every sheep has different colors—white, black, brown, dappled, and so on.
I was born a son of a shepherd. I spent my childhood in Bayanmonkh-som (district), Khentii-aimag (province) until I came to Ulaanbaatar City to enter university. Usually I lived separately from my parents to go to school; during the summer vacation, I came back home in the countryside and tended the sheep in pasture, following my parents who are shepherds. Through such lifestyle and experience, I came to realize the amazing providence of God who likened the relationship between God and us to that between a shepherd and sheep, and false prophets to wolves.
Sheep give birth in spring. It is when shepherds become busiest. In a family that has many sheep, more than five hundred sheep bring forth their young. At that time, shepherds should reduce their sleep and come in and out of barns frequently to check them. It’s because they don’t know when the sheep would give birth to their young, and they are also worried that new-born lambs may be frozen.
Shepherds do their best in taking care of their sheep just as they love their own children. Most shepherds remember all the mother sheep and their young in the herds. If there’s any mother sheep that does not take care of its young, considering it unfamiliar, the shepherd puts two of them in a separate stable for about four to five days. Then most mother sheep take care of their young and feed them. If a mother sheep neglects its young to the end, the lamb comes to die. In this case, the shepherd feeds the lamb with milk and raises it.
Every morning, shepherds lead flocks of sheep to pasture which is five to six kilometers [three to four miles] away from home. The enemy of shepherds and sheep is wolves. Wolves follow the flock like a shadow. From the moment when a shepherd leaves home with his flocks, a pack of wolves follow them from afar, climbing hills and mountains. If some sheep give birth to their young on the way and are left in a meadow, the wolves immediately run toward them and birds of prey attack the lambs. For this reason, the shepherd pays great attention to them all the time.
When the shepherd goes away from the flock of sheep, the wolves immediately come and attack the sheep. They never prey on only one sheep. They bite the tails of some sheep, the thighs of others, and the back of their neck. The wolves bite off about fifty to sixty sheep severely. Besides that, mother wolves let their young play with the wounded sheep to teach how to hunt. Being ripped here and there by the wolves, the sheep barely move and mourn with pain. Then the birds of prey fly in and peck at the flesh and eyes of the wounded sheep.
The sheep originally have bad eyesight. What is worse, if they become blind, though the shepherd approaches them they even try to run away in fear because they mistake the shepherd for a wolf. Yet, they cannot stand up. Seeing the wounded sheep, the shepherd calls them with heartbreaking pain. As they know the shepherd and his voice since they were young, when they listen to his voice, then they feel relieved and cry pitifully. Coming down from the mountain, being carried by the shepherd in his arms, the sheep baas with a weak and quivering voice as if it is comforted though it got hurt and distressed.
When the summer comes, shepherds lead flocks of sheep to the richest pasture where there are enough water and grass which the sheep like, and they too stay there together with the sheep, setting up a tent. It’s because the sheep need to be fed well and get chubby in July and August so that they can go through autumn, winter, and spring safely and overcome Mongolian winter which is exceptionally long and intensely cold.
It is not easy to take care of about a thousand of sheep. Every day, the shepherd goes to fields and mountains to look for the scattered sheep. To find the sheep, he asks about sheep’s whereabouts to every passerby. When he finds one, he cannot hold the joy in but smiles from ear to ear.
The shepherd loves the sheep so much. He never takes his eyes off the sheep. Sheep are a very gentle animal. Mongolians describe a gentle person as sheep.
The sheep endure without making fuss though they get wounds and hurt. They are also faithful. Goats go to dangerous ways as they like without following the guidance of the shepherd, but the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd and follow as the shepherd leads. Like this, the sheep always follow the shepherd and grow in his love.
Just as the shepherd tends the sheep in the place where the best water and pasture are, Heavenly Father and Mother feed us and raise us with the best pasture, that is, the words of life. As the shepherd does not sleep even late at night or at dawn for the lambs to be born and takes care of the barn, our Mother who gives birth to us prays for us even at midnight and at dawn.
The shepherd keeps his eyes on the flock and always stays together with his sheep to protect them from the wolves that follow the sheep like a shadow. It is just like Mother who keeps us as the apple of Her eye so that we cannot be wounded by false prophets who are like the wolves clothed in sheep’s clothing. Just as the sheep that cannot see because their eyes are pecked at by the birds mistake the shepherd for wolves when the shepherd comes close to them and tremble in fear, the children whose eyes are spiritually covered do not recognize Mother right away though She has come. However, Mother embraces the souls who are wounded by the evil spirits like wolves, cures them, and makes all Her efforts to save their lives.
The joy of the shepherd when he finds his lost sheep is beyond description. The joy is what our Mother feels when She finds Her lost child.
The shepherd shares the joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure of his life with his sheep. When the sheep is healthy and well-fed, the shepherd is truly delighted. When the sheep is ill, the shepherd feels heartbroken. When there is no pasture to feed the sheep, the shepherd worries about it. As I know how the shepherd feels even a little bit more, I understand how much Father and Mother, the Shepherds of our souls, love us. I will become a faithful son who follows Heavenly Father and Mother, our Shepherds, wherever They lead me like a sheep. Father and Mother, I love You.