This morning, Isaiah 40:11 is what sticks with me in reading Isaiah 40.  

"Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,

In His arm He will gather the lambs

And carry them in His bosom;

He will gently lead the nursing ewes."  

I am so thankful that is how He came and what He did and still does.  I need to be tended and carried and led.  I need a Shepherd, a gentle Shepherd.   I have a situation, a few actually, that require me to be a gentle shepherd, leading, tending, and carrying.  So many times I am the drill sargeant, the mean manager and not the gentle voice calling.  I am thankful that He is my example.  The He made a way and blazed a trail for me to see.  He is the Waymaker, the Shepherd, my Jesus. 

Sing a new song Psalms 96 says.  He is great and greatly to be praised.  He is above all, He made the heavens, He is strength, beauty, splendor and majesty.  Ascribe to the Lord!

The passage in Matthew 18, the fulfillment of the prophecy, Jesus being a perfect shepherd.  He shares the value of going for the one, the joy of finding the sheep.  If I go astray He finds me because He is my shepherd and He will take the time.   It is not His will that I be lost, that I die never being found.  He is good.  

Closing Prayer: 
Almighty God, 
I hear it over and over: you are coming to me.

I feel my heart stir in anticipation, 
and I sense that you are inviting me 
to enter more deeply 
into the mystery of your birth.

Help me to feel renewed patience settle in my heart, 
and to lift my face in joy.

I have been like a lost lamb, 
but I hear your voice calling me 
and I feel how deeply you want me to return. 
Somehow I know that you rejoice in my desire to find you.

Help me not to be afraid to say out loud, to believe: 
Here is God, coming into my life.

Paula