Black Sheep and Bummer Lambs

Two Stories For a Blessed Easter Sunday

Happy Easter Sunday!

I wrote this very late last night, woke up in the middle of the night/morning, edited it, and went back to sleep. Some lessons stick with you forever. These are two which have stayed with me.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but sometimes I just feel moved to write something. This is one of those times.

I had a family member who was a farmer and shepherd in Idaho. So, in my school years during summer break, I would spend time on the farm helping out. Most of the time, especially when I didn't have a driver's license, this meant riding around on 4-wheelers, walking the fields (translation... pulling weeds), and setting water.

But as I got older, part of those responsibilities meant delivering food and groceries to the sheep herders. This could be quite an adventure as many of these people were hundreds of miles from where I was and often in very remote locations. But I got to listen to the radio, take my time, and relax as I made my way to their locations (at least until I turned off onto some unmarked dirt track which was only known as Fire Road ### or something similar). So it wasn't a bad job. Just a lot of long hours driving.

I learned a bit about sheep herding. Not really from experience, as driving supplies and feeding sheep kept in the pen was the limit of my shepherding responsibilities. No. I learned by listening to the guys who spent months in solitude with a flock of sheep and by asking questions.

Two of the most fascinating things I learned were about black sheep and bummer lambs. The real lesson regarding bummer lambs came years down the line when I had left the days of working on the farm far behind me. This lesson came from a newspaper article when I needed it the most.

I am going to copy and share that very same newspaper article with you. I knew that some lambs were kept inside, usually in the mud room or laundry room, to keep them from dying. But I didn't understand the significance of that relationship or why it was significant until many years later.

Black Sheep of the Family

‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.

Ezekiel 34: 11-14

Black sheep has always been a misnomer. If you look up the term "black sheep" in the Cambridge Dictionary, this is what it says:

Black sheep
noun
a person who has done something bad that brings embarrassment or shame to his or her family

Wikipedia is a little better than Cambridge, but not by much.

In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more common white; these sheep stand out in the flock and their wool is worth less as it will not dye.

The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness.[1]

In psychology, "black sheep effect" refers to the tendency of group members to judge likeable ingroup members more positively and deviant ingroup members more negatively than comparable outgroup members.

Oftentimes, this term is met with such negative connotations that it is hard to think of anything else. But being a black sheep in a flock really isn't what people think it is. Everyone has this idea or image of what it should be. Everyone would be wrong.

Did you know that shepherds only count their sheep a few times a year? The farm I worked on had Peruvian sheepherders who would take their flock of sheep up into the mountains near Hailey, Idaho, which is more commonly known as Sun Valley, during the summer months. Before winter, these flocks would be brought down to vallies between the mountains to help shield them from the winter storms… to places like Magic Valley and Treasure Valley and the like.

It was usually during this time that the flock would actually be counted sheep by sheep. Why? It is impossible to count sheep as they roam free range. The only way to get an accurate count is to get the sheep to go through a chute where you can funnel them through one at a time.

So how do shepherds know how many sheep are actually in their flock and if they are missing any? Well, they estimate. And they use black sheep to do it.

The modern idea of a black sheep is one that continually gets into trouble, a rebel, or a problem. A pariah. One that goes against the grain of the flock. They couldn't be more wrong.

A standard flock size can consist of anywhere from a couple hundred to well over a thousand sheep. With numbers that large and with animals that just won't stand still, it gets very hard to count them all. So they group them in bunches or family units. Shepherds use what they call "marker sheep." This could mean a sheep that has been spray painted with chalk paint on its white wool. Or it could mean using a sheep that is a black sheep, which is the more commonly used practice.

To estimate flock size, use what ranchers call a “marker sheep.” The majority of commercial animals used for wool and meat production are white. For every 25, 50 or 100 white sheep, add in a black one.

Web Archive: How To Count Sheep

Sheep flock together. They won't wander off alone. They like being part of their family unit or group. So instead of counting each sheep individually, which is impossible, you count each group by only counting the black ones.

Everyone thinks of black sheep as being an outcast, unpredictable, and a unruly. But that simply isn't true. The color of its wool does not determine personality characteristics.

The reality is black sheep are barometers for the health and well-being of the family unit. The black sheep become a beacon in measuring the stability of the flock or family.

If you see the black sheep for each group of 25, 50, or 100 sheep, then the herd is good shape. The flock is healthy, safe, and together where they should be. But if a black sheep disappears, you know the flock is in trouble. The black sheep becomes a signal for times of trouble, such as when a group wanders off or finds itself in a dangerous situation.

The black sheep isn't the rebel but the measurement for seeing if everything is okay. It literally is the one sheep you can count on. While the black sheep wool is usually worthless on the market, to the sheepherder, the black sheep is the most important sheep in the herd.

The analogy here is that the Good Shepherd places a higher value on things that the world deems useless. Don't measure yourself by earthly standards. Instead, place your value based on God's standards. Be the one sheep He can count on.

We Are All God's Bummer Lambs

I wish I could say that I wrote this. But the reality is, I didn't. It was a newspaper article that was given to me years ago. I have literally held onto a picture of it through the years... saving it on thumb drives, cell phones and laptops as they gradually became upgraded.

He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

Isaiah 40:11

I am a broken person. I am also one of God's bummer lambs. What is a bummer lamb? Here is the story as it is quoted from that article.

Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.

These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called “bummer lambs.”

Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the shepherd does? He takes that rejected little one into his home, hand-feeds it and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat.

Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him.

When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows his voice intimately. It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the one who loves it.

So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But He is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat. We may be broken but we are deeply loved by the Shepherd.

I honestly don't know where this original story came from. I know I have seen reprints of it through the years. I have included the image of the clipping I received below. Share with those who feel lost and unloved on this Easter Sunday. We are all God's bummer lambs. And He loves us dearly.