The Sheepfold and the Voice of the Shepherd

Stone sheepfold John 10:22-30 Recently my boys have been spending a great deal of time outside in the area that will soon be transformed into our garden. They spend endless hours digging in the dirt for worms. They then promptly take those worms and throw them to the chickens. It amazes me how even chickens can learn to recognize sounds or voices. My oldest makes this funny high-pitched sound when he comes out of the house and heads toward the coop. The chickens practically fall over themselves running toward the fence or out of the coop when they hear him making his sound. They know there is food to follow! In Sunday's Gospel Jesus tells us that, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me." and "I am the gate for the sheep." Today, again, Jesus mentions that His sheep know His voice and follow Him.  In these few verses we learn that Jesus is both gate and shepherd for the sheep. In those days and even today in some places, a sheepfold w

Our Jesse Tree

Two years ago Nicole and some friends of hers got together to work on a Jesse Tree ornament swap. Nicole made 28 flaming furnaces and each friend made 28 of their assigned ornament. We neglected to set up our Jesse Tree last year but this year we are making a huge effort to make Advent more meaningful.

The ornaments that the women made were awesome so I thought I'd try to share them with you as we wander our way through Advent.


This is our lowly Jesse Tree (actually a Dogwood branch - pretty cool) at the beginning of Advent. Please disregard the messy counter and sink, hey, we're still preparing, you know, making straight the paths...and counters!

For those of you not familiar with the Jesse Tree, here are some great links:

Directions and History, Ornament Swap Idea, Bible Readings for Each Day, Jesse Tree Kit

Comments

Patience said…
What a great idea! I love reading this blog. It gives me lots of inspiration for living the Catholic faith with my kids.