Good Shepherd

 What does a good shepherd do?  For one thing, the shepherd moves the sheep from a field that is all eaten up, to anther field that is fertile and grown for eating.  True spiritual guides do this with anyone they try to help or sponsor.  The spiritual path is one of growth and change.  you don’t stay in the same place forever.  What you do and how you believe on a spiritual path ought to change over time.  If you are in a religion, you don’t do the same things as an adult that you did as a child.  Child prayers are often about getting this and that.  The child feels it lives in a world controlled by others.  But if one is going to have an adult faith, the person moves into less talking to their God and more listening to God in meditation.  For Catholics, you become what you eat.  An adult faith is one where you become the good shepherd for others.  You move from a focus on getting to one of giving.  You take up your own cross of service instead of asking the crucified one to take your cross away from you.  It is the same in recovery programs.  The newcomer is yet a child in recovery.  They are on the receiving end.  Meetings are where they find good shepherd sponsors who once were newcomers themselves.  In a word grow up!