The Good Stuff 11 “I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will look for my sheep and take care of them 12 in the same way as shepherds take care of their sheep that were scattered and are brought together again. I will bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark, disastrous day. 13 I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures. 14 I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and all the green pastures of the land of Israel. 15 I will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. Ezekiel 34:11-15 In this passage in Ezekiel God compares himself to a good shepherd and is the one taking care of His sheep. He leads them to places of food, shelter, and water; He gives them rest and security. The things God gives his sheep are good. It like being at Thanksgiving and getting the good turkey or the good seat. God takes care of his sheep with goodness. Recently my youngest daughter was collecting can goods for a can drive at school and she asked for my help. So I went to cabinet reached way in the back and pulled out several cans. I pulled out two cans of beets and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Proud of what I was doing I gladly handed them over to my daughter to take to school. She looked at me as if I had three eyes and a horn coming out of my head and said:" Dad what is this stuff ?" Canned food I said, and she responded, " I do not want to give hungry people this I want to give them the good stuff, I want to give them the cans of corn or the chicken noodle soup, nobody wants beets." If you are a canned beets fan, I do not want to discredit your taste, but she was right. I had given the stuff that I did not want and probably not the good thing. What if God were like that towards us. Withholding the good gifts from God's children what if God did not love us with the best but only that which was left over. Sometimes when it comes to giving we do not offer our best, we provide what we have left or what we do not want. What would happen if we gave the very best we could, what if we showed our gratefulness by providing the very best things that we can give? I believe in those moments we live into more of the image of how God has us. If we live into the image of the Good Shepherd we give with grateful hearts the very best we have to offer.