Come, my friend, “Feed my Sheep”

Where will we all be in 10 years?  This is a question that can be examined from 2 major perspectives.  Where will I be?  And/or where will my Good Shepherd work be? For some years now some Good Shepherd friends have asked the question, ‘What’s gonna happen when the sisters are no longer able to run our agency?’  That time in Canada has come and gone.  None of our six agencies is owned or operated by the Sisters.  At best we have Sister representation on our Boards.  The 10 years has arrived!  Okay now what do we do?

This is really cause for some purposeful reflection.  What has been the base of our expressed value and continuity?  The Sisters….. yes, but why?  Is it because they were the most incredible youth care or social work or administrative wizards?  NOT!  Many were very good, some, ugh!!  They were the expressed value and continuity of our work because of one important ingredient that otherwise did not exist…..VOCATION>>>>They stayed!   Individual sisters were not prone to look at career path, improving income to support one’s family better, diversifying one’s challenge to grow professionally making one’s mark on the field.  It was because they were each members of a community group that vowed to pursue their single mission and stick with it even to death.  They don’t retire, they just get old, sick and die.  They believe their rest comes in small doses and, ultimately, when the journey of life is done.  This is why they are loved and respected so dearly.

In the face of their diminishment and (in some cases) ending, the rest of us are left to wonder what will come of all that we do, all that we shared and the people who relied on the beauty of that support offered for so many years to women and young people in need of care.

We know the Sisters had a special way (at times not so gentle) of communicating their spirit of dedication to our clients.  They taught us more by example and their spirit of commitment so that often one hears older staff say, “I wasn’t taught about Good Shepherd, I caught it”.  This is our dilemma.  How can we lead and teach those who will come after us the wonderfully special ingredients that make up our special service philosophy?  We aren’t nuns, how could I ever be that committed? 

Well, the possible answer is both simple and possible although admittedly more challenging than captured even in one simple word……VOCATION!  Yup, we are not nuns!  We are not always very religious!  Sometimes we are downright too human!  But something drew us into this work within Good Shepherd.  What is that invitation all about…..VOCATION!  Our deepest spiritual selves said ‘yes’ to someone’s invitation to be part of Good Shepherd Service.  Somewhere, somehow, there was a recognition of special gifts you have and the invitation was expressed in the same way the Good Shepherd, Jesus said to his leadership team….”Do you love me (In other words, does what I do make sense?)……..Then COME, FEED MY SHEEP!

Not all of us can stay like the Sisters have done.  But all of us can choose to say yes to this invitation and to carry that YES wherever we go.  One does not have to be surrounded by others or work within a Good Shepherd program to say yes to the Shepherd way.  But for those of us who can choose to stay….who we are and how we engage with others around us will be the means through which we can fulfill our own sense of vocation and how, in the end, we will be the leaders and teachers for those who come after us.  When we say yes to a sense of vocation in this work……we choose to be an integral part of the life spirit of our team, group or organization….we participate as the SOUL of our organization.

WE each, have a choice to make and embrace…..FEED IT!