I sometimes feel like a lost sheep. I am mired in my own worries and shortsightedness. I am caught up in what I perceive to be the important demands of life. I am busy wishing other people were different because that would make my life so much easier. I don’t look at myself and what I could do. I spend time looking for the flaws in others, listing those flaws to make me feel better about myself. I start a lot of sentences: “Well, at least, I’m not like that …. “

When I’m a lost sheep, some part of me knows it. But it’s so much easier to look at someone else than to look at myself. I’m a pretty good person overall. I do the right thing most of the time. When I find myself making those excuses, feeling righteous and better than someone else, that’s when I know I’m lost and truly wandering.

Today’s gospel made me feel first, an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I know that even if I am lost, I can find my way back. I am a work in progress, a journey.  I am thankful that I will be welcomed with joy when I do find my way back through the thicket of self-importance and selfishness.

And I am thankful for the lesson that every human has value. I can find God in all things. Once I start looking for God in all things, I will find him. I will no longer be the lost sheep.  I may wander off again, but I pray that I can find my way back. And I offer a prayer of gratitude for the joy at my return.