I’m watching 4 llamas through the trees at the edge of our lawn. They belong to some neighbors we haven’t met yet. They are hungry. They have a singular focus.

At first, I was startled. It’s easy to do. Startle me. To say I’m jumpy is a massive understatement.

Commonly, in the middle of the night, my husband will come up to bed after me and I will sit up and scream, “Who are you?!?! What do you want?!?!?” because for some reason, I’m fully convinced that every bad guy in the world has a predisposition toward me as a target, and obviously, my days are numbered until they find me.

He just laughs it off at this point and naturally embraces every opportunity to make me jump and scream. Isn’t he sweet?

So, this morning, I hear twigs snapping and saw a large mass moving slowly, so naturally, someone was coming to steal me and/or my children.

When I looked closely, I saw Mr. Llama and his 3 friends, sticking their heads up by the fence to grab some leaves. After a while, they sauntered back into the open field of their pasture. They have been chomping grass for 30 min.

I’ve only seen them lift their heads when it’s time to find more grass.

It’s odd because there are startling things all around them. There is a HWY that runs 50 ft. from their fence. There are loud chickens, dogs & neighbors doing yard work, but the llamas continue. No emergency. No frantic searching. Just eating.

What makes them so comfortable in the pasture?

It’s the pasture.

The very nature of the idea that a safe home has been provided for them. There is a fence. They are watched over. The concerns of coyotes & scary cars & annoying dogs, though they are present and near, cannot reach them.

I don’t know how long it took for them. Maybe weeks or months. They might have been born into security.

I’m reminded that my Creator-Redeemer is called the Good Shepherd. There are stories about the idea that people are sheep under the protection of him as a Shepherd.

When I choose to accept it, I realize that I am already in the pasture. I have the protection of the safe place that is my Savior’s love.

I can rest in the safety of this place. 

I have not always chosen to rest in that safe place. WE GET TO CHOOSE.

I want to choose to be under that protection. Eventually, I will become so comfortable in the pasture that I can have a singular focus. I can dive my face into the purpose of God.

I’ve been reading a book by Jennie Allen called Anything (Disclaimer: if you do not want to seriously reconsider everything about your life, don’t read it).

Anything is what the purpose is. God wants us to be so secure in His love that we will pray, “I will do anything — go anywhere, speak, be silent, take risks, step back — anything that will show that you are God.”

God gives us the safe pasture of his Love and Grace and Character. When we accept his nature, surrender follows.

When I believe that the scary things still exist in my life, but they can’t get to my spirit while it rests in God’s protection, I have no fear to do Anything.

I am willing for circumstances to change or stay the same

I am open to plans that I did not pen

I am ready to be faithful with little

I am prepared to never receive what I feel entitled to

because the purpose has nothing to do with me & EVERYTHING to do with extending the pasture.

The safety of Christ is terrifying because I do not know where it will take me or who I will become within it.

How fun . . .