126 Where it all started: The Shepherd Story (with Cyd Holsclaw)

In a sense, this is where all the attachment stuff started, with Cyd telling the "Shepherd Story" to our boys during bedtime. Over and over, year by year, she did this little guided meditation with them. She was doing attachment work with the Good Shepherd even before we had language for it. 

Many listeners and cohort members have asked for a recording of this prayer exercise, so here it is. 

For all the background (attachment theory and spirituality), see our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection (and please review it on Amazon).

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

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Transcript

Cyd Holsclaw: Welcome to Story Time. I'm gonna ask you to take on the posture of a small child for just a few minutes. I used to tell this story to my kids every night when I tucked them in as a way of helping them to internalize and imagine, and even to practice secure attachment with the Good Shepherd. The biggest reason I needed to tell them this story is because I needed this as much as they did.

And so it was a way of reminding myself on a daily basis, uh, that I have this secure attachment with the Good Shepherd, as well as a way of helping them to grow up into this safe [00:01:00] relationship with the Good Shepherd. So this is based on Psalm 23, and I just wanna go ahead and invite you to close your eyes if that feels okay to you.

And just allow yourself to feel curious and playful. And I want you to imagine yourself as a sheep. And if a sheep isn't an animal that you get excited about, you could I imagine yourself as a different kind of animal. But of course, sheep have wool. And in this story, your wool doesn't have to be a standard color like white or brown or black.

It can be any color you want it to be. So I ask you little sheep, what color is your wool?

Whatever color your wool is, just imagine yourself standing in a field and the shepherd comes to you and calls you by name and digs his fingers into your [00:02:00] wool. He's so glad to be with you. And he knows your name and comes close to you because he's glad to be with you. And in being with him, you feel quite content.

There's nothing that you need,

but now the Good Shepherd says to you, come follow me. And so you follow him. To a wide open pasture, and it's filled with tender sweet grass, and he invites you to eat, and so you do. And so just imagine yourself sticking your little muzzle down into the grass and eating as much as you want. Just nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble.

Until you feel like your hunger is totally satisfied.

Then the shepherd comes to you again, digs his fingers into your wool and says, come. Follow me. And so you follow him to a [00:03:00] stream of clear cool water, gently flowing over rocks and collecting in little pools and swirling in eddies. And the shepherd invites you to come and drink. And so imagine yourself just dipping your little muzzle into the water and.

Just slurping up that fresh, cool water until you feel like your thirst is completely quenched

and now you feel strong and ready, content and excited for what's next. And the Shepherd calls you by name again and says, come follow me. And you head out into a field. And there's a forest at the edge of it. And as you get closer to that forest, you notice that it's dark and thick, and it seems [00:04:00] dangerous threatening, but the shepherd is walking right beside you and he digs his fingers into your wool and you lean into his leg and you remember how much he wants to be with you.

He knows your name. And the forest doesn't seem as scary as it did a minute ago. When you're pressed against his leg

and all through the forest, the shepherd keeps his fingers in your wool and you stay close.

And even though it's scary and loud and dark, you know you're okay because the shepherd is with you.

The shepherd is so calm, in fact, that he stops right in the middle of the forest, that deep and dark and dangerous forwar forest, and he spreads a blanket and he pulls out some of your favorite snacks.[00:05:00] 

And it's strange that this is the place he chooses for a picnic, but he doesn't seem at all concerned. Even though you notice eyes in the woods, eyes of what could be tigers or wolves or bears, but they don't dare come near while the shepherd is there.

And so you sit on the blanket. And allow the shepherd to give you the snacks he's brought for you, and he rubs some soothing oil into your wool and he speaks comforting and encouraging words to you the whole time. Your enemies are lurking around you, but

again, you look at the shepherd and you notice that he's not at all concerned. He's just glad to be with you. Okay. [00:06:00] And after a while he packs up the picnic while the tigers and wolves and bears are still watching, and he leads you on out of the forest and out into the open plane, and you keep walking until you see a huge spreading tree at the top of a small hill.

And the shepherd digs his fingers into your wool again, and he calls you by name and he says, come follow me. You follow him to the top of that hill where he sits at the base of the tree and he leans against it and he invites you to lie down with your head in his lap. And he gives your head just a very gentle little scratch and he begins to sing over you.

Oh, I love you. This, you know. For the [00:07:00] Bible tells you so little one to me. You belong. You are weak, but I am strong. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelujah. Hall. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelujah. Hall. Hallelujah.

And do you feel calm? So peaceful, so loved, so safe that your eyelids grow heavy. And you notice that you're surrounded by lots of other sleepy sheep, and so you fall [00:08:00] asleep with your head in the lap of the shepherd in a heap of sheep.