By Reaona Hemmingway
Tall, brown winter grass grew thick in the valley where Samantha, the only child of Orin and Lila, sat watching the family’s flock of sheep. She counted the lambs, the ewes, and the rams. All two hundred and seventeen stood peacefully chewing in the waning sun-light.
Just as she finished counting, a cool breeze filled the valley, making her shiver. She adjusted her headdress and brought the tail end of the cloth around her neck.
“It is unusually cool tonight,” she said.
The sheep bleated in agreement.
“Look,” Landon, her sheep dog, barked. “Maybe that is why the weather has changed.”
Samantha took her eyes off the sheep and watched as the sky took on a heavenly glow. A radiant beam, glittering like gold dust in a stream, touched the earth. She stood up, brought her ram’s horn to her lips, ready to give an alarm. A ball of light descended down the beam. She took a deep breath in preparation to blow, but then the ball of light turned into a boy with wings and a tilting halo. An angel? Not a big angel, but one the same size as her with white robes and carrying a harp.
He reached up and straightened his halo. “Har-hark!” He scratched his head, then plucked a few non-harmonizing notes on his harp while he cocked his head to one side, as if trying to remember something. “Hark! I bring you tidings of great…uh…great joy…”
“Are you lost?” Samantha asked.
His eyes grew wide at the sound of her voice. “You’re…you’re a girl!”
“Yes, indeed, I am. Much to my father’s chagrin.”
He looked around. “Where is the shepherd who tends this flock?”
Samantha took up her crook, which leaned against a tree. She tapped the crook on the ground and posed in an authoritative stance. “I am the shepherd of this flock,” she declared.
“But…but…you’re a girl!”
“Old news. You already figured that out.”
“You can’t be a shepherd.”
“Why not?”
His halo tipped again as he tried to reach for the radiant beam, which was gradually receding back up into the sky. “Hey, come back here,” he yelled. “I’m in the wrong flock.”
“Which flock are you supposed to be in?” Samantha asked.
“The flock owned by Orin, the descendant of Gad.”
“Then, you’re in the right flock. These are my father’s sheep and my father’s name is Orin and my great-great-great-great-and a whole bunch of more greats-grandfather was Gad.”
“But the shepherd of this flock’s name is Sam.”
“Uh-huh. Sam is short for Samantha, daughter of Orin, who, by the way, is totally beside himself that his one and only seed that produced a child begat a girl.”
A frown creased the angel’s brow. “But you can’t be a shepherd.”
“Why can’t I be a shepherd?” Samantha asked, sounding a bit miffed.
He ignored her and raised his arms toward the sky. “Please come back and get me. I can’t bring good tidings of great joy to a girl.”
Landon sniffed at the angel’s feet and growled.
“Hey, get away from me,” the angel said as he backed up a few paces.
“You sure don’t seem to know much about being an angel,” Samantha said.
“He sure doesn’t smell like an angel, either,” Landon barked.
The angel scowled. “How would you know? You’re just a dog.”
Samantha patted Landon’s head. “Being a dog must rank right up there with being a girl.”
“Better a dog than an angel that doesn’t smell like an angel,” Landon barked.
The angel plucked out some more discordant notes on the harp while staring up at the sky as though he expected something to happen. When whatever he was waiting for didn’t happen, he sniffled and ground his foot into the ground. “I wish I was a shepherd instead of an angel,” he muttered.
“What’s your name?” Samantha asked.
Landon growled again. “Answer her.”
“Okay, okay. My name is Thomas. I-I thought I was going to be a shepherd like my father, but then I got sick and when I woke up I had angel wings instead of a shepherd’s crook. This is my first angel assignment and I’ve already messed it up. Now get your dog away from me.”
Although Samantha felt sorry for Thomas, she was still upset that he didn’t want to give his message to a girl. “Well, Thomas,” Samantha put one fist on her hip, “if you can be an angel, then I can be a shepherd. So there!”
Thomas turned his back to her and started counting sheep like an experienced shepherd. “Gabriel says this flock has two hundred and seventeen sheep. I bet you don’t even have half that many.”
“Okay. What do you want to bet?”
His eyes scanned the flock. “Uh…well…I could…”
Samantha’s smile confused him. “If there’s two hundred and seventeen sheep, then you have to give me your harp and the message you came to tell.”
Thomas looked at his harp and looked at her ram’s horn. “If I win, I get your horn and I don’t have to tell you the message.”
Samantha stuck out her hand. “Deal!”
With a shaking hand, he shook hands over the bet. “Deal!”
The angel turned and started counting again. Just as he reached two hundred and seventeen, a ewe gave birth to a little lamb. “Ha! There are two hundred and eighteen. I win!”
“No you don’t,” Samantha said.
“Why not?”
“You said you bet I don’t even have half of the two hundred and seventeen. So I won because they’re all here including one more.”
Thomas frowned. “I did say that. Didn’t I?”
Landon barked in agreement.
With a frown and a tear in his eye, Thomas handed over his harp. Then he took a deep breath and recited his message. “Hark! I bring you tidings of great joy for unto you is born, in the City of David, a savior who will be king of all the earth and bring salvation to every man,” he eyed the shepherd girl and took a deep compromising breath, “and woman. I say to you, go to Bethlehem and witness the Messiah who is Christ the Lord.”
Samantha smiled and gave Thomas a kiss, which turned his cheeks bright red. “Thank you, Thomas. Where do I find this child in Bethlehem?”
He pointed to the brightest star, which appeared only a few days ago. “Follow the star, which shines by both day and night. You will find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
“You did that very well, Thomas,” Landon said. “But I still say you don’t smell like an angel.”
“Yes, he did do it well,” Samantha agreed, as she held the harp out to him. “You can have this back. Any angel worth his salt needs a harp.”
He fingered the ram’s horn hanging from a strap across her shoulders. “Could I have your horn instead?”
Samantha considered his request. She looked out upon the sheep. Only the ram’s horn could be heard across the distance from the valley to the house. If she had the harp and there was an emergency, her father would not hear the alarm.
“No, it’s best you keep your harp. In order to be a good shepherd, I have to be able to sound the alarm in case a wolf comes or one of the sheep strays too far away from the flock.”
Thomas nodded, and reluctantly took back his harp and plucked a few awkward notes. As the last note twanged, the radiant beam appeared to take him back to heaven.
“You are right,” he said with a sad nod. “God has given us each a gift and what we need to be His servants. Maybe when I’m older and become a better angel, he’ll let me have a ram’s horn. Then I can be what I really want to be, a shepherd of his heavenly flock.”
“Goodbye, Thomas.”
He smiled at her. “You’re not too bad for a girl, I guess.” He pointed a finger at her. “Now, don’t forget to go to Bethlehem.”
“I won’t. I’ll take the flock to my father and tell him I’ve been sent on a mission to witness the birth of our savior, the Messiah, Christ the Lord.”
As Samantha waved farewell, Thomas ascended on the radiant beam back into the realm of heaven. As he floated upward, a tear fell from his cheek and landed on the palm of her hand. She rubbed it against her cheek and made a promise to speak to the savior about Thomas.
When the sky turned dark again, Samantha whistled to Landon. “Come, let’s get the flock home, so I may begin my journey.”
Five days later, Samantha and Landon entered the stable and saw the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger.
Mary smiled at her. “You have come to see the son of God?”
“Yes, and to ask a favor.”
“You may ask.”
Samantha knelt down beside the manger and let Jesus wrap his little fingers around her pinky. “Can you ask God, your father, to give the little angel, Thomas, a ram’s horn to blow instead of a harp? He really isn’t much good at plucking the harp strings and I think he’d be a much better angel with a horn and a flock of sheep to watch.”
Jesus squeezed her finger and smiled.
“Your wish has been granted, Samantha,” Mary said. “Now go back to your own flock. When the time is right, God will send down his blessing upon you.”
Samantha did as she was told. Seven years later, when she was of age to marry and still watching her father’s flock, which now number six hundred and three, Samantha looked up into the heavens and asked God if he’d forgotten about giving her His blessing. A loud thunder answered her query. Silver rimmed clouds filled the sky.
“Oh, God, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
The clouds soon parted and Thomas descended from the heavens, carrying a golden ram’s horn. The moment his feet touched the earth, his white robe turned to brown wool and his wings disappeared.
“Thomas, is that really you?” she asked.
“Yes, and I want to thank you for asking God to make me a shepherd of his heavenly flock.” He took down his halo, which shrank to the size of a wedding ring. “As your promised blessing, God has sent me to be your groom,” he said, as he slid the ring on her finger.
Samantha looked up to the sky with joy in her heart for no boy would take her as a bride because she worked as a shepherd and never learned how to cook. “Thank you for your blessing, Lord God. I shall work beside this husband you have sent me and bear him many children to worship your son.”
Thomas took her in his arms and held her close. “And I shall work beside this wife you have given me and spread my seed upon her womb to produce many believers who will spread the words of your son Jesus throughout the land.”
Landon sniffed at Thomas and grinned. “I never did think you smelled like an angel.”
(C) 2009 Reaona Hemmingway. All rights reserved.
