Our Shepherd Day 3

 May God Bless Always,

Created and Photo by Katie Robinson 

Our Shepherd Day 2

 May God Bless Always

Created and Photo by Katie Robinson 

Our Shepherd Day 1

 May God Bless Always, 

Created and Photo by Katie Robinson

Ash Wednesday 2023

May God Bless Always. 

 

Created by Katie Robinson

Our Mother the Shepherd.

 

As a mother I am a shepherd, shepherding my little flock, teaching them, feeding them, and loving them with all my heart and soul. This is my vocation to be a mother who loves her children unconditionally, without any conditions or limitations. If there is anything I can teach my children, I would teach them and help them to know the true meaning of love. This is from one of my favorite verses or chapters in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13. Love is always, patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and it is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end.

Before I share 1 Corinthians 13:13, I wanted to say that Love does not come to an end, I believe it is one big circle we go around and around again. Every day I wake up and I have the chance and opportunity to fall in love repeatedly. I had a dream, and my dream came true because I see that dream in my children.

“In short, there are three things that last, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love” 1 Corinthians 13:13.

And that is for sure my love will always remain with my children for the rest of their lives. Love is a gift from God I am still imperfect but it’s something I am working on and practicing each day of my life and one day I will say that I am perfect in love. Until then I trust, hope, and endure whatever comes because I am destined to be a mother and destined to share love.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Let me leave you with a quote.

“In raising my children, I have lost my mind, but found my soul.” Author Lisa T. Shepherd.

May God Bless Always,

Written, photo and created by Katie Robinson

 

Our Shepherd.

 As we progress on our journey, I wanted to share how important and significant a shepherd is. We are all aware a shepherd is someone who looks after sheep and apparently it is one of the oldest jobs in the world. In Asian Minor, sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool and for the next thousand years, becoming a shepherd or shepherding sheep spread throughout Eurasia and other parts of the world. It is said that a shepherd carries quite a few items including a rod, a rod with a knob that sometimes has nails to be used as a weapon to protect the sheep from wild animals or threats.

So, what does the bible say about being a shepherd? Well, in the bible we know that a shepherd is someone who tends and looks after the sheep and that is what we have learnt so far, but a shepherd is also someone who leads people, who guides and protects all people of this world.

So, why are we called sheep? We are called sheep because we need a shepherd to guide and protect us. How many of us would stray from the herd because we don’t like the thought of being told what to do? I know I would’ve but as I grow and learn on my journey, I understand how blessed I am because as I grow in love my shepherd grows in love too. Remember we are God’s people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Over the next few weeks, I will share some beautiful verses from the bible and, a fun video for children from YouTube explaining the parable of “The Lost Sheep.”

May God Bless Always.

Written and created by Katie Robinson

Reflections From my Pilgrimage Walk with Saint Mary MacKillop.

The Powerhouse Brisbane

 

The Customs House Brisbane

The Story Bridge Brisbane

The Powerhouse to The Custom House.

We arrived, parked the car, and strolled through the market area. Before we reached The Powerhouse, we stopped to listen to music, and brought some honey. After that we kept on walking where we brought some sourdough bread rolls and a pkt of strawberries to have on a picnic lunch.

Then we arrived and as I stood on the jetty I looked up and saw The Brisbane City Council Powerhouse building and I froze but I needed to capture the moment. I was standing where Mary Mackillop and five other sisters stood or walked on the 31^st of December 1869 after traveling twenty-four days from Adelaide.

After capturing the moment, I pulled out my map that I printed off and tried to find where we took our next steps. However, I struggled to find where we were on the map but luckily enough, we had our phones, so we used Google to guide us. I suppose you could say, times have changed and it’s so much easier to be a pilgrim. It makes me wonder where Mary Mackillop got all that courage and confidence without the assistance of Google maps.  

Our feet were pointed in the right direction, and we set forth with our hearts opened on a journey of faith and hope we asked for Saint Joseph and Saint Mary Mackillop, to pray for us and we asked for God to bless us with strength, guidance, and patience. However, patience and guidance weren’t a virtue for some today it was quite the opposite. I am glad though that we took our beach trolley, and our children are light enough to still pull along and I am also very thankful for our phones.

We walked through the streets of New Farm and found our way to the Story Bridge, where I once climbed. As we stood in front of the story bridge, I could see in the distance the custom house and by this stage my feet were so sore, but I pushed on and we went down a lift and walked along the New Farm River Walk.

 After stopping and starting we finally arrived at The Customs House and standing out the front I was overwhelmed, it was quite daunting, but I remembered reading this remark made by Saint Mary Mackillop, 1867, “With God’s aid we shall get on and gain fresh strength and energy for the work.” Believe me that is what we did, we turned around and went back because after hearing “I am hungry,” “when is lunch.” I knew it was time to head back and reflect on our walk, our time together as a family and what I could do differently next time I walk the streets of Brisbane where Saint Mary Mackillop walked?

May God Bless Always. 

Written, Photos and created by Katie Robinson