Nursery Rhymes for Adult Spiritual Enrichment

Little Bo Beep

Little Bo Peep lost her sheep,

And didn't know where to find them,

Leave them alone,

And they'll come home,

Bringing their tails behind them.

Sheep are most notable for their soft wool that brings warmth while being about the most docile creature in this world. The "sheep" of our inner life consist of soft, moist, and tender qualities. We lose those sheep beneath hardened and calloused attitudes, but by leaving some things alone through tolerance the sheep of our soul will come home to keep us in tune with a civil spirit. We lose love, kindness, goodwill, peace, meekness, gentleness, joy, goodness, faith, self-control, patience, and perseverance beneath intolerant and intrusive attitudes. Even so, if we leave unfruitful attitudes alone, such as ill-intentions, cruelty, hatred, aggression, harshness, pessimism, evil, despair, out of control impulses, impatience, and attitudes of fatal endings, then the sheep of fruitful attitudes will return to us. We lose the sheep of our inner life and don't know where to find them because we keep giving precedence to unfruitful sentiments, which never allows more fruitful attitudes to appear in us. Just leave some things alone and by a compassionate attitude the sheep will reappear within our spirit.

The easiest way to lose the sheep of our spiritual fruitfulness is to close our inward doors to them. Those doors are shut by attitudes of impatience, out of control behaviors, and the fatal attitude of ending our union with soft, moist, and tender qualities. However, if we leave them alone with attitudes of patience, self-control, and perseverance in soft and fruitful sentiments then the sheep will come home. They will come home bringing the blossoms of the spiritual fruit to fill our inner life.

We lose the sheep of our soul when our thoughts no longer focus on soft and tender attitudes. In that case, we have no mind to regulate our inner turmoil with attitudes that bring tranquility. We are left in a flux of instability when the softness of our inner sheep are lost. The sheep are lost within the quagmire of harsh, aggressive, and violently raging inner impulses. If we leave the sheep alone, to free them of insecure and unsafe attitudes, then they will come home to our inner being, bringing the qualities of a meek and gentle spirit of peace.

The idea is to have oceans of "sheep" living in us by moist, soft, and tender qualities, and to have new sheep trickle into us to join the oceans that flow with tolerant and humane sentiments. If we lost those sheep, even missing one trickle would have a negative reaction on our social intent. It's unimaginable that a whole ocean of sheep would be lost to deprive us to the point of not being able to flow with social attitudes. Those sheep would be lost in hatred, cruelty, and bad intentions that would result in abuses towards intimacy, exclusionary attitudes towards the socially inclined, and intolerance towards the soft and tender spirit. For those sheep to come home, we have to abandon anti-social tendencies and this will allow the resurfacing of love, goodwill, kindness, belonging, sensual intimacy, and tolerance. 

The "sheep" are always home in the presence of the living deity of our inner life. If we do not know where to find the soft, moist, and tender nature of our soul then we do not know the work of the divinity within. In that case, we are lost in spiritual desolation, internal conflict, disrespect for life, irreverence for the supernatural, and are lost in negative energy. When we leave the divine qualities alone and welcome the goodness of the soul, then home come the sheep bringing spiritual fruitfulness, inner tranquility, softness for the sanctity of life, reverence for the universal deity, and positive energy.

When we identify with the soft, moist, and tender qualities of our inner life, then we are able to self-actualize as a compassionate, tender, and loving person. That compassionate identity is evident in our self-expression by what we say and do, and in those words and deeds is a reflection of our most secret beliefs. We have to believe in humane qualities for every living creature in order to self-actualize through the fruitful life of our soul. The "sheep" of our identity is evident by the spirit of optimism through the fruit of joy, goodness, and faith. If we are aggressive it's like the hot summer sun on a sheep with heavy wool. If we are unfruitful in our adventures it's like a heard of wool-bearing sheep being caught in a fire. If we are unfruitful in our self-confidence it's like being struck by lightning in stormy weather. In essence, an identity that is hostile to soft, moist, and tender qualities is also pessimistic, full of evil, and despairing.

We can assess that the "sheep" of our inner life comprise soft, moist, and tender qualities. The diagnosis is that we lose our sheep by having hard, dry, and calloused attitudes. Even so, we plan to keep our sheep home. We implement that plan by keeping the sheep free of unfruitful attitudes. We know the success of that plan by the love, peace, faith, and perseverance that remain in us through tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion.