[ProLife|Family] A Light in the Barn

[Sue Cifelli]

A Light in the Barn

These two little lambs, abandoned by their mother, just had to live.

By Marjorie L. Smith, Dallas, Oregon

I shoved the barn door open and yanked at the light chain. Only then did I remember. The bulb had burned out. I waited a moment until my eyes adjusted to the darkness and then made my way to the lambs� pen. In my hand I held a nursing bottle for two wobbly little creatures waiting for their dinner.

�Hi guys,� I said.

Two tiny tails leaped to life and eight little hooves scrambled across the straw. One lamb latched voraciously onto the bottle�s nipple while the other bleated forlornly till it was his turn.

These were �bummer� lambs, twin males, and I was trying to save their lives. Their mother had rejected them at birth, not because they were twins, but because she had been unable to supply their milk.

When the bottle was drained, both lambs huddled in my lap while I rubbed their stiff, curly coats. They seemed so content that I was reluctant to leave, so I just sat there in the dark cold, whispering sweet words, willing them strength, loving them for the mother who wouldn�t. And then, in my cracked and uneven voice I found myself singing, softly, as mothers have done down through the ages, my words half made up, a lullaby.
As I was on my way out of the barn, my husband, Jack, met me halfway.

�What kind of bulb did you put in there?� he asked.

�I didn't. It�s still burned out.�

�Did you have a lantern?�

�No.�

He looked at me quizzically. �When I came outside a few minutes ago, there was a light coming from the barn. It was bright, like sunshine, streaming out of every crack. It turned off just before you came out.�

http://www.guideposts.com/story/mysterious-ways-light-in-the-barn