FJWL_02:529
         (Dad:) These are the pillars of shepherding: keeping the standard of the Word of God, and showing love. Both of these must be there for the proper balance, to uphold the Family, to uphold your Home, for one without the other is not enough. If the pillar of love is not standing, and only the pillar of the standard of the Word is, then people become self-righteous and critical and follow the letter of the law. But if only the pillar of love is standing, then the conviction to follow the Word is weakened and no one wants to stand strong, for they fear that they will be seen to be unloving.
         Without the pillar of the standard of the Word of God, the love will have no backbone. The love will ooze out, but it will be weak and will not be able to uphold the Home, for there is no standard and it is not standing in conjunction with the Word. The pillar of the Word alone becomes too strong and hard, but the pillar of love alone becomes too weak, too soft. But together, they are a perfect balance.
         So it is with good shepherding; both are needed. There has to be the strength of the Word, the strength of the strong pillar, but it must be tempered with the love and the tenderness of the pillar of love. Like a father and a mother--the father having the strength and the stamina, and the mother having the love and the compassion--together they make good parents who raise good children. So is it with shepherding. Both are needed, and one cannot do without the other, for they balance it together. (ML #3067)



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