Lack, Want, or Fulfillment?

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
I've been hanging here the past week.
Been coming here like a sheep, looking for something.
Guess, if I follow the analogy through, I must be looking for grass.
Actually, what really happened was I slowed down long enough to pray, "Lord, where should I be reading in the scriptures?"
Psalm 23:1 came immediately into my thoughts.
Okay.  So, here I am.
The cool thing about meditating on a single verse, especially one that introduces an entire passage, is on one hand, it sets the scene or piques curiosity for what follows, but, better still, it positions our souls for contemplation - for attentively perceiving a thing - and for being altered, or changed, in some essential, truth-filled way.  So, I'm hanging here with the idea of "Lord," "my," "shepherd," and "want" that's been met.

Here's what's been seeping into my thoughts this week:
The language itself, the imagery, its metaphor takes time to unfold, but I see that it was written purposefully in the present tense.  "The Lord is ... "
We're talking real time, as in present reality.
And, then, pausing to contemplate "Lord," who he is, his nature - everything about him, and, in particular, that antecedent, shepherd.  
Oh, Shepherd - carefully, faithfully tending, guarding, leading, rescuing - never abandoning his sheep.  Me, little lamb.  (baa)
Yes, Baaaaaa. ;)
It's the nature of sheep to bleat.  Sometimes it's all too comical, sometimes it sounds all too tragic, but what amazing thing ought we really see?  It is this:  A unique relationship exists between shepherd (Lord) and sheep (his own children).  It implies a particular rest, an attachment, a trust and an obedience.  It implies a living, breathing exchange between the keeper and the kept.
And in the midst of that relationship, in the midst of the leading and the following, something astounding occurs:  the lack of want.  
You know, we could take a stoic view here, or a gnostic view, and determine that the wanting (or need) is no friendly aspect and should be barred entrance to the transcendent life - valued only when negated. But I dare say that sheep need literal green grass, and fresh waters and literal protection and guardianship, and, sometimes, even rescuing.  And the shepherd comes through - every time.
It's in the relationship that he does this. It's in the interacting, and it's all about his faithful watch, his pursuit.  
I've been a naughty sheep.  But I've been rescued, once and for good, and, sometimes, time and time again.
My Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
God, keep me today - everyday, as your own.  Amen.