A Highland minister has extra members of her flock to tend to this Christmas.
Rev Andrea Boyes, minister of Durness and Kinlochbervie parish, has become the proud owner of four sheep who have set up home in the manse garden.
As well as adding to her care duties, it has given her a new perspective on how the shepherds must have felt when the angel Gabriel appeared to tell them about the birth of Jesus.
Rev Boyes reflects on her new status in an online advent calendar produced by the Church of Scotland.
Her interest in becoming a shepherd was sparked when she attended sheepdog trials in Durness.
“I asked how do they know where to go, which hill to go to?,” she said.
“The shepherd said they are hefted to the hill, meaning that’s the hill they know and where they grew up.
“I thought that was beautiful. It’s like as Christians we could say we are hefted to the mountain of God.
“I love the thought of these animals we think of as being a bit daft and stubborn knowing all the nooks and crannies of their own hill.
“That’s not to say they don’t get stuck and need to be pulled out of a bog now and again- a bit like ourselves.”
Hopes of lambs in the new year
She adds: “When I got the sheep registered and got my own flock number that was a very exciting day for me.”
Rev Boyes, who has been in the far north parish for more than four years, believes the small flock, currently helping keep the manse garden tidy, is an ideal size.
She now has two dogs she hopes to train as sheepdogs: “Four sheep is the right number to try to train the dogs, but also for me to be trained.”
It is hoped there will be lambs in the new year to be part of a lambing service at the church.
In the meantime, the minister sees the symbolism of being a shepherd at this time of year and can relate to those visited by the angel.
She added: “In this beautiful part of the world when it gets dark, it would have been the same at Christ’s birth, so dark in the sky and then that light and joy flooded in.
“That’s my prayer for my community, to know that deep joy and love of God this Christmas time.
“The excitement and joy sometimes gets lost when we get stressed with all the busyness of Christmas.
“We need to take time to see what’s really the simplest part of Christmas, that it brings joy.”
