May we read these physical differences with spiritual eyes!

    Internally, sheep and goats are very different. Sheep have 54 chromosomes, while goats have 60.  They are different species!

    Outwardly, they can look very similar at a glance.  But there are some differences.

1. Tails - this is the quickest way to tell them apart.  A sheep’s tail hangs down, a goat’s sticks up.
    
2. Coats - sheep have wool and the coat lasts a very long time.  Goats have hair and it falls off as quickly as it grows.
    
3. Maintenance - sheep need protection, care, and shearing regularly from a skilled shepherd.  A goat does not require the touch or protection of a shepherd.
    
4. Horns - Goats have narrow, straight, pointy horns. Dangerous to those around it, even when they are not being aggressive.  Sheep have horns too, but they are wider, smoother, and curved.
    
5. What they eat - Sheep need to eat short plants that are close to the ground. Tender things like grass and clover are their main diet.  Goats like a wide variety of foods. They can eat the grass or the briars, it does not matter to them.
    
6. Where they eat - goats are more agile and are browsers. They like to eat things at eye level or higher, standing on their hind legs.  Sheep like their heads down low and to graze only on good pasture.
    
7. Smell - a goat smells much worse that a sheep.  Not to the other goats or to sheep, but to the shepherds.

    Lord, tuck my tail, give me an eternal coat of righteousness, make my defenses gentle, make me feed on the simplicity of Christ, keep my head down on the pasture in which you have placed me, and make me a sweet-smelling savor to my God! Make me your sheep!