Oct. 9, 2020

 

John 15:12 My command is this; Love each other as I have loved you.

Some of you are looking at this picture and scratching your heads, yes that is a very old picture of me on my first horse.  His name is Blitz, my Dad got him for me when I was 8 or 9 years old and he was 2 going on 3.  Blitz was everything a first horse should not be for a young, beginning rider.  He was not really trained, he was headstrong, and he would run off if he didn’t want to do something but in my eyes he was perfect!  I learned SO much from Blitz about how to ride, balance and train a horse.  We grew up together. 

While Blitz may not have been the perfect horse, he wasn’t big and flashy.  He certainly wasn’t the fastest horse on a barrel pattern, he did have heart and he tried.  He also helped me grow as a person and a horse trainer.  I am not sure I would have had the confidence to ride and work with some of the horses I did in later years if it wasn’t for Blitz’s lessons.  He taught me to fall (literally) and get back up, that just because you had lots of money didn’t mean you had the best and would win (we won plenty).  He also heard all of my dreams, thoughts and fears.  That is the wonderful thing about horses, they listen without judgement and Blitz seemed to get along with every horse that we owned no matter the color or breed.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to my carefree childhood days, where it was just my horses, my sister and me.  Things didn’t seem so complicated then, I don’t remember all of the hate, the unrest and division that I see today.  I try to remain optimistic that these times will pass, that the pandemic will soon be a distant memory.  We are not told to love those that look like us, think like us or talk like us.  We have been commanded to love each other as God has loved us.  To me that means even those that looks, thinks and talks different.  They may not even speak the same language as I do.  But god did not say, only love those that speak English as a first language. 

So, let’s all be a little more Blitz like, let’s listen without judging, see the best in people even when we don’t want to and hope that the fall and winter of 2020 brings us a brighter day.

God,

Please give us strength to move forward on the path that you have laid out for us.  Guide us to better health and give us wisdom to identify those you’ve placed around us to help guide us towards a brighter future.  In your name we pray, Amen.