This morning in my prayer room I stood looking out the window at the eastern horizon. The day promised to be a fabulous representation of spring in full bloom. From out of nowhere I had a random thought, something that had not crossed my mind in years. It would be so fun to go horseback riding today! Now, where did THAT come from? The best I could recall, I had not been on a horse in at least ten years, probably closer to fifteen. I had grown up riding horses and had had all kinds of escapades. Once when I was fifteen, I was out riding with my English teacher, who broke horses on the side for extra income. He was training a new eighteen-month-old colt, and so he was riding that horse and I was riding a more seasoned one on a brand new saddle of his. About halfway through our ride, way out in the desert, he said that he would like to ride the new saddle, and since the colt was well warm now that it would be all right for me to ride him. We switched animals. Things were going along pretty well, and I'm still not sure to this day what spooked that colt, but he took off bucking across the sand and the cactus. I stayed on pretty well for a few minutes but eventually the colt went right, and I went left...right into the big middle of a cactus. I had to go to the hospital and get my arm sewn up, and we pulled stickers out of all parts of my body for weeks! I had several adventures like that.
I thought of all the people I knew with horses. My sister had access, but she lives a hundred miles away. All the other people I could think of I did not know well enough to ask. I turned away from the window with a sigh. My attention was drawn to the clock and the lateness of the hour. I sat down for a short time of worship and prayer before getting ready for church. The goodness of God was overwhelming for those few moments. I forgot all about the horseback riding as I dressed for church and headed out. After church, I was talking with my friend Camille. We are both seriously into physical fitness, and on several Sundays she has asked me to come out to her ranch in the afternoons and walk. We had never done it due to conflicts.
"Hey, Camille...are you going walking this afternoon? Because if you are I'd like to come out and go too."
"No, my mom is coming out and we're going to ride horses. Wanna come with us?"
"DID YOU SAY HORSES??? I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD HORSES!"
I drove out to the Z Bar and by three o'clock we were saddling up and getting ready to go. I was surprised at how much I remembered about doing all of this. Getting on and off was a breeze!
I rode Camille's horse Rubio, and she rode her husband's horse. We rode for a couple of hours on their 8000-acre place. It brought back so many memories of days gone by. I thought of things I had not thought of in years.
We laughed and talked and just enjoyed God's creation. I just kept thinking of the sweetness of God; it wasn't anything I had even asked for but only thought about, and here I was doing it. Still a country girl........
No comments:
Post a Comment