Have Courage & Be Kind

  " O then, is not this real?  I say unto  you, Yea, because it is light: and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good:  Alma 32:36

I learned something while staying on Jim and Cathy's ranch a few weeks ago.  I learned just how intuitive horses can be.They can read a persons emotional, physical and probably more than anything, spiritual state.  It was fun to see how quickly Diamond and Hanna related to each other. Diamond liked Hanna right away and the fact that Cathy felt comfortable letting Hanna ride her horse was very telling. They were a good match. I learned that horses want to do nothing more than to please. They don't get jealous, angry, disappointed, mean or sad. They just want to please and will do so even to the point of  being abuse.  They love unconditionally. They can heal hearts and minds.  Horses can discern what humans need and they can help us heal.

It would be so great if we could see or know how to help every person that we came in contact with. Our judgments may not always be correct.  We may think one thing while someone is feeling another.  We may say or do something that is contrary to what the person needs. We might even not even notice that someone is hurting or in need of love.  Our senses may be so focused on ourselves that we can't see or feel the needs of others. This is something that we need to develop as humans but I think horses were given this special gift from God to help us.  If we can find the courage to be kind even when we are hurting or when we have been offended then we bring ourselves up to a higher capacity to love unconditionally as horses do.

 I guess that's why animals are such good companions. They don't judge, they freely forgive, they don't look to offend and they overlook faults. They live to serve us and we can live to serve each other. They can carry us through our hardest times. We need courage to face the trials that come into our lives. Sometimes it take courage to be kind when we are not receiving kindness but quite the opposite.  " When someone  is nasty or treats you poorly don't take it personally. It says nothing about  you, but a lot about them."     Michael Josephson    It takes courage to stand alone when it is required.  God gave us the natural man tendencies  so that we might learn and change and become more like him. We are his hands and we show our love to him by how we treat others. Putting our pride aside and looking at truly loving those who treat us badly can heal and mend hearts.
 


 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."   Mosiah 2:17 

The Broken Bud

 My neighborhood is full of Blooms.  It's absolutely breathtaking!  I was so glad that spring had arrived but then we received a nice late snow storm.  I hoped the blossoms were not going to freeze!  I went outside to try to brush the snow of my beautiful peony bushes and while trying to bring one up from the ground it snapped off from the main trunk and took an almost baby blooming bud with it! I was trying to help but in turn I hurt the very bloom I was trying to rescue.

 I thought of how this reminded me of something I had read this week.  It was about the mistakes we make as parents while trying to raise our kids to be independent, capable and good contributing members of society.  One of the mistakes that we make is that we want to shelter our kids from all worry, doubt, disappointment, and sorrow etc.  I know I do this but it's because when I see my kids sad, then I feel the same pain.  Or so it seems. I hurt when they hurt, I am lost when they are lost and I am disappointed when they are.

 I made a terrible  mistake in the last few weeks that brought me to my knees in Godly sorrow.  I was sorry that I had not been more wise, that I had acted impulsively and that I had not been more kind. I thought I had been justified because I didn't want my child to hurt.  I didn't think it was fair.  I wanted to make things equal.  I did not take into account the heart of someone else.  I began the process of repenting and vowed that I would never be so selfish again.  I promised to be more careful in my decision and to check my integrity at the door as best I could at all times.  I felt the peace of my Savior come and I began to realize that I had learned many valuable lessons from the experience of making a choice.

I value the lessons I learned from this.  I realized that God wanted me to make a mistake so that I might learn what it feels like.  Then, to be glad that I had a broken heart.  Knowing this, made me humble enough to need the Atonement and to need Gods love and forgiveness and then and only then could I experience the process.  I don't believe God wants us to sin but he knows we will make mistakes because of our human and fallen state.  I need to learn another lesson from the peony bud.  I did not need to rescue the bud from frost because God had already made it possible to tolerate the cold. By helping it, I hindered or even cut off the life line from the roots of the tree. It is not not able to learn for itself how to tolerate the cold, feel pain, or learn for itself how to survive etc.