Wednesday 3 March 2010

Are you good at what you do?

Scripture: “Show me your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.”

Psalms 25:4


I have been around horses off and on for many years. When I decided to purchase my present horse the question that I was asked often was; “How experienced as a rider are you?” In other words how much experience have you had handling horses? That was a tough question for me to answer. As a young person growing up on a farm I had learned from my father how to care and handle horses. I became what I considered an excellent horseback rider. Now many years later I had to rethink my experience with horses.


Over the next few months I realized that my previous “experience” was now lacking! I still remembered what I had learned, but crawling back into a saddle was now a new experience. I bounced all over the place and had very limited control. I decided that I could not rely on my past experiences to now kick in and make me that top-notch rider I thought I could be. As a result, I am reading horsemanship books, going to training sessions, working on a horse rescue ranch and riding a horse that is safe for an in-experienced rider to learn on – Amos.


I have been learning through the years as a Christian that this walk with Jesus is a new experience each day. Just when I think I have all the experience I need, I learn something new or do something that I shouldn’t. I am learning that as a Christian I still need to read God’s word and pray daily. If I just rely on my past experiences I may just get into trouble.

By the way, the horse in the picture is a wild Mustang that has been trained by the young lady.

Prayer Thought: Hopefully today I will use my time to develop my Christian experience.

7 comments:

Parsley said...

Enjoyed reading your post as always. Much love and prayers your way Papa and Mama.

CrossView said...

In answer to the title question: No! But I keep plugging along.

I remember my Dad telling me that the older he got, the more he knew how much he didn't know. LOL!

Indian Lake Papa said...

Parsley - thank you and the prayers are important to us.

Crossview - We disagree, I think you are. You are the best. Thank you for that.

Peter Olson said...

Yes! I'm not doing anything. Ha! Ha!

There was a Catholic Priest in my hometown that owned the smartest horse I've ever seen. It could teach you how to ride. If you tried to take control, it would just stop, turn it's head around, look you in the eye and it seemed to say, "Just Relax, I Got This! Enjoy the ride." ;-)

Indian Lake Papa said...

I agree with you Peter! LOL I would have to have a "discussion" with that horse!

Ed said...

You are right that with faith, riding horses, or anything else, we need to keep working at it all our lives.

Hopefully we have also learned some patience. We can do almost everything we could when we were younger, it just takes us a little longer.

Of course a young rider might push themselves, and their horse, too hard. The older rider will have a better idea of what he, and his horse, can do. If he doesn't I am sure the horse will let him know. :)

Indian Lake Papa said...

Ed, I think in some ways I am a better rider today than when I was younger. Most of it is in knowledge, judgment and I behave better. I am sure the horses like that better. I know my own limitations better as well.