Growing Faith....with a horse

Struggling issues of religious faith can often be either a motivating factor in an individual’s life or that same issue could be the final step in a journey looking for answers. Faith, the Bible says is to believe without seeing. Faith in others is most often demonstrated after it is observed through patterns of actions and words matching up. It could be that you are reading this and in some fashion of honesty admit to yourself that you have not only held others to these two different positions of faith, but maybe you can even admit you have practiced both for all the world to see too. If the latter is you, then you have an inner struggle of faith that maybe we can work on that will not be an end to all, but rather a step in your continuing journey of faith.
Those who read this column regularly know I write and share from not just my heart but from my own experiences. It is never an easy thing to open up your personal life for review and critique by others but I have discovered that great Biblical truth that “truth will set you free”. For those that are at the current status of about to give up on religious faith, the easiest thing to write is “hold on” but maintaining a handle on things can be a stress upon our fingers, hands and wrist. I’ve never been much of one for arm wrestling. I’ve had folks tell me it’s all about leverage and position, in addition to the mindset not to allow your wrist to bend. Exerting muscle strength with focus and determination is no easy task. Risking the chance you may end up with a broken arm that will just snap under the pressure is not the way I want to spend the next 8 weeks either, so I’m tempted to never even enter the contest.
Experience can be a great tool for evaluating situations and conditions. My youngest niece, Morgan Alexandra Mills, wanted a horse to ride. The purchase was made and with a tender gentle horse what could go wrong, after all Lady had perfect traits rights? The evening was perfect for a horse ride and with my encouragement and assurance; my niece went for her first bareback ride. The only condition I had not prepared for was a barking down up from the creek that would spook Lady and with a jump not seen before, off my niece went, and old Uncle Tim could not keep her from falling which resulted in a broken arm right off the bat! Not the vision I had reviewed in my mind for the perfect memory that would last a life time. Rather I had to carry her with a visible broken arm that was first spotted by my father. Truth is, facing my brother and sister-in-law was much easier then my own dad. It was not the moment I had planned. A visit to the emergency room, a cast, not to mention the expense my “trust Uncle Tim” created.
This could have been the set back of all time for riding horses or loving animals on the part of my niece, but she didn’t let that happen. Now she’s never went riding with me again, but she did blame me either, which was nice. Rather she blamed it on a barking dog and she gave no negative credit to Lady either. For me, it was an experience I don’t want to repeat with those results. It is now a part of the journey we have shared together in life and we grew through. The best advice for religious faith is, “Don’t let one kick knock you out forever, and don’t let one victory set you up for the next fall”.

Until then