Away in a... STABLE??

SO throughout this Christmas season I often have gone out to feed Blaze and looked at his stable in awe of what that night must have been like for Mary and Joseph. You see... although I try to keep up on things pretty good... there is really not a day that goes by when Blaze does not make a mess in his stable... if you know what I mean. Until I have had to shovel such messes daily... I guess I never really thought it was THAT bad in "the" stable... but now... come to think of it... I BET it had a few messes... from a few different kind of animals too.

Our youth pastors had an outstanding sermon on Sunday... about the reality of Joseph and Mary's situation. How they probably thought they had life figured out... and then came this angel... with all sorts of news that didn't make sense... NOT the way I bet Mary and Joseph had hoped their life would have panned out. And then once they had as good of a grasp on the situation as they could... news of the census. Not too convenient for a carpenter who most likely had proudly crafted his new babe's crib and a 8 month pregnant lady who will have to ride on a donkey 70 miles through the mountains... after all that however, I am sure Joseph and Mary found it reassuring that a nice room and bed would be waiting for them... only to find out once more... life was not going the way THEY planned... the King of the world would be born in a messy stable. I bet you they were questioning this... I mean imagine being them... wouldn't you wonder if you missed something along the way? But this WAS God's plan.


So with our adoptions we move forward... riding 70 long miles on a donkey we didn't expect we would have to ride, but God knows the big picture... that is what we have to rely on... HIS plans... not our own. May we be as faithful as Mary and Joseph... even through the messes.

Friendship and Sunshine

This afternoon I went out to see Blaze and give him a little treat. I was surprised to see all his food from this morning hardly even touched. The same thing happened yesterday. I had a feeling yesterday that Blaze might be lonely... sure... I am probably looking a little too far into this, but it's interesting. On Sunday we woke up to several inches of new snow on the ground, I went out and fed Blaze a little hay, gave him a little water and some petting... but when I walked away Blaze began to whinny. I had a feeling something was not right, I told Rob I was concerned that he hadn't eaten and that he whinnied when I walked away, he never really does that. Rob mentioned that he probably wanted me to stay out and play in the snow. I never really thought horses LIKED deep snow and would want to play in it... but I gave it a chance and I walked along the fence of Blaze's pasture, and sure enough the play began. He began to run around his pasture like a race horse. Blaze is a horse that needs a little borrowed confidence from time to time, and I guess my presence gave him permission to run. There was SO MUCH snow flying everywhere that I could only see the top half of Blaze's body. He looked SO beautiful and so powerful throwing his head around as he went back and forth between a sprint and a trot. The importance of my presence was confirmed as he continually ran up only feet away from me and stopped quickly with a swirl of snow catching up with him as it whipped around him, then throwing his head back over his shoulder only to take off again. Today as I saw he still was not eating much I wondered again if maybe he was a little lonely. My thoughts were confirmed as just having me in there with him was enough to encourage him to eat. And as I stood there in his stall I looked out and saw the nice sunshine and wondered if a little hay in the sunshine might please him... and it did the trick. It's amazing what a little friendship and sunshine can do! How many times have we just felt the presence of a friend free us to run. The power of friendship can be very releasing. God has used Blaze today to remind me my friendship can bring freedom to someone, and to not be afraid to allow someone's friendship bring freedom to me.

A Little Nudge

A couple of days ago I was out with Blaze in his stall. After feeding him sometimes I just can't help but just stand there and just take in all his beauty. Horses truly are one of the most amazing creatures. All that potentially fatal power and yet a desire to please and be loved in return shown by such graceful movement at times. I am in awe that when Blaze is running in his pasture, I can hear his hooves hitting the ground from my upstairs bedroom... I am amazed that that same powerful animal will stand still (to an extent) when asked of him.


As I was standing there watching I noticed him do something I had never seen him do before. Rob just hung a feeding rack up in his stall, this is something new to him. If you have never seen one before, I guess the best way to describe it is a jail for hay. You drop the hat in the top and it's held from metal bars from which the horse reaches between and pulls his hay out. Blaze started running his nose up from the bottom to the top, I immediately thought he was trying to find a way to get the hay to come back out of the top and fall at his feet where he prefers it, so I lightly scolded him... but after watching him a little longer I came to see that was not the case... it may have been at one time, but Blaze caught on to something. (A lesson again for me to look a little deeper into things)


I eventually witnessed Blaze running his nose up the rack and then eating the scrumptious flakes that fell out of his hay into the manger below. So... he wasn't actually trying to get the hay out... but trying to get the goodness out of the hay.


So it is with us... sometimes all it takes is a little nudge to get a good thing to happen. I am so thankful when God nudges me to get the good to come out.