Photo by Caroline Elizabeth Photography
I had worked with Cyrus for over two hours, yet as I took his halter off and let him free in the pasture, I felt like I’d accomplished nothing. He had seemed to be completely distracted from whatever I asked him to do that day, and had spooked at every single gust of wind or fallen branch. As I watched him canter away from me as soon as the halter was free, discouragement flooded through me and I couldn’t help wondering if I was doing something wrong.
A few weeks later, I arrived at the ranch and decided to try working with Cyrus in a fenced-in pasture at Liberty. Liberty is where we ask a horse to walk step in step with us without a halter or lead rope. I knew there would be the distractions of hay and grass as I asked him to stay with me. I almost couldn’t bear to end the session, but eventually did, giving Cyrus a hug and scratching him in his favorite place on his forehead. As I let him loose and went to walk out of his pasture, he began following me and stayed until I was locking the gate behind me.
I went to put away his grooming box with a huge smile on my face, and looked back out into the pasture to see him calmly walking off to join his friends by the hay. I couldn’t believe how much fun I’d just had, and how easily Cyrus had seemed to pick up on what I was asking him to do. It felt like a small gift from God, one that touched my heart with a flooding sense of joy.
I was reminded then of something one of my friends at the ranch had said to me about working with horses: 'Some days will be super tough and you’ll want to give up, but others will be so amazing that you’ll be walking on clouds!' This was definitely a walking on the clouds day, compared to that day a few weeks before where everything had seemed to go wrong.
Thinking about both of those days now, I realize that our walk with God can be a lot like that. Some days you feel super close to him and it’s easy to be kind to those around you and everything seems to be going perfectly, while on others you feel as though the world is completely against you and God isn’t listening. We don’t have any control over what life will throw our way, but we do have the ability to choose how we will respond to the situation.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” - Philippians 4:4
Too often in life I find myself choosing anger and frustration over joy when things aren’t going my way. But when I think of choosing joy instead of anger, it seems impossible. I can’t just force myself to be happy about something not going the way I want it to, right? Then I realized that while we often use joy as a synonym for happiness, it isn’t necessarily the same thing. Happiness is a feeling we get when we’re finding pleasure in the life around us. Joy is choosing to acknowledge that while we may be struggling in the moment, we can still rejoice in who Jesus is and how he saved us. Joy is dependent on who we are in Christ, rather than focusing on what is happening around us.
“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” - John 16:24
We don’t have to try and force ourselves to be joyful on our own. If we take time to bring our needs before God and delight in his presence, then we will find our joy restored. When I begin to pray and thank God for all of the things that he has provided in my life, I often find that my outlook of the day drastically changes because I have chosen to be thankful for what I have.
This translates to working with horses, as well. Some days the horse understands everything you’re asking and responds accordingly, and you’ll be on top of the clouds. Others, the horse has a bad day and you watch them gallop away from you in the pasture, feeling like you’ve failed. But despite the circumstances, choosing joy and gratitude has an enormous impact on not just how you respond to the situation, but even in how other people respond. How beautiful that God can take a bad day and turn it into a good day, just by us choosing joy!"
“Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” - Psalm 32:11
-Written by Abigail Cash, 15 year old Junior Volunteer