A MORE EXCELLENT WAY
Wild horses, manes flowing in the wind, thundering hooves. Isn’t that what we associate with freedom? Beholding its savage majesty from a distance, don’t we ache to be swept up in their speed – to ride or be part of the herd? But we cannot get close. From our vantage point, we behold the idyllic illusion, rarely considering how vulnerable these beauties are. They are completely subject to the elements, much more exposed than their strength and size would suggest.
I remember living like that. Sweeping flamenco skirts, haunting guitars, and a sense of wine-red freedom – until the Daylight shone on the cavernous longings that had gone long untouched by the illusions of the night. Somehow this lifestyle was not enough. I devoured freedom, but I didn’t feel free. I was hurting and didn’t know why.
Still, the wounds of the wild seemed preferable to the suffocating safety I perceived in the tame horses. Abandoned dreams flickered like dying embers in their eyes. “Shades of mediocrity” terrified me more than anything else, and that was all my wild eyes could see in the 9-5 society, which I thought was the only shelter available, the only alternative to my lonely mornings. I’d rather feel pain than nothing.
But there is a more excellent Way.
Wild horses can indeed find sanctuary without being claustrophobically pinned into stables that break their spirit. There is a Groom who woos us into trusting Him, not to restrain us, but to restore us to what we were before the world was corrupted.
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “ He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.” ~ Psalms 91:1-2
Like the magnificent horses from Cavalia (www.cavalia.net) , He prefers to teach us without bit or bridle, to make us not wild, nor tame, but His. With airy fluidity, they dance out of desire to please their loving trainers. Groomed with kindness, their obedience is their beauty. This is meekness. Unbounded strength under control.
These incredible creatures are my inspiration now; I yearn to easily and delightfully obey His slightest whisper! Not to please the audience at a show, but to draw other wandering animals, needing shelter and true freedom, to His stable.
“I have compared you, my love,
To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.”
~ Song of Songs 1:9
