Sermon on the Mount
Lew Sterrett is a master horse trainer. And if you ever have the chance to see his Sermon on the Mount workshop live, you absolutely should! Sometimes I think everyone in the whole world should see it. (We went the first time, October 6th, 7th and 8th.)
It was so fascinating to watch him take an unbroken, never-ridden, two-year old philly, and in two hours of tireless effort, capture the horse's heart, earn its trust, saddle it up, and ride it without incident.
Meanwhile- the whole while he worked the horse, he was drawing challenging and convicting analogies between the horse's responses to him, and our responses to God as He tries to woo us. It was absolutely beautiful!
We all went home thinking (and are still thinking) about how much we are like that horse, from its simple neglect to acknowledge the presence ot the master, to its insistence on controlling its own decisions, to its reluctant submission to the master's instructions, while still refusing to look at him... and then we think how we want to be like that horse, when it finally became beautiful by lowering its head and gazing steadily at the master, letting go of its heart and leaving itself vulnerable to the master's will. When it reached the point where it returned its gaze trustingly to the master, no matter what he did to annoy her, then it was ready to ride.
Days later, I remembered Psalm 32:9, that says, "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle , lest they come near unto you".
I learned there is a horse whose mouth does not need to be held in with bit and bridle. Lew Sterrett has at least two such horses, who will do just about anything he wants them to, from waiting patiently for hours just where he told them to stand, sitting, laying down, backing up, turning in tight circles, launching him into the saddle from sitting on their heads, not to mention putting up with abuse from the untrained horses Lew is working with, just because he wants them to and they want to please him. And they don't use a bit or a bridle.
It was so fascinating to watch him take an unbroken, never-ridden, two-year old philly, and in two hours of tireless effort, capture the horse's heart, earn its trust, saddle it up, and ride it without incident.
Meanwhile- the whole while he worked the horse, he was drawing challenging and convicting analogies between the horse's responses to him, and our responses to God as He tries to woo us. It was absolutely beautiful!
We all went home thinking (and are still thinking) about how much we are like that horse, from its simple neglect to acknowledge the presence ot the master, to its insistence on controlling its own decisions, to its reluctant submission to the master's instructions, while still refusing to look at him... and then we think how we want to be like that horse, when it finally became beautiful by lowering its head and gazing steadily at the master, letting go of its heart and leaving itself vulnerable to the master's will. When it reached the point where it returned its gaze trustingly to the master, no matter what he did to annoy her, then it was ready to ride.
Days later, I remembered Psalm 32:9, that says, "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle , lest they come near unto you".
I learned there is a horse whose mouth does not need to be held in with bit and bridle. Lew Sterrett has at least two such horses, who will do just about anything he wants them to, from waiting patiently for hours just where he told them to stand, sitting, laying down, backing up, turning in tight circles, launching him into the saddle from sitting on their heads, not to mention putting up with abuse from the untrained horses Lew is working with, just because he wants them to and they want to please him. And they don't use a bit or a bridle.
posted by 1of14 | 9:21 PM
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