Fence

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:8-9)

Horseback lesson for Scout. Riding around and around and around, staying close to the fence.

Scout has begun taking private horseback lessons. My checking account isn't thrilled, but Scout loves it. She started as a rank beginner, and I've enjoyed seeing her progress over the past couple of months.

Her horse was not the most obedient horse last week; it didn't want to stay next to the fence, and it kept trying to go into the center of the ring, where Scout's instructor (the horse's owner) stood. The instructor kept telling Scout that she needed to sit straight, not pull her hands up, not look at him or at the horse's head or at the saddle horn. There were so many instructions! It wasn't something so simple as hopping on a horse and going. She was having to learn to control the horse through her posture, the position of her head, the way she held the reins.

It was kind of amazing to watch. From my perspective, I couldn't see the subtle changes she was making; I only knew because I could hear what her instructor was telling her. So it seemed like magic the way the horse, so determined to go to the instructor, suddenly began walking close to the fence when Scout did as the instructor suggested.

The horse wanted to approach one other person: me. I was standing right outside the fence, and when they would approach me, the horse would slow down and seemed to want me to pet its nose. So the instructor told Scout to pull the horse away from the fence before they got to me, and she was able to do that after a few tries--again, by using the subtle techniques he'd been teaching her about.

Again, it was like magic. My layperson's eyes couldn't see any change in how Scout handled the horse, but the horse just started doing what Scout wanted it to do--stay close to the fence, but give me a wide berth when they got to my side of the fence.

Without Scout's guidance, the horse would have wandered to the middle of the ring, or to me. Or, more likely, it would have wandered over to a patch of grass or maybe even tried to get through the fence. But with Scout directing the horse, it eventually stayed on the path.

God gives us guidance; he gives us instructions through his word. When we allow ourselves to be guided by those instructions, when we listen to his counsel and act on it, I believe that the path ahead becomes clearer. It won't necessarily be easier (in fact, it will probably be more difficult), but it will be clearer.

Unlike an old, trained horse, we're not so quick to go the way we're guided. My prayer today is that I have the courage to go where God is leading me, and that I not allow myself to wander off that path.