You Can't Hide

My husband Dean and I care for three mustangs.  (I use “care for” since no really owns these powerful creatures.  They choose to accept us as caretakers and part of their herd.)  Dean adopted a wild mustang stallion at an auction before we married.  Then a couple years later Dean’s  brother and  sister-in-law later gave him a mare they adopted as well.   The two produced a gorgeous  loveable  male we affectionately call “Doofus.”

Cheyenne is the female and the lead mare in our little herd.  Even now at her “guestimated“ age of 35 she keeps the other two horses  in line. Before Dean and I married, she pretty much kept Dean on a short leash as well. Every morning she rousted him from bed around  4 a.m. demanding her breakfast  by banging her hoof off an iron gate outside the bedroom window.  

As a newly wed, I did not say much about it – at first.  I think I maybe waited a week before  I exclaimed to Dean, “You’ve got to be kidding me! This will stop!”  My sweet husband felt torn in this battle of female wills.  “On the farm,” he gently explained, “the animals come first.”  “Really?,” I retorted, “On a farm the animals that get fed that early in the morning are usually meat on the table in the afternoon!” Finally I convinced him to at least make Cheyenne wait until a much more decent hour of 6 a.m.  Cheyenne caught on quickly.   She relented.  Dean breathed a sigh of relief.

Afternoons still presented a challenge.   In the afternoon as soon as my car pulled into the drive way, Cheyenne started clanging the gate demanding hay.  In order to convince her to stop, I brought hay to the gate and refused to throw it to her until she quit kicking.  The battle of wills continued  for several days.

Finally one  afternoon I came home and no Cheyenne kicking the gate.  Congratulating  myself as an amature animal trainer I opened the car door.  Then  I heard it.  Instead of the “clang, clang, clang”, a loud “thump, thump, thump” literally shook the barn.  It took a moment before I realized Cheyenne decided to kick the back wall since I refused to feed her if she “rang” the gate.  Had to admire the old girl!  I started giggling.  Cheyenne stuck her head around the side of the barn and snorted at me.

We started the routine again:   I refused to feed her until she quit kicking the barn.  It only took a couple days until she stopped.  Triumphant, I tossed the hay in the corral.  Then I scratched her and whispered in her ear “what a good girl.”  I bragged about it to Dean the next afternoon as I threw the hay into the coral.  “See, I gloated, “No noise!  You just have to let her know who is in charge!”   I followed him to the water barrel in full view of the back of the barn.  There stood Cheyenne swinging her foot and just missing the wall.  She looked at me defiantly, tossed her head and trotted out to the pasture. 

Just like we “caught” Cheyenne, God sees everything.  Nothing is hidden from Him. Proverbs 5:31 says, “For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.”  His desire is to love and provide for all His children, but He is in charge and wants His children to acknowledge His Lordship.  He stands with our provision in His hands and we still insist on trying to get our own way, do our own thing.  The miracle is, He never gives up.  He stands at the gate and waits to give us only good gifts. It is up to us if we choose to do His will. 

Lord, how patient you are.  Forgive me for the times I demanded my way. Forgive me for the times my pride made me think I could hide anything from You.  Thank You for  Your Mercy.  Thank You that in Your great love, You sometimes withhold Your answers to teach me who is really in charge.  Thank You that my demands and whims do not sway You.  Thank You that You never give up on us!