Just Beyond Reach

The horse stood straining, its neck stretched as far as it could go, but it could not dip low enough to reach the few tufts of grass on the other side of the fence. I was walking while waiting for Asherel's riding class to end and I had seen the horse in the distance. As I approached him, he had not yet moved a muscle. He stood parked like a show horse, his body elegantly stretched, his eyes focused before him. As I neared I saw the delectable object of his protracted interest- there were 4 distinct but small tufts of grass just beyond his muzzle.

His field was covered with grass, albeit short and cropped by him and his friends. Still, I was surprised that he had noticed those few little off limits morsels, and that he was fruitlessly giving them such unwavering attention. He barely acknowledged me as I approached.

"Hello," I said, "What a glorious day to be a horse, isn't it!? Sun shining, blue sky, warm wind lifting your mane. What more could anyone want?!"
The horse stared at those 4 small tufts of grass just beyond his reach.
I chattered on, "Friends in the pasture, four strong legs to carry you where you want to go, owners who love and brush you. You have it made, pal!"
The horse glanced briefly at me, and then returned his lockjaw gaze to the 4 small tufts of grass just beyond his reach.
"And look at that magnificent well kept barn! I bet you lay your head in splendor on soft fresh straw every night, lulled to sleep by the sound of barn owls and doves."
The horse was not interested in counting his blessings. His neck pressed down heavily on the top of the fence, the corral that prevented him from snatching those 4 small tufts of grass just beyond his reach.

"Do you want me to get the grass for you?" I asked.
He didn't look at me. His gaze was on....well, you know.
So I bent down and carefully gathered 2 of the 4 small tufts of grass just beyond his reach, and held them out to him, with my palm flat.
He nibbled them and then looked at me as I scratched his forehead.

As I walked on, he stretched his neck over the fence, his muscles straining, reaching, stretching to the 2 small tufts of grass just beyond his reach.

God sent me two messages via the hungry and determined horse. First, we are never satisfied. It is quite often what we do not have that we most desperately want. Sometimes we throw away all the rest of the joy of existence with our futile attempts to secure exactly what we have been fenced off from reaching. The open and glorious pasture is ours to canter across, feeling the ecstasy of rippling muscles, and the wind in our mane but instead we ache and long for the forbidden thing that will give us but a moment's joy and be gone.

However, it is also possible that God was reminding me that if we long for something with single minded determination and devotion, if it is worth having, don't give up. You never know when God's merciful hand will prompt a friend to reach across a divide we are unable to leap on our own.

On one hand, the Bible talks about the pearl of great beauty that the man found and sold all his possessions to secure. Nothing else mattered, and the rest of his life could be sacrificed if he could but only have that treasure. And on the other hand, the Bible tells us that by trusting and obeying the "fences" that God has erected by obeying His word, only then are we truly free to experience the full joy of all He is offering us. Adam and Eve learned that lesson the hard way.

So which horse am I? The one reaching futilely for what I can't have.....or the one seeking the one thing that is truly worth having above all else?

On my second lap, I handed the unwavering horse the other two small tufts of grass just beyond his reach.


Matthew 13:
  ⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.    ⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Romans 7:21-25
 ²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!