Subtle Cues

"Don't tell the horse walk...just think walk," said Jill.
The student looked dubious, but sat, heels against the horse quiet and still, and thought "walk."  Lady walked forward.
"That's creepy!" she said, "How does she do that!?" She repeated the thought commands a few times and Lady always moved forward at the approporiate time.
"Subtle body language is cuing her," said Jill, "She can tell when you shift your weight slightly, lean forward, or turn your hips. The horses here can read the body cues, but they are lesson horses. They know most of the people on them are students who don't know what their bodies are cuing the horse to do so most of the time they ignore those cues with students."
Subtlety in cues. This is something I could use some work on. I am definitely a more "smack you over the head with a message" sort of person. There is a lot to be said for subtlety.

I think God is a subtle God. He doesn't have to be. He can part the Red Sea, make a bush burn without being consumed, turn water into wine, walk on water, raise the dead....but most of the time, He is less obvious. Why? I am always wondering why. If the goal is to draw the world to Him, why not smack us all over the head with His presence?

There is a story in the book of Luke in the Bible of a man condemned to Hell who begs for just a drop of water from Abraham, who he sees in Heaven. If he can't be given that, he begs that God would warn his loved ones so that they don't end up in the same place as he.
Abraham tells the tormented soul that they have been warned- they have the warnings of the Bible prophets.
The tormented man cries out that they won't listen to that, but they would listen if someone from the dead goes to warn them. Abraham tells the man, if they don't heed the warnings of the prophets, they will not listen even if someone rises from the dead.

Subtle cues matter. And they are always there but maybe we have learned to ignore them. And worse still, we miss the big smack you over the head cues as well with hearts hardened in disbelief.

"I feel so bad for her!" cried the rider.
"It's ok," said Jill, "When you learn how to let your body relax and just do what you subconciously know to do, she will respond and you won't need to force her at all."

Luke 16:
¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
   ²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
   ²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
   ²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
   ²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
   ³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
   ³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Anadiplosis

When we study poetry, or literature, there are often clues to understanding. A major clue is repetition.  This rhetorical device is called anadiplosis, latin for "doubling back". In the world of a family, this is called "nagging". In the spiritual realm, it is called "conviction". They all mean the same thing- the pounding over the head of thick skilled Neanderthals the meaning one wishes to impart. I cannot tell you how many times I have told Asherel during our Bible study time, " if God repeats it, pay attention!"

We had an exciting afternoon planned. We were to visit the guitar shop so Asherel could begin testing various instruments. The Giants won the World Series and Asherel was holding her dad to his promise of a new guitar in that event. There were hundreds of guitars to strum- ranging in cost from a little over a hundred to thousands of dollars. I could not so much hear the difference between the varying potential bankruptcy provokers, as feel the difference. The more expensive guitars felt better and played more easily. The wood was heftier and more beautifully grained. The expensive guitars were beautiful. The cheaper guitars looked cheap. Asherel most loved the guitar with the mass produced autograph of John Lennon etched on it.


"Don't look at the outside," we warned her, "Find a guitar that is easy to play, that sounds good, that feels right. How it looks is not important."
My words to my Mom that very afternoon echoed back to me. We were commiserating about the insults of old age upon our bodies, and she mentioned a litany of the less than delightful results of walking on earth for a few decades, one of which was "alligator skin."
"Yes," I agreed, "But it is as it should be. The external wastes away but the internal spirit grows more beautiful each day.... at least in theory."
And here I was reminding Asherel of the same message. Look beyond externals!

After trying many guitars, we went next door  to have dinner at the Souper Salad. It appears that it is a favorite haunt of senior citizens. We settled down to our meal with Asherel and I continued my highly illuminating discussion about selecting the right guitar.
 Arvo warned her that while the autograph was a nice touch, she may regret it down the road. Perhaps she would grow disenchanted with John Lennon, but the autograph was permanent.
"You must choose a guitar based on its insides," I advised, "It is almost a spiritual connection with your guitar."
She looked at me with skepticism, as though I were not advising with the wealth of fifty years of experience and knowledge and a spirit growing daily more beautiful from the inside out.
"I mean," I explained, "Choosing a guitar is a very individual thing. Each person finds the one that feels just perfect in your hands. You will sense when you have found just the right one."
(This wise advice of course coming from someone who has never, not even once, selected a guitar.)


I went on in this vein, waxing poetic about the music of the soul reaching from the depth of spiritual praise to grasp the beautifully crafted instrument that had been prepared just for her very fingers....when Arvo began to chuckle. He was looking at the bill from the restaurant. He handed it to me and pointed to the top line.
"Senior Citizen discount- 10%" it said.
"WHAT!?" I exclaimed, "They didn't even ask us how old we were! What is a senior in this place- 50? Surely they don't think we are 65. Please tell me I don't look 65!!!" I fell silent, and on the drive home rubbed gently at my clasped hands with their alligator skin.


And this is why God needs to repeat His message so frequently. The human heart is resistant to learning the truths that really matter.

1 Peter 3:4-5 (NIV)
Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. [5] For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (NIV)
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. [7] The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [8] But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.