Stalled?

Ginger, a little chestnut pony

Stalled?

Ginger, a little chestnut pony, poked her head around the corner as I drove up.  I’m not sure why it was a surprise to me.  She is more often than not standing in that same little stall.  Still, it was a beautiful spring day.

There were light clouds billowing above as if to punctuate a deep blue background.  A light breeze also made the mid-sixties-temperature very comfortable for the other horses, cows and alpaca to munch the sweet new-growth grass in the surrounding pastures.  These alternative, favorable surroundings caused my stupefied response to Ginger’s decision to lurk in the contrasting, sterile confines of a darker enclosure.

Before I started taking care of Ginger that same stall was her whole world.  Her owner would come infrequently and give her a lacking amount of food and water.  She was alone and starving there.  I watched as her weight dropped and I soon I knew that something had to be done about it.  So, I began feeding her.

Then, one day when her owner happened to come by I took a chance.  “You know.”  I said.  “I’m here every day taking care of my animals.  I know how far away you live.  Perhaps I can just take care of Ginger while I’m at it?”

“Wow.  That would help me a lot.”  He replied.

That was the beginning of a new life for Ginger.  A life of plenty, filled with good food, water and companionship because I tied her stall gate open and framed a new gate so she could come over to my place whenever she wanted. It wasn’t long before she her coat was shining and her belly was rotund.   It was good to see her healthy and strong again.

I looked at her nose reaching out of the shadow as she sniffed the fresh spring air, her eyes sparkling bright, as she looked at me questioning her.  I walked over to the watering trough and began to fill it.  She stood in the same place for a time.  Then, she walked over to say hello and get a drink of fresh water.  She shook herself all over and her ears shot up and forward, telling me that she was happy and comfortable.  She was giving me the answer to my question!

She was telling me that she isn’t any different from you and me!  We all have our comfortable places.  We stay there because they’re familiar to us. We know what to expect.  Then, once in a while something may entice us to move out and away, to try something new and different.

Ginger comes out a couple of times every day.  She gets what she needs, green grass, sunshine and fresh water, but her stall is her place of comfort, safety and refuge.  She chooses to be there.  I smiled, as I got her message.

But. her choice caused me to ask myself an important question.

“Has my desire for the comfortable become a trap?  Am I hiding in place?”

Ginger has offered you and me and opportunity to ask ourselves if we’ve become stalled!  Should we venture out from our places of comfort more often so we can graze on greener grass and drink fresh water?  

I’d like to have my eyes to sparkle just like Ginger’s .   How about you?