Look out the kitchen door and what do I see? Two cute horses staring at me! They are amazing creatures and they are trying to get our attention. They will look at the house then look at the field, longingly, kind of like hey (haha) look out there…You see, it’s springtime and they know it. The birds chirping, the trees blooming and most importantly to them, the grass is growing. We keep them in the front field during winter so that they don’t destroy the good fields. We feed them hay over the winter, and when the grass starts coming in, they start getting antsy. They go around their field covering every square inch snatching up any little blade that pops through. They hunch down on their two front legs as low to the ground as they can go, and crane their necks under the fence trying to get any morsel they can. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right?
Anyway, they alert us to Spring. When we turn them out on those crisp mornings, they no longer run for the hay, they run to the gate. What’s behind that gate? Fields of grass. Beautiful, sweet, succulent grass. Who wouldn’t long for that? You can always tell a grass fed horse by the size of their girth. They usually start running to the gate about the first week of March. They’re usually not out fully on grass until the first week of May. That’s a whole lotta yearnin’ goin’ on.
Because horses have sensitive tummies, yes, the gigantic oafs do, we have to wean them onto grass. The new grass is a little too rich on their stomachs and a horse with a belly ache is dangerous and expensive. So, when Farmer T says that the grass looks good, we start turning them out a little at a time. Our habit has been to put them out for a few hours each evening for about a week. Believe it or not, their bellies have timers. About evening time they go to the gate, look at the house with those beautiful, pleading eyes, then look at the field, the house, the field, the house, the field. They will do this for hours. They get a little uptight, a little impatient. They push on the gate, trying to get to the other side, trying make something happen.
Here’s the thing. We fully plan to put them out at just the right time. They don’t understand that if we put them out full time right away, it could be dangerous for them. They don’t understand the method to our madness. They don’t understand the plan. In fact, they don’t even know the plan. So, they look at us with those pleading eyes, go to the gate, and get a little testy for weeks, until we answer the call to open the gate, putting the plan into action.
As I was fussing with them and telling them to be patient, they had to wait until just the right time, that they shouldn’t be anxious or frustrated with our failure to respond to their pleading to open the gate, and that they shouldn’t be pushing on the gate trying to open it themselves, that they have to trust us with the plan, it hit me. I must be a horse!! Don’t you see it? I have a girth thing going on, I’m a pleader, I get anxious and frustrated, I try to push to make things happen before their time, I don’t wait until the plan is revealed. You too? Yes!
The Lord is probably trying to give me the same speech I give the horses. Why is that? Because I don’t listen. Because I want my own way. Because I’m afraid of His plans for me. Because I want to run headlong. Because I’m impatient. The because list could go on for quite some time. But, look what He says:
“The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
He says He’s got a plan for us. He says that we have to hang back for a bit, but then all His promises for good will be realized. We know that and yet we’re like the horses. Longing, anxious, pushing to make things happen, when we have no idea what His plan is. But we can know for sure that His plans are for good.
Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.
Romans 12:12
So, with whatever it may be in our lives, we must commit to His plan, even though we may not know what it is and in the meantime be patient and prayerful. Otherwise, we may have a tummy ache that could be dangerous and expensive. I’m definitely a horse!