One of my relatives reflected how one of my blog posts had led her to consider who she has become as a person and the faith journey that has led her to where she is now. She rides and shows horses and we shared what lessons God has taught us through the animals He has given us. With her permission, let me share an excerpt from her story:

“I had show horse that was a beautiful horse. He had won the Yearling Halter Gelding class at the Appaloosa World Horse show and was a beautiful mover and very smooth to ride.  I won a LOT with him. What he wasn’t was a nice horse.  You had to watch him all the time. He would try to kick or bite you whenever the mood stuck him and he was what is known as a dishonest horse, which means you can’t trust him under saddle to do his job.  After the first year, he began to cheat me regularly in riding classes.  At horse shows, the trainers I rode with would tell me to do one thing in one class and a totally different thing in another class. Nothing I did pleased my trainers or made the horse ride better.  My self-confidence was completely gone because the trainers convinced me everything I was experiencing was due to my lack of talent.  As you can imagine, I was in a very dark place.  The thing I enjoy doing most in the world and I was a complete failure.

I sold that horse and found Moe.  He was not as beautiful as the other horse and he rode like a truck with bad shocks, but what he had was a heart of gold.  He was the happiest horse I have ever known.  He would do anything I wanted, whenever I wanted.  He had an incredible sense of humor and took very good care of me.  Most importantly, he pulled me out of that dark place and gave me back all my confidence.  As you can imagine, I loved Moe.”

As I read about these two horses, I’m reminded that our inner character is so much more important than our appearance or ‘success.’

I need to be more like Moe. How about you?