Choosing Courage Instead

After posting pictures of our steer-loading day, I was reminded of a little article I ran across in an old Country magazine, by a girl who was in the middle of horse training a horse named Dream.

The article was called, "Who's the Boss?"

(By the way, this is our almost earless buck goat, who looks more like a camel at this angle, and he thinks he's boss around here!)

 And all through life, this is going to be a question we are going to ask, and others are going to ask of us. "Just who's boss around here?"

Children start asking this question as soon as they're born.

And adults have their ways of sizing up who's boss, too. 

The girl wrote that as her darling colt grew bigger, he quickly learned that a little intimidation could get him what he wanted.

And who hasn't learned that?

She wrote, "With help from a horse trainer...I had to learn how to let him know I was in charge.
I had to learn how to intimidate him, and not the other way around.

I remember the sweet triumph of realizing that I didn't have to be afraid, that I could

choose courage instead...

I was no longer a puny little human down on the ground. I was a warrior astride a powerful animal."  

And a horse isn't the only powerful thing in the world.

So is a relationship.
So is approval.

Whether it is with your spouse, your children, your relatives, your friends, or your enemies!

And you can let someone intimidate you and control you, 

or you can choose courage instead.

 "Admittedly," the girl wrote, "I was a warrior who often came off Dream's back.

But...I always got back on."

 Maybe sometimes life bucks you off;

but you have to get back on and not be intimidated and controlled by circumstances, negative people, or your own inner critic and negative thoughts.

 "Sometimes," the girl wrote, "he'd lull me into relaxing with his generally laid-back disposition,

then quickly remind me who was faster and stronger. 

Then one day...I decided I was sick and tired of being bucked off. 

He wasn't going to throw me, no matter what! (italics mine)

I hung on  and got him back under control.

It was one of the most triumphant experiences of my life."

I thought about that.
I thought about the times I've been bucked off by the circumstances of life, the times I've been thrown into the dirt and humiliated.
And I thought about the times I had hung on and gotten back up and ridden that bucking circumstance.
I thought about the sweetness of the triumph I experienced inside,
regardless what others thought of me. 

There are times when I have been and am too weak to ride, and so I just choose not to ride the horse that day or that week or that month. But when I'm back in one piece,

I'm gonna choose courage and ride that horse again!

You better believe it!

This article meant a lot to me.

And now my children are home from sledding, so I need to get busy!