Horses and Frogs

Last Saturday, I drove out to Autaugaville after work to watch my cousins participate in a horse show. During a ten-minute free period, several riders warmed up their horses in the arena. One of my cousins, Christina, was among them. Her older brother Jed sat with me in the stands, and he and I talked as we watched the action. Because my cousins share the horse (named Lexus because they figure it’s as close as they’ll ever get to riding in one), he noticed she was traveling too fast. Jed hollered out to Christina, “Pull back on the reins and make her start over, so she’ll know to go slower.” To say his sister didn’t appreciate his help would be a gross understatement.

He then told me that when he first got Lexus, he was determined to do things his way to train the horse. He wanted to figure out on his own what would work. One day, he grew frustrated at the horse’s lack of cooperation. In desperation, he turned to his mother for advice. Naturally, since his mother grew up riding and training horses, the advice worked like a charm. Jed found out that maybe his mother did know what she was talking about, at least when it came to horses, anyway.

Even though we don’t all ride horses, we do have problems from time to time. How do we handle those problems? Do we act out of stubbornness and pride, determined to handle it ourselves? Do we want to figure it all out on our own? In doing so, we will be like my cousin; we will eventually become stressed out…and what’s worse, we may want to quit.

As Christians, we have major advantages over the problems of life. First, we have the best source of advice in God’s Word (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:3). Second, we have the avenue of prayer to lay down our problems at the throne of God (Matthew 11:29-30). Not only that, but we have a Mediator who understand what troubles may come our way (Hebrews 4:15). And, what’s more, we have our fellow Christians who will be more than happy to go to God on our behalf, as well.

When we get stressed, as we often do, all we have to remember is F.R.O.G: Fully Rely On God. Once we are willing to care less about “Me, Myself, and I,” we can suddenly focus more on the great I AM.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV)