Life Law #4-You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about your life and everybody in it.
This may be a bad time of year to ask this but have you really ‘gotten real’ with yourself? Maybe this is a good time of year for this question. For example what is the ‘real’ reason you did all that shopping for people? Do you enjoy the giving? Are you too afraid to suggest something different? Are you catching my thought process here?
Why do you do what you do? Is it out of a habit that you learned years ago in your home with your parents? Is it because you are too uncomfortable to change what you are doing now? Or are you doing things because you WANT to.
I have even seen this played out with horses. I have seen people who show horses and they seem to almost just treat it as another ‘thing’ on the never ending ‘TO DO’ check list. Many of them started taking lessons at a trainers barn and they learned to ride, and show, with everyone else. Usually these people are pretty excited. But the person I am talking about has grown past that ‘excited’ phase and now they seem to be going through the motions. One sure way to identify these people is by the fact that the trophies and placing are more often talked about than their equines unique personality. Take a listen…I would much rather hang out with someone who is excited to tell me about how many locks their horse can pick to break out of a door than someone who only wants to list the show accomplishments…but maybe that’s just me.
Change is HARD! But you need to enjoy what your doing. Maybe take up trail riding, team penning, or teaching kids how to care for horses. I’m certainly not against showing but make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and you will be closer to the ‘right reasons’ if you ‘get real’ about why you are doing things.
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I grew up on ranches, and rode “Ranch Horses” several times a week. While at college, my parents sold the last ranch-with the horses.
After about 30 years of being married, my wife got a horse. At the time, I was a Calif. Highway Patrol Officer, which is an unpredictable life with an unpredictable schedule.
After I retired, I got a horse (Registered Quarter Horse). Had her about a year, then she hurt herself. Vet said no riding for a year due to her leg injury.
Then, I got another horse,(Registered Quarter Horse-gelding) who had been a police horse who had lost his job because of “Budget Cuts”..
Now my wife pressures me to “get rid of one of those” .
The mistake she made is that–to me–horses are like your family, and kind of like your kids. Sometimes they do things wrong. Your job is not to get mad at them, punish them, or get rid of them. Your job is to figure out why they do it, then find as gentle a way you can to correct that behavior
A man who now has an exterminator Company here was for 18 years the foreman of a local ranch.
Before that, he spent a couple of tours in Vietnam as a Marine Corps sniper- machine gunner.
We got to talking about horses,
So, what was unexpected was when he talked about his favorite horse on the ranch, he got tears in his eyes when talking about how the horse just laid down and died one day from old age..
My wife asked him about our local race horse track. He said “I Never go”. She asked why. He was looking for the answer when I said,”Horse racing people regard hoses as “Just a Product”, to be maintained only as long as they produce.
Amen to all that has been said. I love to talk about my horses but cannot find anyone to talk to about them. Horses are so fun. Also I wish to thank Jesus for our horses and for Stacy and her husband.
I love this – it’s so true and I can relate. I have been taking a thorough look at my self over the last year. And we can’t neglect transitions that inevitably occur.
Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thanks for being real and inspiring
I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas! God bless you!
We are doing a Chip Ingram study at our church and I believe a lesson we learned about last Sunday applies here. MOTIVES. It encouraged us to ‘get real’ about our prayer, giving, and fasting by being HONEST with ourselves on what is driving us. I know that because of APPLYING these types of lessons to my life, I don’t feel too good about who I am and I am even more thankful for the greatest gift ever given to me, the real REASON FOR THE SEASON. May everyone be blessed to be humbled and truely acknowledge themselves so they can be CHANGED. I am amazed by, JESUS, who could have saved himself at anytime, but had the SELF-CONTROL to suffer and die on a tree for us, for I am weak but he is strong. Thank you Lord for Stacy and Jesse and all the inspiration they give others to live better lives and to do what is right.