Every day, on my way to the study, I pass a pasture full of horses. Of course, I am a master rider of stick horses thanks to Saturday morning TV. I can stay on Silver as he rears, and I can ride Trigger with Roy Rogers as we chase the bad guys, but I have to say my experience with big horses with four legs is limited to the pony rides at the carnival. I don’t honestly know anything about horses except they are big and beautiful, and they seem to care for each other.
In August, thanks to the feedlots, Kansas is home to about two billion, gazillion flies. My duty, aided by my trusty flycatcher, Joey, the cat, is to hunt them down and rid the house of these pests. It can be maddening!
However, I’ve noticed something special about the horses in the pasture next to the church building. They line up, side-by-side, head to tail. “I’ll swish my tail to keep the flies away from your face, and you do the same for me.” Can you imagine a solitary horse trying to flick the flies away from its face? What a sight that would be!
On the other hand, without opposable thumbs or flyswatters, the paired-up horses make life bearable for one another, and there is our lesson for today. Let’s care for one another! Yes, the world is full of pests, but we can make this place a better pasture for all of us.