blogs: maureen gallatin: may 2008: carrot vacations

Carrot Vacations

May 20, 2008
by Maureen Gallatin

Last Sunday morning, my friend and her husband were the ushers at church. Alongside my friend was her little granddaughter, who handed me a bulletin. You “couldn’t not” smile, as you saw the mix of emotions. This shy girl was obviously pleased to have such an important job, sure that she wanted to hand me a bulletin but not sure that she could really say, “Good morning.” After church, her grandmother helped her to do the tidy-up jobs of an usher. Her tenderness and patience as this little girl figured out what to do with various papers was really inspiring.

I felt the same way when I read Bob’s blog about his family branding. If you haven’t seen it, you have to take a minute and look at the photos (http://myhorse.com/blogs/bob_welch/index.aspx). The picture of Bob’s little boy fishing in his pockets while his old pony, Frank took a tiny snooze with a “whatever” look on his face, really got me.

The world seems to be going so fast. I rarely see anyone driving without also talking on a cell phone. I know we’re all peddling hard, but I worry that we’re going so fast we don’t notice these tiny, generous moments that help to keep us grounded. If we don’t notice them, we won’t create them for ourselves, other people — or for our horses.

As I talk with people about why they’re drawn to horses, they often reference the sense of peace or connectedness they feel. Yet there’s a tendency to bring our perpetual-motion selves into our horses’ world, and we wonder why they get a bit neurotic. We spend a lot of effort trying to despook our horses. We want them to have nerves of steel, maybe because ours are frequently on edge.

What if we learned to practice the art of taking tiny vacations? Just an extra moment to enjoy the look on a pony’s face or the sweet interaction of a grandma with her granddaughter? Sure, it means breaking our stride, letting our adrenaline settle while we drink in the grace that is around us. My guess is that when we put it into gear after that peaceful pause, we won’t have lost any time, but will have gained something far more valuable. When was the last time you munched on a carrot and just looked at the world around you?

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Marureen, You made me smile! I can envision my self wanting to do all those things. Thanks for slowing us down to a walk..

Posted by Nancy Weir

So true! This reminds me of the song I Saw God Today. The little things like the nicker of appreciation my mare gives when it's feeding time, a beautiful sunrise, birds feeding at the feeder my Dad or Uncle built for me, the sound of my families voices, my Mother's smile and beautiful green eyes lighting up when you do something small for her or tiny little hummingbirds and the long trips they make each year are the things we should enjoy. The world is amazing especially when you see it through your horses eyes.

Posted by Teri

We miss so much in this world of instant gratification. We go from work to rest, with not much time for rest. The Lord wants us to go from rest to work so we can hear what he is trying to tell us. Maybe we need to treat our Bibles like our cell phones. Most of us would turn around to get our forgotten cell phone. Would we do the same if we forgot our Bible? Lets munch on a carrot and look around us and see just how much God loves us by the beautiful things he has bestowed upon us. God Bless.

Posted by Beth Athol ID

Thanks for reminding me! I have many chances a day to take those tiny vacations. In fact, because I live on a farm, and in a rural area, I get to watch all kinds of interesting animals and nature. I also work in our home office. It is sometimes difficult to get office work done around here as there is always something happening right outside my window. The birds I feed, along with the chipmonks, are always entertaining. Of course so are the horses and cows. I could spend hours just watching nature. Every morning , I get the privilege of walking with the horses down the trail and into the meadow where the creek flows and the grass grows. I find it so inspiring and exciting to watch how the horses interact with each other. They all seem to know their place, but some(as in the yearlings) like to pretend they don't.Then of course there is the wild animals and birds. There are too many species to mention, but I've seen about every variety of wild animal that inhabit the foot hills of the east side of the Willamette Valley. I guess I'm one of the fortunate people that indeed do have nature at my door. Thank you God for putting all these experiences of nature here for me to enjoy. To answer your question about the last time I munched on a carrot and looked at the world around me. Just a few minutes ago.

Posted by Mary Jeppsen