Jesus, Horses, Friends, and Family

Valentine’s Day sucks.  I’m not saying that just because I am single and I wish I had someone to pamper me and spoil me on Valentine’s Day.  I actually truly dislike what it has become for several reasons.  The first reason being because I feel that if you love your significant other, than you tell them all the time.  You don’t make a big deal out of it just because it’s Valentine’s Day.  I also hate that everyone makes such a big deal out of it on social media.  Tell me, what is the point of posting pictures of your flowers and chocolate and dinner for everyone to see?  I feel that Valentine’s day should be personal!  I agree that it is a day to make your loved ones feel extra special!  But I think that you should keep it personal!  That is what’s wrong with couples today!  They spend so much time boasting about their significant others on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and probably a bunch of other sites that I know nothing about, that they forget to actually spend time on their loved one!  It’s not about boasting to the world how lucky you are…it’s about making sure that the one you love knows how lucky you are! 

 

So there I was on Valentine’s Day, not only lonely because everyone was busy trying to prove their love to the men or women in their lives, but also terribly bummed because I received the call at 7 in the morning that my puppy had died sometime in the night.   I spent the day trying to find someone…anyone…to come hang out with me and play in the sunshine.  It was a little windy so trying to find a non-fair weather cowboy to come rope the sled with me was proving to be difficult.  I ended up giving up and just riding my horse and ponying my colt around.  There is only so much of that you can do before they can’t take anymore so I found myself really struggling to find things to do to beat the boredom.  I roped the sled.  I did the dishes.  I did chores.  I played with the remaining puppies.  I went and got my nails done.  I went and picked up something for dinner.  Then, I pulled a totally cliché single-girl-on Valentine’s Day-move and bought a pint of Ben and Jerry’s cheesecake ice cream, four hilarious anti-love movies, and then went home and pigged out in the dark alone.  Rad. 

Basically, Friday sucked for me.  I woke up Saturday morning with a much better attitude and text my old roommate.  At first, we had considered going to a BBQ…but then, it got decided that she would come down and we would make a day of roping the sled, drinking a few beers, and then going on a girl date to sushi.  We even had some boy company while roping the sled, so it wasn’t a bad day at the office.  As a matter of fact, it was a pretty great day.  Sunday morning rolled around and I decided to go to church.  I haven’t been in a few weeks and I knew that I needed to feed my soul with a little love from Jesus.  The message I received was awesome!  The topic of the sermon was Matthew 11: 28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

That really hit home for me.  This last week or two has been kind of difficult.  I have been taking a lot on and putting a lot of blame on myself for things that weren’t going as planned.  It’s easy for a person who cares too much to carry an unnecessary burden.  I have a huge heart and I am extremely loyal…but not all people that I meet in life are going to be like me and I have to quit expecting them to be!  I have a tendency to worry a lot about things that are completely out of my control.  It can be really hard for me to “come to Jesus” and let him carry the weight of my burdens.  But Matthew 11 doesn’t say let Him carry your burdens…it says “take my yolk upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will receive rest for your souls.”  Our preacher explained this very well.  He used oxen as the example, but I am going to use cowdogs because they are more familiar to me. When you work cattle with dogs you usually have an old, experienced cowdog that knows exactly what to do.  When you get a new pup, one of the best ways to train him is to tie him to your old dog.  He learns to be more like the old dog because he is working so closely beside him.  If you walk closely beside Jesus, you learn to be more like Him and that is the ultimate goal in life, is it not?  Perhaps it’s not letting Jesus carry your burdens that you need to worry about, but being more like him so that your burdens are light.  Something to ponder.

So after church, I went back home.  I had a lady coming to pick up a puppy and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the rest of my day.  It was pretty windy still and I figured my horses could use a rest.  After re-homing one puppy, I decided to haul the other one down to the arena for the high school rodeo.  I was positive that I could find her a home there.  I’m not sure why it never crossed my mind that my cousins would be there, but they were.  What a blessing to be able to spend my Sunday not only with Jesus, but also with family!  Before I moved out here, I hadn’t seen my cousin, Micah, in probably close to 15 years.  I never had the pleasure of meeting her kids or her husband.  But since moving out, they have never hesitated to treat me like family and the more time I spend with them the more thankful I am to have them in my life.  Her husband is wonderful and her kids are some of the neatest kids I have ever met.  I really couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!  I sent my youngest cousin out with the puppy telling him that if he got her sold, he would get a commission…and I’ll be damned if he didn’t get it done!  He is one determined kid!  I was pretty proud of him (and super thankful that I didn’t have to take my last puppy home)!

It’s now Monday.  I am still continuing to make progress with my horses.  Roping the sled on Solo gets better and better.  I am looking forward to the beautiful forecast that lies ahead and hoping that I get to put him behind some cattle again in the next couple of days.  There is a buckle roping nearby this coming Sunday and if all goes as planned, I would love to enter in my first jackpot on the horse that I have worked so hard on.  I also have been keeping an eye out for a second head horse.  Soon, I will be able to afford a new one and I am looking forward to taking it a little easier on Solo and having another horse that I can reliably haul to jackpots.

I would like to announce that for those of you who added prayers for rain in California to your prayer list, our prayers have in fact been answered!  While it is still not enough, it is better than none at all!  As always, I thank you for your continued support and kind words.  May your days be sunny, your horses be fast, and your ropes catch everything you throw at!