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On the trail home
Whenever it feels as if my thinking is off track, I remember my horse named “Dark Armor.” He possesses, as all horses do, an innate instinct to find the way home.
Many years ago I’d planned to meet up with friends on a ranch for a long trail ride. One by one each friend had to cancel. But it was a lovely day, so I decided to take Armor out for a trail ride, just the two of us. Taking many turns along the way, we climbed hills farther and farther away from where we’d started. And though I knew the trails quite well, we ended up going beyond areas which were familiar to me.
As we made our way back home, we came to a fork. I turned Armor the way I thought was right. I was surprised when instead of going forward with his usual, confident pace, he walked gingerly, as if he were stepping on eggshells. Usually horses heading back to the barn will pick up their pace with no urging from the rider, but I really had to push him to move. He also swished his tail around, which was a sure sign of annoyance. Finally, I stopped to figure out what my horse was trying to tell me. Then it hit me—I’d taken the wrong trail at the fork.
I turned us around and we retraced our steps back to where we’d turned. As soon as we started to follow the correct trail, Armor happily picked up his pace. I imagine he was relieved that his rider had gotten back to the right trail (which had been his choice all along). Soon we arrived back at the stable—a happy horse and a chastened rider.
I sometimes revisit this experience when I find things in my life aren’t going well or when I see others struggling. I ready myself to abandon any incorrect way that I’m thinking and listen instead for angel messages to guide me safely back to a more spiritual perspective, which is God’s knowing.
As Mary Baker Eddy explains: “Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. … There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210 ).
Sometimes it can seem as if evil is as powerful and real as good. But that’s not true. When we listen with full attention to God’s angel thoughts, we’ll find His loving care is powerfully present for each of us. We’ll find the confidence to take the right trail.
—Deanna Whitfield, Beaufort, South Carolina, US