All these thoughts had been like a flow of angel messages
early in those dark hours of the morning which had given me new
light and a clearer view of how to pray about all God's creatures
as ideas, as safe, not endangered, as encircled in Love's arms.
I found a sense of peace, free
from vain alarms," and I was able to go back to sleep.
Well, I can tell you I was sure grateful I had all of those ideas
fresh in my thought the next day, because I sure needed them. I
am a school teacher, and I got a phone call at school from the police
department. The officer told me that our horse, Blue Eyes, had been
frightened by a noisy bulldozer on the construction site next to
his pasture. Blue had bolted through a barbed wire fence cutting
himself badly, and then he had crashed down a rocky cliff, and galloped
across the new subdivision and out onto a busy highway. I could
only imagine how frightened he must have been. One of the workers
caught him and tied him safely to a tree. The police officer told
me Blue was injured and asked if I could come right away.
As I drove home to my horse that was "in danger" I found
myself starting to think a lot of alarming thoughts. Here are some
of them:
- I was afraid of how badly Blue Eyes might have been hurt.
- I began to be angry at the bulldozer driver for scraping away
the hillside so close to Blue's fence and scaring him so badly
that he tore through the barbed wire.
- I was especially mad at the contractor who had already knocked
down the good wooden fence the week before and carelessly replaced
it with cheap wire which was sharp and dangerous.
So far none of those thoughts were healings thoughts! I had to
stop and make some needed corrections in my thinking. It was then
that my early morning flow of angel messages came flooding back
into my thought giving me new light and a clearer view of all God's
creatures as ideas, as safe, not endangered or in danger, as encircled
in Love's arms. I began to see Blue Eyes and his pasture as a tiny
version of the world. It dawned on me that this horse (species)
in his pasture (habitat) in danger (endangered) by the bulldozer
(forces of man on the earth) was a microcosm of the problems of
the whole earth. All the good ideas, these angel messages about
God's universe, that had come to me that morning when I reached
out to Her in prayer would help me heal my own angry thoughts about
the contractor and the bulldozer man and my fearful thoughts about
Blue Eyes.
I was immediately more at peace. I discovered I wasn't gripping
the steering wheel so tightly anymore. I knew I could understand
whatever I needed to know. The idea came to me to stop and get a
rope so I could lead Blue back to the stable. Then I drove on to
the construction site. I wanted to be grateful for something, for
anything. I knew that gratitude brings healing. I decided to look
for the man who had caught Blue and tied him safely to the tree,
so I could thank him. That was the start. I realized that Love's
encircling arms had been protecting the horse as well as the people
driving along the highway. No one ran into him and he didn't cause
any wrecks. That was good.
Blue was awfully glad to see me. There were lots of cuts from the
barbed wire, but I was quick to change my view of a physical thing
– an injured horse- into thought – God's spiritual creation.
I could not protect or help heal Blue if I saw him as an animal
somehow separate from God, his Creator. But I could help if I saw
him as a spiritual idea. So that was my prayer, to acknowledge the
spiritual fact about him.
Wouldn't that work for the whole world too? Instead of praying
for animals to have better worldly conditions, I could know the
immunity of a spiritual idea from all the elements whether polluted
water, dirty air, contaminated soil, scarcity of food and habitat.
Weren't these just other versions of "earth's vain alarms"
like I remembered from the hymn that morning?
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