I’m sitting here looking at one of my favorite gifts. It is a pewter statue of a mare and colt. The mare seems to be saying to the newborn colt, “Ok, it’s time for you to get up and try to walk. But remember, when you do, you are committed for life.”
The mare seems to be giving this wisdom in a gentle way and the colt is listening intently. The title in the front of the statue is “Love is gentle.”
I sometimes wonder if we are ever committed for life. Oh sure, we think that we have made life commitments, maybe in relationships, religious beliefs, or life goals, etc. But how many stay the course? How many actually develop even better relationships or actually grow closer to God’s message of love, or continue to work on those life goals?
In reality we are almost constantly distracted by so much overload that there is no time to step back and put priorities in order. It seems there is little time for finding a sense of personal peace. And this is what is needed most for developing the really good things in life like compassion, understanding, simplicity, gratitude, love, and gentleness.
Most people make the mistake of thinking that if only they had enough of something or were in the right situation, then they could be at peace. But it appears to be the other way around—it is when we are personally at peace that we are most capable of being our best or truest self. It is when we are at peace that we are most likely to have our priorities in order and are able to more easily follow our commitments to quality living.
And a quality life journey has nothing to do with accumulating things or being overly busy with urgent unimportant things that distract, and overwhelm us. The real priorities may lie with spending time (perhaps in prayer or meditation, etc.), in order to find the simplicity and direction of personal peace. Then everything else falls into place and we can get up and successfully continue to walk on our committed life journey, remembering that love is gentle.