Rule Number One-Follow your leader
When new horses come together they immediately go about the business of determining who is the leader. There is pushing, driving, kicking and bucking to determine the pecking order of the herd. When the initial dust settles the more subtle games begin to take place. There is a body language that speaks very clearly to horses, but must be studied by humans to fully understand it.
The head held high with the neck arched says “try me, I’m the boss”. And sure enough there is always another horse that has to test the hierarchy of leadership. There may be a lot of rearing on the hind feet as each horse tries to appear larger than his cohort. Biting and kicking help one horse to dominate another. Posturing and posing are attempts to intimidate the lesser qualified horse. These struggles for leadership may take a few seconds or perhaps a few days until it is clear who the leader of the herd is. Occasionally in the wild there will be a battle to the death, but more often one horse finally succumbs to the persistent body language of domination and takes his position in a herd that has come under one powerful leader.
It takes many men and women years to figure out who the leader is. We grow up assuming our parents are the leaders. When we become young adults often our peers, careers, or possessions become the driving force in our lives. Finally at some point there is a conflict between our expectations and our reality. For some reason we are not as happy as we supposed we would be. At this point in life we start looking for a better leader. This is where the search for the ultimate leader begins. This is the spiritual journey to which man is uniquely called.
When I say “follow your leader” what I mean is “know your God”. Know that there is an omnipresent force in your life. Know that this force is propelling you toward a destiny that is uniquely your own. Know that if you will be quiet enough to listen many of the confusing and dangerous circumstances in this life can be avoided. Just as in the herd, the lead mare tells the her herd where to find water, where to find a safe place to rest and how to avoid attacks by beasts that lurk in the shadows, so to does your God seek to guide and protect you.
Follow your leader is listed as rule number one not because it was the first thing I learned from horses, but because I know that if I can live this way my perspective on every other part of life changes. One begins to see things through God’s eyes rather than through human eyes. When we see life as on an eternal plane it definitely changes our perspective. I read in a scholarly book what could be summarized thusly, “history happens, there is no history without interpretation, we can choose, based on our faith, to interpret our past [present, and future] as a divine journey”. I choose to believe that I am here for a purpose much greater than that which I can understand in the present moment. That is enough to convince me to “follow my leader”.
