Perseverance

Each and every one of my beautiful and amazing animal friends teach me important life lessons.

One of the biggest and best lessons I've learnt from one of my horses is Perseverance. Dictionary definitions include :

'persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit of something begun; continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory'.

It is the last that really rang true with me. From the days when my horse and I received comments like "Why do you bother; he's not worth it" which only fueled in me a gritty determination to 'show them he is!' to the current day 'Wow, he's magnificent' we have travelled a long and convoluted path together.

Sure there have been times where I have been sorely tempted to down tools and give up. I'm positive there have been even more times he would have happily been rid of me in his life. Yet his patience, tolerance, kindness, forgiveness and love helped show me the value of persevering.

Life has a way of throwing great big 'road blocks' (as someone once put it to me) in our paths. Usually they appear for a very good reason, though we are often at a loss to understand what or why. How many times have you reviewed a situation in hindsight and understood how things you perceived as troublesome actually supported and saved you (often from yourself!)? Our road blocks can help teach us perseverance; they can make us stronger in a myriad of ways.

Our universe never ceases to support us. We are all loved as unique individual beings. None of us travel identical paths, have the same lessons to learn or the same 'offerings' to life. In the same way the ingredients that make a cake, each of which on their own are pretty much inedibile, combine together for a fantastic result, so too should we. Should 'we' here be us humans; should it include our animal friends; the plant kingdom? That is for you to decide - and live by your beliefs without judging others for theirs.