It's silent before I walk in on them early in the dawn. As I open the barn door their ears perch high on their heads.

They start to whinny, snort and stomp their hooves. Louder and louder as if they are calling, "Get our food! Rub our noses! More hay today! Hurry!"

The grain goes into their bins. One by one they get quiet. Lastly a very peaceful sound is made. It's the sound of satisfaction.

It sounds so simple yet it is so soothing. It's their teeth politely munching their feed. It's a snort of thanks here and there.

I sit back and heed to the silence sound of serenity. The horses, their majestic actions and sounds release healing.

They tell the story of our lives. "Love me! Feed me! Fill me!" Their sounds reflect our innermost wants and needs. Their sounds deliver.

Second Chances

By David Massey

1 Samuel 18:21 (NLT) "Here’s another chance to see him killed by the Philistines!” Saul said to himself. But he said to David, “Today you have a second chance to become my son-in-law!”

Entirely too often, we become mired down by our past. Stuck in the old mud. There's absolutely nothing I can do to alter the past. I can, however, make a choice to be a victim or a victor.

I can sulk and wait on someone to ask for forgiveness for a wrong they have done to me. Most of them time I will spend my life waiting for something that will never come. I can ask for forgiveness from a person I have wronged, but I may not get it from them.

Forgiveness actually has nothing to do with the other person, and everything to do with me. I can’t make someone take my apology, nor can I wait around expecting an apology. It’s simply not a healthy way for me to live.

I can do all I can, to make my wrong right. At some point, I need to admit that I can do nothing more than ask for God’s forgiveness - and then move on.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

There is no shame in starting again. You get a chance to make a bigger and better life than before. Life is full of second chances. Take one.