The Gate

I once had a horse named Buddy. He was a registered quarter horse, red in color, 15 1/2 hands high with 2 white socks on his back feet and a white star on his forehead. I kept him in a stall that had a small turn out pen the size of a front yard. I tried to lead him up to the fenced in pasture daily but that didn't always happen. Buddy lived mostly in a dry and dusty fenced in pen.

One beautiful spring day I decided to let Buddy loose from his pen so that he could graze on the lush green grass that was all around him. I was tired of leading him up to the pasture so I decided to just open the gate and let him go by himself. I opened the gate and fastened it so it would stay open. Then I told him, "You're free." The horse just looked at me….ears pointed forward, muscles tensed, eyes in an intense stare. I said, "Come on…come out and eat some grass." But the horse refused to come out of his pen. I decided to see what the horse would do if I walked away with the gate left open. I started walking to the house. That really got him worked up. He started cantering around his pen but still would not come out.

I wanted to give Buddy his freedom, to set him free from his dusty dry lot pen, to allow him to graze on spring green grass but he wouldn't go through the gate. I believe his mind could not accept that he was free and fear kept him from taking the steps necessary to go out through the gate.

I've been guilty of behaving like Buddy. It's not hard for me to imagine a smiling Jesus leaning on the open gate saying, "You're free." Why do we allow so many things to pen us up?

Today I'm thinking about my weight. The extra 20 pounds around my waist have been a pen of mine for years. Oh, I believe I can lose the 20 pounds but I haven't taken the steps to do so. I believe this is the year I'm going to choose to be free from my overweight issues. This is the year I'm going to walk through the open gate.

John 10:9-10 (New International Version)

9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture.

10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.