She is called Molly. She is quite a lot taller than me, and she whinnies. Yes, she is a horse. I used to be anxious around her. She is very much bigger than a dog, and I don’t speak horse. So I used to avoid crossing the field where she grazes.
One day I decided I needed to make friends with Molly. So next time I met her, I made sure to have an apple with me. Molly looked up, and noticed I had an apple she sauntered over and made a "prrrr" sound. We shared the apple, and she wondered off.
From then on I would carry an apple in my pocket when I knew I would walk by Molly. Gradually we became friendly.
On one occasion I had forgotten the apple but I did have some Fisherman’s Friends in my pocket, and I thought maybe Molly would like one. So I offered her one, and she took it, and then she made the funniest face by rolling up her upper lip and showing me all her front teeth in a gesture I could only interpret as disgust. I learnt that Molly prefers apples to cough medication.
One night, I walked out in the dark with my dogs. I don’t use a torch as I have better peripheral vision without it. This night, however, was so dark I could hardly sense anything further away from me than 6 feet. Approaching the field where Molly was, I was thinking about other things, when I heard a deep throated "prrrr" and recognised that Molly was offering me a warm “hello”. My heart leapt with joy: I was being greeted like a loved one. I went over to Molly, and she lent into me, and nuzzled me with her muzzle.
So Molly is my friend end my heart warms when I see her.
Molly is not on her own in the field, two sheep are her companions. When she lost her partner some years ago she was joined by them.
We are not made to live alone, we are made for company. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you”. I want to extend that to the created world around me as much as I possibly can.
May you have friends around you that you appreciate and love, and my you know that they love you when darkness is all around you.
Robin
