Oneness finds expression

Animals teach us so much. Dogs teach me to give God my whole heart, joyfully, unconditionally, trustingly. I can do this because God is good, and I can trust Him/Her with my heart.

The video below illustrates what’s called bridle-less reining. It means the horse has no hardware – no bridle, saddle, not even a loop around her neck.

It looks to me like horse and rider are working at a high level of teamness. Clearly the rider is not “controlling” the horse in the usual sense. She is communicating, giving Roxy cues to which she responds. Roxy anticipates her cues and executes the actions immediately. It looks to me like the horse twirls, canters, changes leads, gallops, and stops because she wants to, not because she has to.

Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” I realize this is most often interpreted to say Jesus is God. But what if he meant – and this is a reasonable, though not literal, interpretation – one in quality, one in purpose, one in action?

This horse/rider team move as one. Everything they do is oneness. What she thinks, Roxy does. They remind me that giving our hearts to an infinitely good God without reservation allows us to learn how to move in perfect harmony with His/Her plan for us.

As we learn to recognize the cues, our responses are more timely.

I’m not there yet. Sometimes I discover reservations hiding in the background. These become opportunities for honest soul-searching, honest prayer-time with God.

Always there is the sparkling example of Jesus’ oneness with His Father – the life of “him who went about the Syrian hillsides doing good and casting demons out.” John Greenleaf Whittier.

And the contemporary example, below, of how oneness can look.