Midnight Sun

I am not sure if you know my love for horses.  My first TN Walking Horse was named Midnight Sun.  His half-brother, Shadow, was a hand taller, so he was my brother’s. Both loved to play freely on the farm but could easily be caught and rode without saddle or bridle.  I know…we were spoiled.  My brother and I spent many years with these two that we grew attached quickly.  Tragedy came one spring.  The best we can tell, they were playing on the old road alongside an 8-10 foot gulley.  Sun must have slipped, fell into the gulley and may have broken his back or neck against a tree near the bottom of the fall.  It was days later that we found Shadow alone.  His countenance told us something was wrong.  I was torn up.  I spent the weekend running up the hollow to chase away the buzzards. We kept Shadow on the lower end of the farm away from the dangerous ravine.  In the fall, my brother took a ride on Shadow up the hollow not even thinking about what awaited him. He tells the story better than I but he had kind of dropped the reins and was just letting Shadow walk at his own pace.  Suddenly Shadow came to a jolting halt.  He stood with ears at attention staring straight ahead for what seemed like an agonizing tribute.  My brother was curious but didn’t put it all together until Shadow voluntarily resumed his pace with a somber gait.  He looked to the left and saw the remaining bones of Sun lying among the limestone rocks at the bottom of a painful memory.  We have often revisited that memory.  My brother wrote an “A” English ode in high school, and I tried to break a Shetland pony. Soon we got a horse named Star, a feisty horse that often tested me, but never replaced my love for Midnight Sun. 

Family dogs have spent many a trial with me sensing my need for a shoulder to cry on, an attentive ear to listen and remain loyally silent but comforting.  When our youngest left for Clemson a few weeks ago, our Maddie sensed our need for a little closer snuggle. 

This week I read a missionary story of two elephants competing to pick up a gospel tract a missionary was using to share with the local people.  Their mutual zeal to wrap their trunk around truth contributed to the locals desire to hear the gospel.  A church began among the seven believers that day.  Amazing how all creation (even horses and elephants) yearns for the restoration of the heavens and the earth when all pain and suffering will cease!