On Sunday, our pastor, Colin Dye, spoke about 'Living in the Kingdom of God', and about 'taking our communities and workplaces for the Kingdom. Afterwards the Lord reminded me of an example of this, during the time I was still involved with horses. I hope the following will be helpful.
First of all the way 'not' to do it is, to go about the office being 'spooky' mumbling in tongues, and giving disapproving looks at every dirty joke. (I'm sure that's not you..ha ha). The bible tells us that; 'Love never fails' (1Cor 13 v 8). I got a lesson in this very early on in our 'horsie years. It's not uncommon on some livery yards for some mothers to drop off their young daughters whilst telling them exactly what they must do before being picked up at the end of the day. It's a bit like a teacher leaving instructions for his young pupils to write a five page essay before leaving the class for a couple of hours! (It 'aint gonna happen).
Well anyway, the every day routine on most livery yards is that, first thing in the morning, you take a wheelbarrow, and the stable gets a full 'muck out', change of water, and some fresh golden straw. Then later on, during the winter months when the horse is stabled, you normally just take out any further droppings using something called a 'skip' which is a small plastic tub.
The thing these young girls often did (in the absence of their parents) is, to take a skip, fill it up with soiled straw, then just leave it outside their stable for someone else to empty. I remember this particular day very well. I'd arrived at the yard in the afternoon to find there was no empty tub, then whilst filling Chandler's haynet with haylage, watched as one of these girls (busy chatting to her friend) cut the string from a bale of straw, took it then dropped it outside before returning back to talk to her friend.
I was getting really wound up, then whispered under my breath, something like; 'Lord, I've had enough of this, I'm just going to have to say something...You know.... 'speak the Truth in love' (yeah right...ha ha) then I heard the Holy Spirit say, - 'You do it....you clear up after them'...I thought; 'That can't be God....get thee behind me satan'... However, the instruction remained, (as it does) and I was left with a choice. I'll be honest and say, I was so incensed with the situation at that stage, that I did not obey immediately. Then when I did, it was 'with attitude' at first, but then I found...the more I persevered...the more I looked for ways to help, - the more joy I experienced.
Fast forward now many livery yards later...and after much petitioning of heaven with my list of desirable qualities for the ideal livery yard....the top of the list being; 'Plenty of land for winter grazing!' Yaay! Anyway, the day finally came when we arrived at this wonderful place where we found so much favour! The owner immediately took to our horses and nicknamed them 'The Giraffe's, because they were bigger than anyone else's on the yard.
Anyway, this new place, already a livery yard, had now been improved and extended with 10 new stables, - and we got first pick! It was as near perfect as you could get apart from one thing which was, there was a Catholic guy there (let's call him Jerry) who, though very helpful, and nice at times, was very controlling, had a raging temper, and a mouth like a sess pit.
He'd been on the yard with his horse like 'forever' and the thing you'd always hear him say was, 'You'll never get rid of me...I'll always be here!' Well, I'd learned by now, what to do, (which in this case was to love the unlovely!) Then back home I would pray and intercede...also 'speaking those things that be not as though they were' (Romans 4 v 17) ie; That we would only get the nicest people come on the yard! Another good word to stand on is Joshua 1 v 3; 'Every place the sole of your foot shall tread, - that have I given to you'.
Meanwhile, I was torn between one minute really liking this guy Jerry, to just 'outrage' on the inside, every time I heard his 'blue language' around the young children on the yard. Knowing I was a Christian, he would try to provoke me on purpose, so I learned whilst talking to him, whenever the conversation took a 'downturn,' to just walk away.
Well, as time went by, the situation with this guy just seemed to grow worse, and I found my prayers ever intensifying; 'Lord, please save him...or do something!' Then one day, I got an email from my daughter saying; 'Jerry is gone! My mouth dropped open....I thought; 'How did that happen!? It seems that he and this girl had had a 'stand up row' in the middle of the yard, and apparently the manager had told them; 'If that ever happens again, - you'll both have to leave!' - And it did!
What I've realised is that, when you keep a consistent prayer watch over wherever you work, or spend your days, if there is a difficult person there, (and you're doing your level best to walk in love in the situation) the Lord will either change them, or remove them! As I say, it was a shame 'cos the guy had a lovely wife, and two sweet children. He could also be really funny at times, and often brought lovely food treats in for us. He said once; 'He thought I was the nicest person he'd ever met,' - but he never knew how close I came to slapping him!
(I would have repented...honest...ha ha!)
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