Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper? Genesis 4:9
A few months ago, I wrote a blog about Chief, the big white horse in the photo, having to be hospitalized for 15 days due to developing Laminitis.
He and his brother Rusty the True, not brothers by blood but rather by heart and soul, haven’t been separated in more than a decade. So, when I went to load Chief up to take him to the hospital, he and Rusty both went crazy.
Chief wouldn’t stop crying out with great thunder from inside the trailer and Rusty ran the fence line franticly snorting and kicking out to be with his brother, Chief. At that moment, neither of them cared where they were going; they just wanted to go together.
It all got me to thinking about the whole concept of being my brothers and sisters keeper. Or as Jesus put it, “love your neigh-bor as yourself”.
Not by blood, not by marriage, not by proximity but rather to have the same love for the world that you desire for yourself. This is no easy task.
Even those who are not followers of the Way know the heart-rending story from which the above Genesis quote is derived. As we read it, we realize the root of the problem is Cain’s comparison (comparison is the thief of joy), competition, and jealousy.
Is this what keeps us from loving all peoples? Do we see they have more of something than we? Do we judge them because they have less? Do we evaluate others’ worthiness, or secretly our own? On and on the comparison goes, robbing our joy to the point we cut down others.
Some horse people call Chief and Rusty’s passion to be together, “Buddy Sour”. I call it unending love. The included picture of them is them being in the hospital together. I loaded Rusty the True along with Chief, and Rusty stayed by Chief’s side the entire 15 days of his hospitalization.
Even though I do not keep them locked in their stalls at home they were happing just being together, keeping one another.
Perhaps, its time for all of us to take stock of how committed we are to love both our families and all God’s children with such unconditional keeping.
Love, your sister along the journey,
k
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