Dealing with fears

I wanted to write a little more about our weekend at WSS. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and it was lovely to be away from the heat and humidity.

Luke especially had an interesting weekend, one of dealing with fears. He is definitely my most fearful child, one who does not like to do anything unless he knows he will not fail or be embarrassed while doing it. Did I mention he is the one who reminds me most of myself as a child? : ) Well, he has been looking forward to being able to ride the horses at WSS, and since you have to be at least 8 years old, this year he was finally old enough. Yay! So I signed him, Nathan, and me up to ride Saturday afternoon. Then Luke decided that he really didn't want to ride. Not a bit, in fact. I pointed out that he was hoping to come to Camp Caleb next summer where they would ride horses, and that this was the perfect chance to practice with me around. He was unmoved. "Next summer is next summer. Maybe I won't be scared anymore by then."

Bob finally pulled out the "we've already paid for you" card, and he managed to sweet-talk Luke into giving it a go. Luke was put on an old horse named Dakota, and all seemed well until we actually started to leave the corral. I of course wanted Luke to be in front of me, but his horse had no real interest in leaving, so he pokeyed around in last place, eventually following the rest of us out. We turned and went up a hill through some trees on a little trail. Dakota decided he didn't want to go on the trail, so he ambled through the forest in his own direction. Luke was pretty worried about this, and he started calling me in a panicked voice. We were all shouting encouragement at him to pull on his horse's reins in the direction he wanted the horse to go, when suddenly Dakota decided he DID want to be with the rest of us. So he plowed straight for us, through trees and bushes and whatnot. Luke was crying "Oww! Owww!" but fortunately all he got were some nice scratches on his neck. By this time I was sure Luke would be totally done with it all, but Aaron the wrangler (Christa's brother), who had run up the hill when he heard all Luke's commotion, dusted him off and sent his horse to the middle of the pack, a much better place to be, LOL.

Dakota never ventured off the trail again, although he still moseyed along. Luke was constantly having to prod him along with his feet. Directly behind Luke was the son of a retired couple in my parents' Bible study. Jeff is a real nice, funny guy, and he was such an encouragement to Luke. The rest of the way, he kept telling him what a great job he was doing, and eventually you could just see Luke relax. He was pretty proud of himself for finishing the ride, and I think he did have a good time.

I had a good time too, in that the scenery was beautiful. I did discover that riding horses really hurts my knees, so all my dreams of Olympic gold in dressage just vanished in the afternoon sun, LOL. Ah well.

Luke's other big accomplishment was making it to the top of the rock-climbing wall, where you get to ring a little bell. He had never done it before, and he was pretty unsure of himself so high up there.

Luke: "I'm scared."

Bob: "It's okay to be a little scared. Just keep going; you're almost there."

Luke: "I'm REALLY scared."

But he conquered his fear and did it. Yay, Luke!

The rest of us were not stretched in such obvious ways this weekend, although I think we were perhaps in less obvious ways. The speaker, Andy Capps, talked about how to "pray and plan" and figuring out what the Lord wants you to do. This was very timely for Bob and me, as this is exactly what we are dealing with! We need to get rid of our perceived needs and pray that Lord will reveal the needs He has created and is ready to fulfill. Andy's emphasis on prayer was not on asking, but rather worshipping and praising the Lord. I'd say more but I can't find my notebook where I took notes right now . . . Hmmmm . . . That is going to frustrate me all night now. Anyhow, it was a wonderful weekend, the perfect end to summer.