“Ride in the direction the horse is going.”

Miranda Macpherson in her new book The Way of Grace quotes Lao Tzu as saying this: “Ride in the direction the horse is going.” I chuckled to myself when I read this because I realized how often I try to go in a different direction than the one the horse is going. How much stress and anxiety does this cause?

I have this visual of myself astride a horse, sitting backwards instead of looking in the direction the horse is going. How discombobulating is this? Yet, so many of us live our lives this way. We try so hard to control what’s happening in our lives and in the world, telling ourselves things should be different than they are.

When we turn around and ride in the same direction the horse is going - what relief. We might not like what’s going on, we might not like the direction in which we’re heading, but at least we’re in sync with the horse and stand a much better chance of getting where we’re going with grace and ease.

Today, I’m going to observe myself and see how often I’m going in the same direction as my horse. This could be a lot of fun and enlightening!

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