It’s been a little while. My work has been extremely busy, the Holidays have been full of loved ones and good times and my animals have made me one busy little girl.
I had posted a couple of days ago that my husband and I were going over to Atlanta to buy my husband a saddle for Christmas. I tried to get it before Christmas, but things just didn’t work out. So, Dwight, me and my mother and daddy made a day trip over on yesterday. We had an absolutely beautiful day.
Have you ever wanted something for someone that they may not want for themselves? And you knew–you just knew that you had a better idea of what they should have…a better idea of what they should have than themselves? Well, I think…no, that’s not right. I know that’s the way I was thinking about Dwight’s saddle. ☺
I have been wanting to get him a good saddle for a long time. So, I have been financially planning to get him a good saddle for a long time. In other words, in my mind I was thinking that I would probably pay a lot for the saddle. But, that was okay because I knew we’d take care of it and it would last for the rest of our lives. I’m not saying that money was no object. Because it was. But because I had been planning, I had saved money specifically for the saddle.
So, we get to Atlanta and go to HorseTown (I love HorseTown!). My mother and daddy start looking around and Dwight and I go straight to the saddles. We were so blessed to have an employee in the store who treated us like we were the only ones in the store (they were slammed).
I immediately see a Bowman with lots of beautiful hand tooling and dark brown/black leather. I started to drool over that one. It was gorgeous. I looked around at others, but kept going back to that one. And that was the saddle I wanted for him. I asked the wonderful sales lady if we could get that one on the saddle stand so that Dwight could sit in it. And it was done. He sat in it. And … well … nothing. He wasn’t nearly as impressed as me. I said, “what, you don’t like it?” “Yes, honey, I like it, but it isn’t very comfortable”. Whuuuuutt?!
He said, “let’s try a few more”. Yeah, okay, that’s the right thing to do, right? Try several so that you can really make a choice. I knew he’d come back to that one. That was the most beautiful, a very high-quality saddle and (to me) it felt like a dream. So, we tried more. And he tried one that made his face light up. “This one feels great, honey. This is the one I want.”
“That’s the one you want? Are you sure?”
And it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. This was his saddle. He was the one who needed to be happy with it and comfortable in it. I wanted to buy him what I thought he should have, not what he wanted. I wanted to buy him what I thought was the best because I love him, but because I love him, I was supposed to buy him what he wanted, what he thought was best for him. Just because I loved it and thought it was best for him, it didn’t mean that he thought the same way. I asked him, “Is it because this one is less expensive”? “No, honey. This is the one I want. I like the others, but this one feels the best. It’s not like I’m going to be showing horses. I want a saddle to take out in the pastures, ride the trails and be with you on the horses. And I want to be comfortable while riding.” ☺
How awesome is that?!
I learn life lessons every single day. Every. Single. Day. Yesterday I learned that just because I think something is best for someone, they may not feel the same.
I also learned that instead of God changing my husband to want what I think he should have, God used my husband to change me.
Blessings to you!
Charity & The Horse Mafia.
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