Every year at the holidays my mother says my favorite Grace as we hold hands at the table: “Lord, bless this food to our use and us to Thy service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others.” In this simple blessing I am reminded that we are the hearts and hands of a power greater than ourselves. Against the mundane details of text messages and interstate construction, burned out light bulbs and discovering that, yet again, we’re out of paper towels, it can be easy to forget how powerful the purpose of our lives can be. This blessing reminds me of the grace we can bestow on others, of the peace of being in service, the immeasurable power of love expressed as elbow grease.
In Flying Change we have so much to be thankful for today and every day. We are thankful for the friends who came into our herd, our therapy program and our lives and stayed, blessing us over and over again with the gift of their hearts. We are thankful for our amazing therapy horses and the grace that made it possible for us to rescue them or provide a happy retirement when the world didn’t see their value. Through companies and veterinarians and volunteers who stepped up and shared our vision we are blessed with the ability to take excellent care of our horses. We are thankful for all the clients and families who honored us by sharing their stories and trusted us to be part of their healing. This time of year clients that we saw as children come home from college, college students we saw come home with families, families we saw come back whole – all stronger, healthier, the authors of their lives instead of the victims of their past.
On this and every day we are so thankful for all who have come through Flying Change and made it their own. Therapy programs and rescues like ours often struggle to have enough resources to help all those that need us. But gratitude makes what we have enough and feeds our hearts to do more and be more, care more for more families in crisis and horses in danger of slaughter. Our farms, our herd of therapy horses, our clients and their families need tender mindful care every day and our supporters, with gifts big and small, make it possible. Thank you for looking out for us.
Tonight our 20 therapy horses graze peacefully under a radiant full moon on a night that is uncharacteristically warm for late November. They cluster together in alliances – romantic, friendships, the family they have come together and created. We are blessed by their kindness, wisdom, playful spirit and loving natures. I know, it sounds like I’m anthropomorphizing but I assure you they are all these things and more - limited only by our ability to understand all that is in their hearts and minds.
On this wonderful day of Thanksgiving draw close to your loved ones to be thankful for all that blesses you and savor the joyful expectation of all the blessings yet to come. Take this open letter to heart and know that through all you have contributed to Flying Change we are grateful, thankful, blessed and ready to help more!
May you be blessed as you have blessed us,
Lissa & the Flying Change Herd