The Stallion and The Mare - A Fable by Moe

A stallion drew close to a lovely mare one day.  For nought but a simple glimpse into her heart had him wanting to inquire all the more...and so he did.  The mare thought him quite strange as advances seemed slow compared to others yet for the depth he sought, patience was his ally.  For others drew close to her eyes and quickly turned primal.  This particular stallion remained primal throughout all the levels of courtship...but for something more.  A "something" that was usually used as a strategy employed by other horses to take from her what is special by trickery.  With this particular stallion, there seemed to be no taking that which was not freely and truly given up in earnest.  Yet she still could not understand. So one day, he saw other horses of every caliber grazing in her field.  He thought nothing of it since she was desirable and he saw no need to be alarmed.  Yet something odd happened...

They all began to line up in a track as if to race.  She would take the lead and they would all begin the chase.  The horse that caught up to her first...would win her heart.  This is when he understood that she did not see him as special even though he was not looking for the same as all the others.  This is when he began to understand that his place in her heart was not as she had made it out to be.  To her dismay he sat back in amusement watching these horses run against each other for a prize they would never fully have.  He looked on as horse after horse raced into her heart for her to only find disappointment.  A disappointment that slowly turned into a stark disillusionment.  He loved her and cared for her but he knew she was not ready to understand that her truest value could never be measured by an empty race.  For those that understand their value will never compromise such a priceless thing simply to appease a case of loneliness.

This stallion has once ran in a silly race and has been chased in others only to find such things empty and fruitless.  With those needing to win against another and with those needing to be caught.  Both seeking a form of empty validation from a source that bears no real weight.  A validation the self-assured have no need of.  The stallion knew he was beyond such things and that those that were to have him should be beyond them too.  You find those like him in their fields alone most times even when they don't have to be.  Many come to watch them trot but it makes no difference to them.  They seek nothing but if something were to find them, they know it must be more than just companionship.  That if something should come, it should be what they've never had or even sometimes what they've had...but at deeper levels.  A warm body will never be enough because they know they are way more than that themselves.  They have come to understand that it is always better to stay alone as hidden gold than to give it away to the unworthy.

For the stallion and his value, loneliness was a burden worth bearing...

~Moses Apollo

What Pain Is Mine To Bear...

"From the perfect start to the finish line..."

Inches and yards mean less to me than the roads I see paving "forever".  Such a gift has made me a seer of the morrow as it has quietly "kept" my present.  Making me a man of consequential thinking.  Making me a man that can see life and death on the horizon.  Choices made and some deterred for the sake of an untangled life but when it involves your children, what do you do?  What carries more weight?  What you want to do within the construct of parental love or what you must do for their growth?  One is easy and the other is always hard...too hard to bear most times.  My love would shield them in perpetuity yet the seer in me would let them feel the pain so their own shield would become strong enough to survive without me.  My heart and mind fight for supremacy...and it carries a heavy hearted weight that lingers with every passing day.  So be it...

My trust in God is my refuge yet I am clear that "to whom much is given...much is required".  We pass the stages of babes and suckling enough to provide for the babes that we are now entrusted with.  We develop this over time as we allow ourselves to learn the right lessons.  We learn how to fight so we can fight for another.  We learn how to provide so we can provide for another.  We learn how to love so we can show love to another and we learn to live...so we can soon be blessed to live for another.  Such things make us great and nothing hurts more than being made.  Parents feel it until the clouds part enough to see the evidence becomes clear that their children have now been born into manhood.  There is nothing like the love of a parent.  I now understand my Father, His God and mine...like never before.

So I will endure and my trust in God will carry us through.  I will soon witness the grace in this as I have always done but tonight...I allow myself a moment.  The morning will come, the clouds will part and the storms will cease.  Until that day we are strong...only to become stronger still...

Till next time...

"One day we will reveal the truth..."

~Moses Apollo

Doing Your Best...

Life takes the many twists and turns needed to reconcile the day and it doesn't always work out the way you wanted.  Work doesn't always pay what you'd like.  Grace isn't always returned and sometimes love is reciprocated with a slap in the face.  Do you walk away thinking "what more could I have done?"...of course you do.  So long as you're prepared to accept that you did, then that question should be more than welcome.  To think that you are to blame when you put your very life on the line should be enough enough to let you know that your efforts were not in vain.  Be prepared to accept that you cannot love someone into change.  Nor can you become someone's doormat in an endless pursuit of accommodating bad behavior hoping that they will see your grace.  There comes a time when you have to let God and life teach the lessons they must teach.  Whatever happens...know that you did your best...

~Moses