Ninth.

I saw the most beautiful thing today.

I wish I had my camera with me at the time so I could show you. But I'll tell you as best I can.

I worked at One Body In Christ Horse Ministries today, like I do every Saturday. Today, though, was different. Today was the annual Fall Festival. Yard sale, petting zoo, grillin' and chillin' in the riding ring with turkeys, miniature horses, goats, rabbits, a lamb, and a VERY pregnant donkey. Corral rides on the big horses for the short people, and trail rides on the big horses for the tall people. Kids were chasing, catching, and petting the turkeys and wishing the mini horses weren't feeling grumpy and lazy today. It was sunny, breezy, and only a few wispy cirrus clouds in the sky. Families were coming and going here and there. I was able to hang out with and talk to people I didn't know, people I do know, and people I now know. Perfection. LIFE.

As glorious and reflective of Christ as this was, it is not what I wanted to tell you. My beautiful sight was of an elderly woman. She walked using a walker. She breathed with a nebulizer at her side. She was wrinkled. She was white-haired. She was weathered. She was beautiful.

She had her daughter carry a folding chair into the riding ring for her. She sat in it for a while, but soon got on her knees on the dusty ground with her face in the seat of the chair. I wasn't sure what she was doing until I walked by her. This lady was praying fervently and nearly silently for the success of OBIC's ministry and for the souls of people. She had her eyes closed and her brow was more wrinkled than usual with intensity and earnestness. 

This was that beautiful scene I wish I could have taken a picture of. 
But then...her daughter came over and told her that it was not good for her knees or her lungs to be on the ground. She told her that people were looking at her. She made her mother get back up into the chair, but soon enough, she was right back down. This happened a few times before I was transferred to the corral rides. 

Maybe sometimes what is "good" for us is not what we need, not what is "best" for us. 
Maybe sometimes propriety should take a backseat to authenticity.
Maybe sometimes I wish I understood how to more thoroughly apply this to my own life. 

I hope to be as fervent in my faith as this beautiful daughter of the Beautiful Father was.