The Dragonfly

There is a chapter in The Horses We Love The Lessons We Learn that tells a story of my childhood fear of dragonflies. This came about after my mother told me to be careful of them because they would sew my eyes and mouth shut.As a young girl, I found myself in a field with a torm approaching and dragonflies swooping everywhere around me and I was terrified. That was until a friend of my dads found me, rescued me and told me that they were spirits that watched over me and guided me through life.

I was reminded of this story early this morning when I went out to vaccum the pool. I created a garden near the pool with a small pond for the animals and insects to get a drink of water on hot days. This beautiful blue winged dragonfly decided that the swimming pool looked more refreshing and as a result, I found him lying on the surface of the water struggling to fly. His beautiful wings were wet and he couldn't take off. I got the skimmer and attempted to reach him and the harder I tried to rescue him, the more he fought me and the further he would drift out of my reach. He was frightened and in his fear, he resisted my help.

You can't help someone who is too frightened to help themselves.

Horses are fear and flee animals by nature. By this I mean their instinct tells them to flee from what they percieve as a threat. When they are frightened and in trouble such as when they are tangled in a fence or cast against a wall in their stall and can't get up, the fear takes over and often times when you try to help them, they panic.

You can't help someone who is too frightened to help themselves.

People are the same way in that we sometimes get ourselves into a bad situation and out of fear, we sometimes get in so deep that we can't find our way out. When someone tries to help, we panic and fight their help and we continue to get in even deeper. That dragonfly this morning reminded me of someone in my own life and I am sure each of you have tried to help someone that is in trouble. If this describes you, you are the view from the back of my horse today because I know how difficult that can be. Be patient, be persistant and no matter how hard they fight you, be there for them. Do make them accountable for their own recovery but try to lessen the fear. Do be honest with them in what you see but remind them that you love them. Do make them understand that you will be there no matter what but you can't do it for them.

You can't help someone who is too frightened to help themselves but you can be there when they stop struggling long enough to recognize that they need help and you are their soft place to fall.

I moved the dragonfly to the garden and when I went back an hour later to check on him, I was happy to see that he was no longer where I left him. He may have flown away and gotten out of his bad situation and there may come a day when he comes back to the pool and will drown because I wont be there to help him but for now, I was there. Be there for those you love and continue to rescue them if you can. We all need help sometimes.

Blessings
Tena