As I sit here, a flood of faces fill my mind. Little ones, smiling, laughing. Middle school ones - some silly and some way too serious ones. High school ones - with a smirk and baggy sweatshirt. How do I pick just one to focus on to share with you… to help paint a picture in your mind of what I see every day at ranch and every place the ranch goes.
Class volunteers get to listen as kids connect dots between what happens in the arena to their real world… “Words have power,” one says. “Spending time together helps build relationships,” says another. Or, one of my favorites, “God can talk to me.”
We listen as young people describe ways to show respect in their body language and with their words. We watch students melt into moments with horses and connect to connect to their classmates. We see their work as they brainstorm as a class what trust looks like in a friendship. How do I capture these moments for you, NGHR friend?
I see a young student leading a horse for the first time, beaming.
Jesus, he is why you came.
I stand on the other side of a horse and lock eyes with one teenage girl as we talk about hard things in life, and my heart swells.
Jesus, she is why you came.
As I wander through the pasture with a small group of middle school girls, or stand in the lot with a couple of high school boys, I see moments of freedom from a stressful school day…
These precious ones are why, Lord. And, I am here, because you came for them.
Christmas is always a time for thinking of his coming, his reason for living and dying, and most importantly, rising. It was for you. It was for me. And it was for them.
Jesus is the reason why NGHR exists.
We are all connected - you, me, this one kiddo, and the hundreds of kiddos we see over the course of a year… their mentor, their probation officer, their parent. Here we all are connected by a horse.
But it’s not just a horse though, is it?
Merry, merry Christmas from our barn to yours.
-Emily Pier