An odd walk

Moxie and I took our ususal walk along our usual wooded path today when we encountered something unusual.

A burro.

All by its self wandering loose on the road. She approached us ears pricked and stopped right in front of me letting me pet and stroke her. She wasn't wearing a pack or a rope or anything. Lots of farmland nearby but I had never seen her before, just cows and the odd horse.

Hmm, I thought. Nice burro. I petted her for a minute then started off on my walk again.

She followed me. Right behind me. If I stopped suddenly she would bump into me. This continued for a bit. I kept my eye out for farmers or open gates or anything but had no idea where this girl came from.

So I thought, what the heck. I wouldn't mind a nice ride through the woods this after noon. But as I walked with her to a stump where I could mount up, I noticed that she was lame on her front leg. Her hooves were badly damaged and her knees knocked into each other when she walked. One of them was obviously painful to her, she would hold it when we stopped. She stood quietly while I picked up each of her feet and examined each leg. Asside from the swelling, I couldn't find anything wrong.

But she was clearly in pain...and clearly belonged to somebody. She was so sweet. And she had none of the saddle sores and abraded area on her back or legs or neck to show that she was actively being used as a beast of burden. (So many of the burros I see down here look just pitiful.) She was a lush chodolate brown with a velvety soft cream colored muzzle and big rich black eyes, and long inquisitive ears. She was so lovely. I would have taken her home with me in an instant but for the impossible task of loading a burro into the back seat of my Saturn ion.

So I sat on a log and watched her graze for a while. Not a sould passed by. Moxie whined, "could we get on with our walk already mom! I mean if you won't let me chase it, what good is that donkey anyway!" So off we went.

We passed by her again on our way and she looked up from her patch of clover and seemed to wave at us as we passed. All in all, it was a strange encounter. Perhaps tomorrow, we will go back up on the mountain and find it was all just a dream. Or maybe, she was there to tell me something.

I think that God speaks to us in different ways. More than once I belive he has sent me an animal messenger. But what was this burros message for me?

I've thought about for a long time, and I think, maybe she was trying to tell me that its okay sometimes, to be lame, to be hurt, to allow others to walk on their own, rather than carry them as you always do. Even a beast of burden deserves a day spent in the cool of a shade tree in a patch of clover.