Sally told me, "Real Love is like riding a horse."
I was curious about what she meant, so she told me that a saddle is held in place on a horse by a girth—like a belt—that goes under the belly and fastens to both sides of the saddle. The first time she rode a horse, her cousin intentionally failed to tighten the girth firmly, which meant that the saddle was loosely secured to the animal.
When Sally got up on the horse, the saddle promptly rolled to a position under the horse, with Sally clinging to the saddle for her life and bumping her head on the ground. Understandably, she lost some of her enthusiasm for riding horses, but in time she tried again, this time with competent assistance. She learned to ride a horse and enjoyed it.
Learning how to feel and share Real Love can involve some slipping and bumping of heads. Sometimes we'll want to quit, but if we persist, we learn how to feel loved and to love others, and after that the joy is fulfilling beyond words.
