The Cosmic God and His Horse

There is this story I read sometimes back on the internet and I would love to share. It was about a cosmic god and a beautiful horse.

A cosmic god had a horse. The horse was beautiful and also it had many good qualities. But it wanted to be more perfect in every way. It especially wanted to become beauty unparalleled. 

One day the horse said to the cosmic god, “Lord, you have given me beauty. You have given me other good qualities. I am so grateful to you. But how I wish you could make me more beautiful. I would be extremely, extremely grateful if you could make me more beautiful.” 

The cosmic god said. “I am more than ready to make you more beautiful. Tell me in what way you want to be changed.” 

The horse said, “It seems to me that I am not well proportioned, my neck is too short. If you can make my neck a little longer, my upper body will be infinitely more beautiful. And if you can make my legs much longer and thinner, then I will look infinitely more beautiful in my lower body.” 

The cosmic god said, “Amen” Then immediately he made a camel appear in place of the horse. The horse was so disheartened that it started to cry, “Lord, I wanted to become more beautiful. In what way is this kind of outer form beautiful?” 

The cosmic god said, “This is exactly what you asked for. You have become a camel.” 

The horse cried, “Oh no, I do not want to become a camel, I wish to remain a horse. As a horse, everybody appreciated my good qualities. Nobody will appreciate me as a camel.” 

The cosmic god said, “Never try to achieve or receive more than I have given you. If you want to lead a desire life, then at every moment you will want more and more. But you have no idea what the outcome will be. If you cry for a longer neck and legs, this is what will happen. Each thing in my creation has its own good qualities. The camel is not as beautiful as you are, but it carries heavy loads and has a tremendous sense of responsibility.”

I learnt the Story was from ‘Illumination Experiences on Indian Soil’ by Sri Chinmoy. 

The story reminds me of Sam Adeyemi’s saying, that “If God had given us the chance to create ourselves, some of us would have made a monster out of ourselves.” Funny but true, we would have told God, “Please give me a smaller nose and blue eyes, God”. “Give me a big head with a big brain so I would be the most intelligent”. Chuckles. 

Here’s the thing friend, great is known because there is small, light is recognised because there has been some darkness, and beauty is appreciated only because we know what ugly means. Not everything in life goes all perfect, the imperfections that come here and there create in us a greater ability to appreciate the perfection we pray for. 

Stop comparing yourself unhealthily to another, you don’t have all the detail of other people's lives, you don’t know what it feels to be them. Let gratitude be your language, night or day. Take your focus off the things you lack, fix them on the things you have instead. Maximise what you have, serve others with it. Human nature make us focus on the one thing we do not have, when we ought to be enjoying the other numerous things that we are graced with. 

I know I’ve written on this subject to you before, but I hope this serves as another reminder. Love your life, live it best! 

I love you. 

Oluwadurotimi Okediji.