Out Our Way: Reading ears

By Brother John and Goliath

     Out our way, anyone who rides and gets to know a horse learns to read ears. A horse doesn't offer a lot of expressions, but the ears tell you a lot. They not only hear everything, but they also say everything

Take old Goliath, he communicates pretty well with those things. I sometimes kid him that they are extra long because I think he is part mule, and then he just sort of turns his ears back at me in a lazy manner indicating he's heard that joke before. If it wasn't funny the first thousand times, why do I think it will be now?

  Of course there are other signals as well. Like when I first drive up, he trots to the fence with his ears straight up, and I know he's saying: "Hello? Did you bring me any oats?" I have been on the trail in the Bear Paws and seen those same ears go rigid - not in welcome, but in terror - because he's spotted that nasty old culvert or a terrifying white-tail in the trees. He did the same thing the time we ran into a mountain lion just outside of town, so I know that means "Holy frijoles! I'm gonna die!"

Then there is that special cock of the ears when I am saddling him up and tightening the cinch. His ears cock back in my direction, clearly saying "What? You think I'm a Shetland pony? I wear a size 150 XL cinch and not a 'My Little Pony' petite size 82!" 

He has another special way of leaning those ears forward and looking down his nose at me on the ground after he's tossed me into the cactus that plainly says, "What are you doing down there?" 

And now and then he lays those ears flat - like when another horse is trying to put its nose in his feed bucket, or trying to make time with his girlfriend, Babe, or when Jack the Rez dog wants to play, barking and nipping at Goliath.  Then the ears go back and the message is clear: "Back off!"    

I'm not sure how good Goliath's eyesight is, but his hearing is excellent and those ears are expressive. How sad for him if he lost the use of those ears. It's not so good for us either. Communication is a two-way street, we have to listen and hear as well as talk if we are going to really communicate. To deliberately turn a deaf ear to another person is to prevent any meaningful dialogue - or learning. Good religious folk became a blasphemous mob because they would not allow themselves to hear. Stephen was basically lynched and the persecution of the church began because some folks thought they already knew the mind of God and covered their ears lest they discover God is greater than they were willing to accept.

"Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up" is an attitude that may protect a comfortable but sterile faith, but it will not lead us to God. Maybe God is trying to tell us something through our ears if we will, like Goliath, make use of them.

  (John Bruington is pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre.)