Heather Holleman,
English,
Penn State University
[April 29,2012]–
I heard a story recently about horses that I think about every day now. It’s changing how I think about my calling not just as a faculty member, but as a wife, mother, and neighbor. In light of the Sandusky sex-abuse scandal at Penn State and the subsequent firing of Joe Paterno, our community suffered. I learned about the behavior of these horses at a seminar training those willing to help members of our community who are suffering from abuse. Since then I began to apply it broadly to all of my relationships.
A psychologist shared that she grew up on a farm, and she noticed something incredible about her horses during a barn fire. When a fire occurred, all of the animals would run free from the barn and not return except the horses. The horses would go back into the burning barn, to the perceived safety of their stalls.
Unless they were tethered.
Only if tethered would the horses, having been rescued from the burning barn, not return. The psychologist made the point that as we begin to attempt to set ourselves free from dangerous or toxic situations in our lives, we sometimes go back to the burning barn. We find safety in the familiar. Over and over again, we might return to what’s not good for us.
Unless we are tethered.
My faculty neighbors and I now claim we are “tethered horses.” Together we can change our lives and not return to dark places. As we heal, we stay tethered.
To tether means to restrict, and it seems restrictive indeed. Yet when viewed in light of my own freedom, I have chosen to tether myself to Jesus Christ, in whom we have a hope spoken of in Hebrews 6:18-20 as “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Having that stability I also choose to join the women in my community for accountability. We’re running from a burning barn out into a glorious pasture, but only when we are tethered.
Normally, I think about the stereotypically distant and reclusive professor who hides in an office, tethered more to books and papers than anything else. But I’m choosing to break the stereotype. I’m coming into the hall, into the classroom, and into the neighborhood. There I’m finding folks who need help running from the burning barn. I ask God to give me opportunities to share that tethered to Jesus Christ they too can find true freedom.
© 2012 Heather Holleman
photos©istockphoto