As the dust settles after hunting and gathering Black Friday deals, and the Visa bills arrive, I was thinking about how EASY it is to get our credit and our priorities out of balance in our consumer culture.

In the 1980s, retailers started saying that sales were “in the red” until Christmas shopping started and they tipped “into the black.” Yet, Black Friday invitations to upgrade can tip consumers off balance – into the red. Purchase by purchase our, balance sheets slip out of balance. Stride by stride like a rider with a loose girth on a mutton-withered horse.

“Is it a need or a want?”
The horse show world is, well, competitive. One needs to be well mounted and well turned-out to be a player.

Off-balance, however, the consumer falls into Consumerism – use it and replace it.

“How can this product make me look good?”
“How can this horse make me look good?”, or even…
“How can this person make me look good?

When consumerism crosses the line from using stuff, to using horses, to using people for our own success and happiness, without concern for their well-being or for the impact it might have on them, we’re way out of balance.

Stewardship is defined as “protecting and being responsible for something.”
I guess that’s empathy – seeing our horses as more than a tool for our sport and “doing for others what you would have them do for you”.

And maybe altering instead of ditching last year’s show outfit!

“I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” 1 Corinthians 10. The Bible