HORSE NAMED MAUDE
   When I was a boy we had a big horse named Maude. She was as gentle as a lamb but she was lazy and very, very slow, unless she was either forced or encouraged to speed up. In fact, we used to say Maude had three speeds, slow, slower, and stopped. When I would saddle her up and ride her away from the house she was very reluctant and made it quite clear that she didn’t want to go. But then when I would head back toward home her step would become much more lively and I could almost hear her thinking about that rich, green grass in the pasture that awaited her return.
Through the years, as I have gone about the duties of the ministry, I have often thought of Maude and of how much I sometimes reminded myself of her. I have many times reluctantly left the safety and comfort of home and the little family I loved so much and have gone on distant journeys, not knowing what lay ahead and not knowing whether the Lord would bless my labors when I reached my destination. How hard it has sometimes been when I reflected on the fact that I was getting further and further from home all the time, and that at best I would not return for several days. As a general rule the Lord has blest me to feel that He was with me on those journeys, but there have also been times when I surely was thankful when I finally got headed back toward home, and then it was hard to stay within the speed-limit. Indeed, there is no place like home.
But there is another journey that I have been on ever since the Lord called me into the Christian race, and in this journey I have all the time been drawing closer and closer to home—-my blessed eternal home. Every day and every step has brought me nearer and nearer to joys and pleasures unspeakable, and sometimes it seems I can hardly wait to see the lights of that great city not made with hands. Within my soul it seems I can almost see the outstretched arms of my dear Saviour and hear Him saying, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). It is indeed good to be headed toward home, and the older I get the brighter is the prospect of seeing my Lord face to face in that sweet abode called heaven.
—Elder Ralph Harris
