by Rachel Anne Ridge, 2015
Adored this book! Danette loaned it to me in Montana December 2024. I read it in about 3 days. It was wonderful. True story about the life lessons learned from a donkey that showed up in their driveway one night. Tom and Rachel live in the country in Texas. They have started their own indoor painting business – painting murals in homes. It’s rough and they are exhausted and angry with life and each other. They are coming home one night and a donkey is in their long driveway. They could have just driven around it and ignored it, but Tom gets out and coaxes it step by step into their pasture. They try to find its owner but no one ever claims him. They end up keeping him, caring for him, naming him Flash, loving him.
Rachel learns 11 lessons from Flash.
- Remember your name. Know whose you are. (A neighbor insisted on calling ‘Flash,’ ‘Hay-sus’ and it really bothered Rachel until that same neighbor kept pressing for friendship, and Rachel came to love that neighbor.)
- Know where to find refuge. True sanctuary is found in God alone.
- Run with horses. The pursuit of excellence conquers fear. Flash loved being near the horses in the pasture next door.
- Find your passion. Passion leads to purpose. (Flash breaks down fences and any obstacle in his way to mate with a mare next pasture over.)
- Be a trailblazer. Persistence makes pathways for grace to follow. (I think this was about the trails that Flash made all throughout his pasture, just plodding along one foot after another.)
- Wear your donkey heart on your sleeve. A well-lived life is an authentic life. (This is when her classy, elegant neighbor reveals to Rachel she’s envious of Rachel’s perfect life. Rachel realizes she hasn’t been showing her true self – the messy, chaotic, never quite right life – to this neighbor. She comes clean and then true, deep friendship results.)
- Stand where fruit is falling. The secret of abundance is in choosing gratitude. The Texas landscape is drought-ridden and everything is dying, except there is a tree that drops ugly fruit and Flash loves that fruit, and there are lots of them. He stands near that tree to give Rachel the hint to toss the fruit to him.
- Be a service animal. You are made to serve in love.
- Embrace change. Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from moving forward.
- Make things right with others. Don’t miss your chance to forgive, accept, and love.
- Your journey isn’t about fixing donkey problems. It’s about transformation.
Excellent, beautiful, heart-warming book!