Daily Devotion:

Title: Proper Posture

Date: September 14, 2012

I’ve wondered about English saddle riders’ very proper, straight-backed posture.  Is it a British upper class thing – stiff upper lip, straight back and all that?

Actually, correct riding posture is practical – it creates a better rider-horse rapport.  Proper posture increases communication with the horse, and vice versa, or so I have read.  

“Keep your shoulders back” is quoted to riders. One rider recalled riding with a horse-crop propped against her back, forcing her into the correct posture. She decided to invent a comfortable and practical device to wear while riding. It’s called — ShouldersBack®.

Designed for middle-aged woman in the riding market, her company has heard from runners, health professionals, speech therapists, concert violinists and chronic back pain sufferers. Proper posture, on and off the horse, projects an image of confidence and grace, and it is better for the back.

How’s your spiritual posture?

Good posture before God, similar to proper posture while in the saddle, creates a better God-servant rapport, and vice versa. I am talking about the posture of your heart, not back, or openness to grace. Is your heart open to God, or closed? Is it partway open and somewhat willing, or mostly closed and slouched?

If you want to improve your spiritual posture, one tool that helps is sitting in a sanctuary. Another device used everywhere is prayer. One may pray kneeling, sitting, standing, showering, lying in bed, or even while ATV riding. After all, prayer’s about an open posture of the heart, not the position of the body.

Let’s Pray:  Dear God, open our hearts to You. Amen.

Today’s Thought Is: Pray anywhere, anytime.

Sources:

Burns, H. Jay. “Keep Your Shoulders Back!” Bates Magazine, Winter 2004: 51.http://www.equifit.net