Common Senses
A Poem by Kathleen Rossi © 2026
Sun rises
Dust is stirred
Spirit wakes to the Living word
Horse whispers
Cattle call
Metal tickles the spur rowel
Round biscuits
Breakfast plate
Coffee pouring for the day
Soft scratches
Tight boots
Eyes tingle as I read Good News
Salt to savor
Bitter sweet
How good it is to have bread to eat
Common Senses
A Poem by Kathleen Rossi © 2026
Common Senses
Sun rises
Dust is stirred
Spirit wakes to the Living word
Horse whispers
Cattle call
Metal tickles the spur rowel
Round biscuits
Breakfast plate
Coffee pouring for the day
Soft scratches
Tight boots
Eyes tingle as I read Good News
Salt to savor
Bitter sweet
How good it is to have bread to eat
Common senses
Common senses
Do you Sense the Presence?
Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste – the five senses God gave us to sense His presence.
I wrote the poem Common Senses in reflection of finding the five senses in the stillness of the barn.
The art piece is a concept I had commissioned with an AI art application I have on a computer program.Occasionally, I’ll commission work from a real live artist but in this circumstance I felt time was of the essence and my post was eager to get out in the wild.
The lady in the picture symbolizes all of us who have been up all night for one reason or another; as depicted by the stars in the stall, and the sunrise in the barn aisle. In a situation where we have been drained, we need to find stillness to be refueled.
In the picture she does this by making a choice to sit down, breathe and read the Bible. The horses symbolizes partnership and a steady presence that both the word and Spirit of God offer; a presence that is hard to feel unless we make a choice to slow down and be still for a moment. The sunrise depicts the power and promise of starting fresh, barely beginning to touch the weary soles of her boots. The coffee and biscuits are the kick of inspiration and sustenance we all need, and the Lord is happy to provide as He ‘sups with us’.
Sometimes, the way we are sustained is by the way we chose to rest and seek the Lord. We can tell our problems to ‘stand down’ as we sit down. Partnership with God results in the closeness that we put effort into. Pride likes to tell us it will all fall apart if we don’t stop striving. If burn out speed is what we want, the burn-out state is what we get.
Our horse is always watching, the Spirit is always there. We don’t want to miss finding God is in the five senses because our ‘6th sense’ is preoccupied. Personally, I struggle with making stillness a knee-jerk reaction over panic and striving. But thankfully from experience I do know if I slow down my thoughts, sit down and feed myself, God will always come fill up my weary spirit and wavering expectations.
Ground yourself
Did you know one of the ways that counselors teach grounding techniques today is by utilizing our five senses? Nothing fancy, no strange breathing techniques. Simply looking around and listing what you can see, hear, feel, touch and taste slows the mind down enough for us to realize we likely, not in the major life threatening circumstance our anxiety is convincing us of.
Guiding Light or interruption
Not everything that crosses our path deserves our full attention. If we deviate from focusing on God, and His word, our goals may morph onto a scewed timeline that God never intended. Often we wrestle with ‘the fear of missing out’ or ‘fear we won’t have enough time’ but if we take the time to see the sunrise and feel the warmth, it can recalibrate our worry and hurry, into peace.
Precious resources or endless energy
Many of us complain about being tired or weary-hearted in the arena of life. However I think utilizing our energy over issues that are barely more than a stubbed toe or a mixed up coffee order will put us in a stressed out state of mind, body and emotions. We need to use our energy & resources for issues that matter: being authentic humans BEING not artificial humans DOING. When we put God first we will have what we need, when we need it.
This post was written by Kathleen Rossi, The Cross-trained Cowgirl © 2026. She has been blogging since 2010 with perspectives in the equine industry. She has a BS degree in Natural Horsemanship, is a published books on the same subject and has been training horses and coaching people for the last decade and beyond.
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