Amish Work Horses
A few weeks ago I was following a discussion taking place under a couple of photographs on a good friend's wall on Facebook. The photos are of a field about to be broken for spring planting on an Amish farm in our community. You were introduced to our local Amish just last week in 'Buttons and Straight Pins'.
The photographs are beautiful, and could be made into postcards. They are a true depiction of life in our area. They make me smile, because the photos themselves are a bit of an irony if you know the Amish and you know my friend. Priceless!
The pictures portray an Amish farm and four beautiful horses being hitched to a couple of old, large wooden plows. Working nearby is an Amish man and presumably his two sons. The conversation under the photos revolved around the horses.
It was pointed out that it is an amazing thing, watching those horses stomping the ground, raring to go, often with steam coming from their noses in the cold early morning spring air. It's a common sight that we are used to seeing.
My friend, who is very acquainted with the Amish, replied that she felt that this made a point that many did not understand. She had heard it said many times that folks felt sorry for those horses, bearing the weight of dragging those plows through the ground hardened by the winter cold. She knew that many thought that it was a burdensome and cruel life for those horses to have to pull buggies carrying an entire Amish family down the country roads that we 'English' share with them.
But then she went on to explain that, contrary to what people believe, those horses want to work. She told of her experiences; of how when they first start out, you have to hold them back because they want so badly to go. Of how the horses need to be ridden every day, and how they want and need that exercise. And of how they love to be needed.
She told that anyone working around and loving horses knows how excited they are when they see their owners or family coming for them. How they 'chomp at the bits' to get to them and get going. That is, she pointed out, where that saying comes from.
She challenged those who might doubt this to watch a horse that has become too old to work and has been 'put out to pasture'. They live a life of leisure, living out their remaining days just eating grass and enjoying the sunshine. But watch what happens when someone comes out to the pasture to get the younger horses to ride or work for the day. She wrote of how you can see the sadness in the eyes and the posture of the old, retired horses. They no longer are needed. They are no longer fulfilling their purpose.
She apologized for rambling. But I could listen to that wisdom that she calls rambling all day long. I love her.
God's truth. Purpose. Horses are only happy when they are fulfilling their purpose. The same for all of God's creatures. Purpose was the subject of the second blog post that I ever wrote, back in January when I was just writing to myself and the Lord. You'll find that post here. I wrote that if living their purpose is so important for God's creatures, how much more so for those of us created in God's image. We are a living soul.
Just like those horses, people are not happy unless they are fulfilling their purpose. And that's why you'll find so many people so terribly unhappy. They don't even know what their purpose is, let alone how to fulfill it.
God created us to bring glory to Himself and to have fellowship with Him. That is the purpose of every single person that God created. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 43:7, "Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." We read in 1 Corinthians 1:9, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Giving God the glory is praising Him for everything. Acknowledging Him in every little thing. Having fellowship with Him is closeness, intimacy, and communion. He walks with me and He talks with me. He tells me I am His own.
I used that second post to lead into the third one. The one about salvation. I'll do the same here.
How can we live our purpose if we don't even know God? And how can we know Him? You'll find that truth here in 'Redeemed'.
I retold the horse story with my friend's enthusiastic permission. I hope it helped you. It surely helped me.
