“Come on Limerick, take a drink,” I urged the red pony as we stood beside the barn’s water trough. But he just shook his head impatiently, pulling at the lead rope eager to go outside to his pasture. “All right, but I know you’ll be sorry later.” Sure enough, by midday he was pacing in front of his gate and neighing for water. Trying not to grumble, I took a bucket of water to him and then he went happily back to his grazing.
There is no easy way to keep water in that pasture, but he’s usually satisfied if he drinks on the way out each morning and in the evening on his way back to his stall. The horses have a pond in their pasture, so it is not as necessary for them to get a drink from the trough except in the winter when their pond freezes. During the winter, they are all dependent on the heated trough as the only source of water. I’m not always there in the middle of the day or feeling indulgent enough to tote buckets of water, so it is fairly important they get their drink while they can.
The old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” is very true and can be frustrating to the handler when you know what the consequences will be later. Animals are not able to reason about the future beyond their want of the moment and it’s hopeless to try to convince them otherwise. They just don’t get the picture, the overview that would show them what’s best to do now to make life easier in the long run.
How often do we do the same thing? How often do we strain after the immediate want when our Father is trying to show us what we really need, the
things to work toward for our best in the future? How often do we lose sight of the big picture and fixate on the unimportant detail of the moment? We can be led to the waters of the Word but no one can force us to drink them. We must remember now is the time to take responsibility for our actions and thoughts. Ultimately, we will reap the consequences. We hope we won’t find ourselves thirsty at a time when it is too late for anyone to give us a drink.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One