Beast of Burden

I wonder how the horse pulling the cart feels? Do you think he enjoys it? Does he appreciate the laughter of the weary travelers putting their feet up at his expense? What would he choose if he could.... if he suddenly realized that he really doesn't have to do a thing we say, as he outweighs us by a thousand pounds?

I am not sure his life is any easier since the concept of domestication came along. He used to have the run of open fields where he could graze all day long and his only concern was fighting off an occasional mountain lion. Shetland ponies used to live off the moors of the British Shetland Islands. They were bred over a thousand years ago, and the Shetland breeders describe them as having a "natural affinity for pulling carts."
That is like saying I have a natural affinity for cleaning toilets. Just because I can doesn't mean
I like it. How can anyone say that? How can they tell the pony enjoys pulling the cart? Do they go running into the barn and grab the harness with their teeth and knock out morse code with their hooves- "Can I please be your beast of burden today?" I think not.

Most creatures, me included, will do anything to get out of burden bearing. I think the epitome of that is the robot vacuum cleaner that will clean the house while you sit in a lounge chair eating bon-bons. But think of all the burden escapers we have in our home- automatic dishwashers, self-scrubbing bathroom cleaner... electric pencil sharpeners.... electric toothbrushes. Did you know they even make automatic mascara that moves the mascara wand up and down since we all know how exhausting it is to apply our own mascara?

I think we all are in for a rude awakening someday when the horses finally realize they really don't have to take it anymore.

So when thinking about how hard we all work to get out of burdens, it is all the more amazing that there is One that begged us to hand our burdens over to Him. We spend so much time and money to make our lives easier but the burden that weighs us down the most, our disconnect from our Maker, is the one we often hold onto with the most tenacity.

Psalm 68:19
¹⁹ Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.