I remember my granddad telling me a story of when he used to farm using horses.
He preferred Belgium draft horses because they were a bit more gentle. He used a mule in front of those horses as a tease. The mule didn’t do any of the work; he was just there to make the horses work harder without them realizing it.
Those horses were competitive against the mule, but not each other, and the horses worked harder trying to keep up with the mule who just led em along with little effort.
Now, he said, “the mule is ornery and mean.”
My granddad said he got mad at the mule because it bit him in the back while putting on the harness. He said he grabbed a 2×4 and whacked that mule in the head a good lick and that mule didn’t give any more trouble the rest of the day. The next day that mule was acting up again so he found that 2×4 and gave him another whack and he settled on down.
Next morning he decided to just give that mule a whack before he ever got started and that mule never gave any trouble. He got into the habit of just carrying a 2×4 with him around that mule; as long as he had it – he had no problems.
He said “guess I just had to get his attention first, and he knew the consequences if he acted up.”
I think most everyone in America right now needs a good whack with a 2×4 to get our attention, and bring us all back to being humans again, instead of acting like a bunch of obnoxious mules, leading everyone else astray.
The rest of us need a good whack for putting up with it, and for letting some get away with nothing but causing trouble.
Proverbs 4: 23- 27:
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
