Want Some of This

“The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.” Romans 14:3

I told you our pony was a pig. This summer was no different, as he spent his days eating himself into potbelliedness and eventually into lameness. Self-control does not run in the family.

About a month ago, after I’d taken the kids to Branson, I returned to find Roany a little gimpy. The hub and I hastily constructed a stall in the barn and used a couple of rows of chains to keep Roany in. The chains did not work, as apparently Roany Pony is somewhat of an equine Harry Houdini, so I constructed a gate for said stall a couple of days later. But not to be overcome by a diet, during his time of escape, he promptly knocked over my feed barrel and ate the rest of the chicken food as well.

Hard to say whether it was the grass or all that chicken food that finally put him over the edge, but he came down with a fairly decent case of founder. He was lame for about four days and then eventually began to recover. We kept him in the stall a little over a week, then mowed his pasture short, and he’s been fine ever since.

What struck me as funny during his whole doctoring dilemma was the response I got from my horse, Scooter. He was SO jealous! He thought that if Roany was receiving special treatment, so should he!

Roany was confined to a 12 x 12 dirt-floored stall 24 hours a day.

Scooter had the run of the pasture.

Roany received minimal rations of hay and feed every day.

Scooter could eat as much as he wanted.

Roany would have to wait for me to tie him to the tree each evening for 30 minutes to eat.

Scooter had his freedom and could be outside all day.

Yet, Scooter would run the fence and snort and holler for me every time I went out to check on Roany.

Did he really think Roany was better off?

Did he really think Roany was getting something that he was missing out on?

It made me think about how sometimes we see a certain person’s lifestyle and think, “Man, I wish I could live like that.” But then in reality, if we had their lifestyle, would we think it was so great after all?

I’m pretty sure that had the tables been turned for Roany and Scooter, Scooter would have behaved much like Roany. He would have pouted. He would have looked at me like I had betrayed him. He would have looked for any opportunity to escape his circumstances. And he would have resented his current life based on the life he’d had before his confinement, even if it was for his own good.

May you be happy today with what you have and may you never founder. You never know what you might find on the other side of the fence.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5