Proverbs 14:1-17
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
Proverbs 14:4
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
Or how about a Bluegrass equivalent: “You don’t win the Kentucky Derby without shoveling a lot of horse ____.” (I’ll let you fill in the blank with whatever term you like.) Yes, real success requires dealing with messes, a truth that is apparently lost on much of our modern society.
Many people today do not seem to have a clue about where their food comes from. For them, the answer is, “Duh! The grocery store!” They don’t understand (or want to understand) that the meat they eat was once a living animal, nor do they realize that their bread is made from grains that grew from the soil. Seriously.
They want low prices for their food, but vilify the petroleum industry that produces the diesel fuel that powers the farm equipment. And their supposed solution for lowering fuel costs? Produce more ethanol, which means using corn (requiring more diesel and increasing the price of corn), so we burn down the rainforests (simultaneously producing massive carbon emissions while eliminating the greatest scrubber of carbon on the planet) to clear land for corn and other crop production. Seriously.
Don’t get me wrong. I am very much in favor of a clean planet. I think I would also like a clean manger. But that would mean no oxen…