When a farmer carves a yoke for his oxen, it is a labor of woodworking love!
He may not love his cattle, but he cares enough for them and for the work they must do that the yoke will have every detail of weight and balance, every comfort of fit, and every kindness and wisdom of smooth, planed wood and waterproof finishing.
The farmer loves his family enough to do things expertly in anticipation of the best possible result. When he loves his work, the land responds.
HOW MUCH MORE does our Father in heaven fit every yoke to our stature in Christ Jesus, His Son? If not to the stature we maintain, then we can be sure we are yoked to the image of Jesus Christ that we are meant to OBTAIN.
We will soon again choose a small exercise for “conversatio,” for the conversion of life we seek to realize in Jesus Christ. Some of us will take up one small practice, the decision to say something kind to a telephone solicitor or to be the first to the kitchen to put on the coffee in the morning. Some will commit not to do one small thing that has the potential to throw off the yoke of love by which we are fitted to Jesus Christ.
If we’re quiet and still, and if we ask to know, the Husbandman will show us what we can do that will bless others and help us to change deep down inside. When we bend our necks to it, ours is a comfy yoke, fashioned just for us.
Abbey Artwork/by Ashley
Cor Unum Abbey 