Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest (Proverbs 14:4).

It takes a lot of work to take care of livestock.  They have to be fed, cleaned, maintained, exercised, and trained (depending on the type of animal).  I remember growing up with friends from farming families, in the dairylands of south-west Wisconsin, and it seemed unbearable to me, the amount of "chores" that they had to do -- very early in the morning, before school, and then again in the evening, after school.  They could never skip a day -- not for rain or snow or extreme cold, not for vacations or holidays.  They had to work very hard, day in and day out, to care for those cattle.  To this day, I still have a very profound respect for farmers and the work that they do.

I always wondered, though, if there wouldn't be some element of relief and relaxation if some portion of the herd was sold off or thinned out by some other means.  I imagined it would be kind of nice to have fewer mouths to feed, fewer stalled to be mucked, greater flexibility for sleeping in, and relaxing a bit more.  Fewer feeding troughs (mangers) to fill means fewer hours to spend harvesting hay, filling the loft, pitching the hay to the animals, and maintaining the herd.  As a boy contemplating my friends' situations, I never really understood why more farmers didn't just sell off their herds and kick up their feet for once in their lives.

Of course, a more mature understanding of agricultural economics would indicate that where there is no herd, there is no income.  In the case of my childhood friends, whose families were in dairy farming, fewer head of cattle (or more empty mangers, if you will) would mean less milk production.  And less milk production means less income from the dairy companies.  And less income from the dairy companies means less ability to maintain farm equipment, buy fertilizers, put food on the table, and buy clothes for rough-and-tumble growing farm boys.  Therefore, "empty mangers" mean a whole lot of general emptiness!  In the short term, it might be convenient and comfortable; but in the long term it could be disastrous.

These principles apply to other areas of life, too.  Not just farming.  Discipleship seems to be one of the most basic points of application for believers:  trying to follow hard after Jesus and build relationships that will help others to do the same.  Honestly, discipleship takes a lot of work -- and it's not always the most gratifying, most rewarding kind of work, either.  It involves building relationships and working through successes and failures together, often hurting each other's feelings a bit in the process.  It involves asking each other tough questions and spending a lot of time together in conversation, in prayer, and in reading the Bible.  And worst of all, it is almost completely unmeasurable!  It can be hard to know if you're really getting anywhere in discipleship or not.  Honestly, it can sometimes make farming seem idyllic and easy for its tangible signs of fruitfulness!  But it's something that Jesus clearly called us to do (Matthew 28:18-20), so we do our best to be faithful.  Sometimes, though, if a discipleship relationship (in our church, we call them "Life Groups") breaks up or disintegrates for whatever reason, the natural response can often be one of relief.  Ahh... one less meeting per week... one less messy entanglement... We can be tempted to kick up our feet and relax now that the "manger" is empty again, and we're not always super-quick to find a replacement.  But Proverbs 14:4 offers an appropriate challenge:  to realize that it's in the hard work of raising and tending an ox that the animal is brought to the point of strength, at which it can apply its strength to producing an abundant harvest -- one that keeps both the ox and the rest of the household fed.  Similarly, it's in the hard work of raising and tending to a discipleship relationship that the disciple is brought to the point of strength, at which he or she can apply his or her strength to producing an abundant spiritual harvest.

These are good things for me to remember.  Good things for all of us to remember, whether we're dealing with dairy cattle, children, church people, or business.