Manger Managers

Reading through Proverbs I ran across this verse in the ESV.
Proverbs 14: 4 “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”

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Immediately I imagined myself in the manger shoveling crap, spreading straw, and replenishing hay. I had two pictures in my head at the same time. The first was one with a scowl on my face, cursing the ox “How could so much come out of one animal?” I would work all day and fail to appreciate, not only the ox, but anything else. The second picture is me working with a smile on my face glad that the ox is healthy enough to produce so much crap so that I would not only have something to do, but the energy to do it because that ox helped plow the ground that produced the crop.

The circumstances of the job remained the same, but the attitude of the worker, me, made the job seem worth doing.

The more we are able to appreciate the benefits of our work the better job we do and the more fun we have doing it. This concept actually applies to every circumstance.

Too often we make changes in our lives based upon circumstances when in reality the change that needs to happen is within. We change jobs, neighborhoods, even spouses because we think the environment is to blame. The unwillingness to look deep within leads to death.Failing to make those heart changes will eventually lead to a dead ox and a dead manger manager.