NEVER SADDLE OTHERS WITH A DEAD HORSE
I guess, among other things, you could call me a small town politician. I happened to serve on the city council and was mayor of Winchester, Idaho at one time. Now, these weren’t really demanding jobs, since the official population of the place over the years ranged from 262 – 450. We had two city employees, a city clerk and a city maintenance man. They weren’t huge jobs, but they did keep a couple folks busy most days, responsible to the city council. So, I suppose in some ways, I was sort of one of their bosses.
Small Town Employee Burdens
One of our constituents showed up at a meeting one time with some suggestions about how the city maintenance man should spend his time. Besides snowplowing the streets of town (all but Main Street were gravel roads), it was suggested he plowed out the drives of all the older citizens. Not only that, but we should send out his home phone number with the next water bill so people would know who to call anytime they had a hard time getting out of the driveway or starting their car.
The mayor elected that year ran some cattle just outside the city limits, but lived in town. He roared, “We aren’t about to saddle a dead horse on him!” And that settled the matter.
What Did It Mean?
I suppose in other parts of the country a further explanation would be needed. But don’t saddle a dead horse on him made sense to all of us on the council. That was a cowboy expression for burdening someone with an unwelcome obligation.
The vivid word image indicated limiting the effectiveness of any man if he must drag a dead horse around with him everywhere.
Don’t Saddle Others
In the spiritual world, we’ve also got to make sure we don’t saddle our friends, neighbors, family, or church members with dead horses.
Paul says in the Bible, “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way” (Romans 14:13).
What God Created Us To Be
But there are times when all of us get in a rut of demanding other believers pack around a self-made list of “do’s” and “don’ts” that will crush him or her, rather than allow them to be all God desires them to be. Other believers are supposed to be obedient to Christ, but they don’t have to look just like me.
When I insist that they do, I’ve saddled a dead horse on them.
Stephen Bly
Circa 2000
Dead Horse Drawing Image by Rebecca Scholz from Pixabay
Obstacles Image by Benoît DE HAAS from Pixabay
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“Never Saddle a Dead Horse” audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
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