The parable of the plow
Most of you
have never had the opportunity to plow a field with a tractor or a horse drawn
plow, but I think that you can imagine the analogy, which I will use now to
apply the principle to your life. When we plow a furrow we start with an empty
field with or without weeds, with or without stubble from the previous harvest.
We then pick a point on the other side of the field and place the plow in the
ground and then with that as a guide point we move the plow, either with the
horse or the tractor to that point and never keep our eyes off that point until
we reach it. Then when we get to the other side of the field we turn around and
look back and set the plow next to the furrow that we have made and use the
other end as a guide and go back and forth across the field until it is plowed.
If we look back
for even just a minute then we may loose the nice straight row and our field
will not be properly prepared for the seed that we are planting and we may not
get as great a harvest as we would otherwise. The more you look back the more
errors you will see and the more discouraged you will get.[i]
We all make more mistakes than we should. The people who never progress are the
ones who rationalize their behavior and do not learn from their mistakes. Their
field is always uneven and the harvest will eventually be much less that it
should be. Rather than bemoan that which is in the past, look only to the
future and make a plan so that you are acting and not reacting to situations.
You cannot do
anything to change another person. That is now and ever was the case. The
raising of children was supposed to be a joint endeavor with mutual trust and
cooperation. In some marriages it is like hooking up a goat and a draft horse
in a double harness to plow the field. There was from the first only one
direction, which was chosen by the one partner and never a cooperative effort
toward a common reference point. When there is selfishness involved and no
desire to accept the responsibilities for one's own actions then the field
never gets plowed and the plow may never even get down one furrow.
The reference
point that we have to look to in this life is Christ. At first we are quite far
away across the field from Him, but if we never take our eye off Him whether
there is only one in the harness or two then we have less chance of ruining the
field. We eventually come near to Him and then we will have a firm line on
which to gauge our life and run other furrows in the earth of this life.
In spite of all
of our faults the Lord allows us to make our own choices. He sets his Son up as
a guide and teaches us to follow Him and the commandments that He has given us
through Him. When we make mistakes, as all of us do, He allows us to repent,
but tells us not to look back, but to look forward.
Let us suppose
that you in this example were a Clydesdale and your marriage partner was also a
Clydesdale. If one of you just lay down in the traces and refused to pull the
plow, no matter how much the other worked, the furrow would neither be straight
nor would the soil be prepared, for the weight of the one would mash down and
destroy what work the plow had wrought. Both marriage partners must be equally
yoked together and pull evenly. When both horses were equally strong if they do
not pull in the traces equally then the furrow will not be straight and the
field of life uneven.
When I was
working for my uncle Howard I used to drive a team of horses to pull the cable
on the overshot stacker. Even though one mare was smaller and not as strong as
the other one, they pulled together and the one would match the pace and pull
of the other and they were able to pull the stacker cable and put the hay where
I wanted to put it. Lying down in the traces, or kicking over the traces, or pulling
in a different direction will never bring us to the place we need to be. Not in
a hundred years. There will never be any change in our life until we understand
and take advantage of repentance and the atonement of Christ.
The only time
that we are a failure is when we give up and do not keep our eye on the Savior.
He has promised that He is mighty to heal. And that means all wounds and all
ills and all sins upon conditions of repentance. There is no soul that cannot
return to him if there is faith and repentance. The Holy Ghost will cleanse the
soul and then we will have a peace of conscience and no more desire to do evil.
In some cases this is a rapid change, but in most cases, like me for instance,
it is a slow and constant process of steady learning and repentance.
Know that when
you put Christ in the yoke (or harness) with you that you can do anything.
[i] Luke 9:62
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
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