Thoughts of a Farmer

Thoughts of a Farmer By Dr. Joseph M. Tanner

XIV—At Kicking Distance Every farmer knows something of the dangers and troubles which come from kicking horses. Such horses don't pay, and the sooner the owner is rid of them the better. They are, however, a part of the risks of this world. One morning I noticed a man leading a kicking horse out to a post where he tied him so as to curry the animal with greater safety. The man was afraid. He stood off at a distance and reached toward the animal's legs. He was just within the range of the animal's leg, at good kicking distance. "He can reach you," I called out, "get as close to his legs as you can!" The man turned and looked at me in surprise. Then I had to explain that when close to the animal he would 'nerely be pushed by his leg in case he kicked. There are safe and unsafe distances. There are conditions of life from which we should not remove ourselves under the delusion that distance will give us safety. That is manifestly true of our spiritual experiences. Men are beset by the sins of the world. They imagine that if they put away from them as far as possible the thoughts of their wrongdoings, they may be overcome by separation. It is the intimate consciousness of sinful conduct that helps men to repent. It is a fallacy to suppose that they may escape by running away from this conscience or by banishing from them as far as possible all thoughts of the wrongs they have committed. The remedy really lies in facing them frankly, battling with them, and repenting of them. They can not be put at a safe distance. They must be grappled with and be overcome. "Forget about it," we are told, when our souls are troubled by sin. "Banish the thought," and move on, is too frequently the philosophy of life. Delusions about escape lead men to believe that there is a safety zone in which they will find freedom from conscience. The burdens of sin should be unloaded as soon as their presence is detected. There are dangers which grow when men try to forget them and to remove themselves to a distance which they falsely suppose is safe. Men do not escape God. They need him and hi mercy. The nearer they are to him, the more suscepti- 4 -

ble they are to consciousness of present evils in their lives which they may overcome by divine aid through repentance, but which they cannot escape.