During my horseback riding visit to Colorado, the ranch hands took some time to teach me a few things. I am not exactly sure why, but the manager seemed to take a shine to me and shared with me knowledge despite having a tight schedule. After we returned from our first ride, I tried to help put things away and was exempted because the barn was highly ordered. In order to keep things straight, they put everything in a specific place to avoid errors.
I learned that each of the horses had its own unique saddle. Some of the riders also had their own. The barn contained a series of "rigs" that are basically animal and task-specific yokes. When they ride, they use one rig, and when they tow carts or wagons there is another one entirely. Different types of animals had different types of rigs. You use different rigs for the large pack horses than you do for those that carry people and another set of different rigs for the oxen and other beasts of burden used on the form.
Each horse has, not only a horse-specific saddle, but also a personal saddle designed for each individual horse, and they are not necessarily interchangeable. Different horses have, based on their different anatomy, different requirements in order to set the saddle correctly for a rider. Even when the horses cooperate and let you saddle them, differences in anatomy necessitate unique saddles, bridles, and reins. The saddles were also not clearly made for someone like me. I have very little padding on my posterior, and it took very little time for my rear to be sore.
Like the personal saddles of the horses, each of us in life can expect to have personal yokes. We all come from different backgrounds, educations, and families, and we live in different parts of the world doing different things for a living. We all make different choices, surround ourselves with different friends, go different places on vacation and collect different items as hobbies. Our lives are tailored to the individual because different things will prepare me for celestial glory than will perfect and prepare you. The opportunities and challenges with which we are saddled, the liabilities and disabilities with which we are bridled, and the disappointments by which we are reigned in are useful by God to direct us along the trail that leads to a land of promise where we can rest and have peace and joy.
Our trials are there to turn us to Christ. As much as we may resist him 'riding us' and denying us our will, He knows better than we what we need. CS Lewis wrote that there are two kinds of people- those who say to God "Thy will be done" and those to whom God says, "Alright, if that's what you want, thy will be done". Every trial is engineered to prove our worthiness and our ability to overcome evil, and if we allow ourselves to be reminded of our reliance on a Savior, they will be an opportunity to turn to Him and grow as a consequence.
Perhaps for this reason, when we choose someone with whom to share our lives, God admonished us so strongly to be equally yoked. I have met a lot of very fine people, but like I told my aunt yesterday, they are not interested in coming to Christ and as such are not those with whom I necessarily choose to surround myself. If we are to progress in synergy at the same rate against the same trials, we need to be able to cooperate, and thus compatibility in our yokes plays such an essential part. I learned on the trail that there are horses that like to lead and horses that are content to follow, and if you are on the wrong kind in the wrong place in line, it's a lot more work moving as a unit or making the ride comfortable.
Ultimately all the things with which we are yoked in mortality exist to bring us to Christ. If that is what a trial accomplishes, then it has been good for us. Christ's yoke is easy, and His burden is light, and if we yoke Him to the wagon of our lives, we will be able to make more progress faster than we can alone or even in a well-matched pair.
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