October 13, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 15:33   …before honour is humility.

“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”  Horses do not push the cart, they pull the cart. In actuality the horse is the leader of the cart and everything in the cart. It is the horse that pulls, it is the horse that labors, and it is the horse that must put its muscles to the job and its shoulders in the yoke. Everything in the cart goes for a ride, but the horse must make its own way down the path.

So too is leadership. Leaders lead: they bear the brunt of an unmarked and sometimes hazardous trail; they pull others with them. Many are in the cart desiring for the horse to pull them somewhere in life. However, the horse is seldom honored, they serve in humility. They work while others take their rest, they pull while others ride along, they sweat so others can be cool, they have tired muscles and shoulders at the end of the day while the riders in the cart have plenty of energy for play in the evening.

Those who ride in the cart seldom honor the horse that pulls them, but the owner of the rig knows. The owner honors the horse by feeding it, currying it, giving it water, hay, shoes, and all the other needs of the horse. The horse may serve in humility but the owner of the horse and cart honors the horse, or should.

You may be serving in obscurity today, those riding in the cart you are pulling may simply relate to you as a necessary beast of burden, a mere tool to take them to their desired destination. But the owner knows. Yes sir, He knows. And it is the owner that will honor you at the end of the trail.

Before a person receives honor there are many, many hours of service performed in abject humility. Great leaders and successful business people seem to know instinctively that doing the difficult jobs today will one day lead to great honor. This is a character trait that separates top producers from the rank and file average.

Dr. William Howe