A recent contemporary PBS adaptation of the books by James Herriot has brought people back to his writings. Herriot was the pen name of James Wight, who wrote a series of semi-autobiographical memoirs of his days as a rural veterinarian.

In the first book, All Creatures Great and Small, the author tells the story of a man he calls John Skipton. Skipton, who had a large farm with many animals, took James a great distance to see two old workhorses that had long since been retired from the field. James discovers that the man walks four miles every day to visit the two horses and has been doing so for 12 years.

James thinks about that and reflects on the situation and an interaction he had with his boss, Siegfried:

“I went back to my conversation with Siegfried that morning; we had just about decided that the man with a lot of animals couldn’t be expected to feel affection for individuals among them. But those buildings back there were full of John Skipton’s animals—he must have hundreds. Yet what made him trail down that hillside every day in all weathers? Why had he filled the last years of those two old horses with peace and beauty? Why had he given them a final ease and comfort which he had withheld from himself? It could only be love.”

Love always produces sacrifice.