"Cotton-Eyed Joe"

He was a buckin’ pony,

And as pretty of a bay,

That you ever saw before,

And I can truly say,

That this stout horse was handsome,

And built so strong and straight,

That when he was a yearling,

We could hardly wait,

For him to grow up big enough,

To get a saddle on and ride,

And every time we worked him,

He made us smile with pride.

One of the nicest horses,

That we had ever raised,

Almost cannot say enough,

Or give him too much praise.

He had a little snip of white,

Right across his nose,

And another just beneath one eye,

Named him “Cotton-eyed Joe.”

And then we got Joe saddled,

And I’ll admit he bucked,

But never in a mean way,

And we had good luck.

When we took him to the pasture,

He really watched those steers,

And you could rope a yearling,

And doctor without fear.

The first time I remember,

That he pulled his little joke,

Was one day we were riding,

All at once in half he broke.

He bucked me off no problem,

Then stood there with a look,

Like why are you there on the ground,

I was a little shook.

But then he never did it,

And no way we could find,

Whatever made him do it,

Thought he left his buck behind.

But then again he did it,

Never would run off,

Just pitch enough to get you gone,

And send your butt aloft.

One time penning cattle,

He bucked so hard with me,

He busted both the girth straps,

Without a single sound.

Did I mention he was pretty?

And a sure ‘nough athlete,

Nimble cuttin’ pony,

As straight as he could be.

And except for that one habit,

He was a perfect horse,

And we decided it was time,

To stop it all, of course.

But nothing we tried doing,

Could ever make him buck,

There seemed to be no trigger,

And we ran short of luck.

So not much time thereafter,

We decided to sell Joe,

We didn’t lie about him,

And let the cowboy know,

That Joe, he was a good ‘un,

In every single way,

But he shouldn’t be surprised when,

Joe up and bucked one day.

I wonder just what happened,

Not if, but surely, when,

Joe put on his little show,

And what they both did then.

Reminds me some of you and me,

About the way we act,

Maybe mostly well-behaved,

Then have a buck attack.

God is surely patient,

With irregularity,

I’m glad He really loves us,

When we come untrained, you see.

O Lord, we sure are thankful,

We wanted you to know,

We’ll try to do better,

Than our old Cotton-Eyed Joe.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there…” (Galatians 5:24, NLT)

The old, sinful nature is still with us as believers in Jesus Christ. It’s like Cotton-Eyed Joe. Almost all the time he was okay, but unexpectedly his bucking nature would manifest. Maybe most of the time we walk in the Spirit, but then that old self manifests in ugly behavior. What’s the answer? God’s answer is to choose to crucify our old sinful self everyday. This means to choose to die to our selfishness and live according to the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit in every part of our lives. Then, the odds are stacked that we will never make any serious return to our old, sinful behavior. Lord, deliver us from self!

Lord, we ask that You help us die to our selfishness, and live in the power of Your Spirit, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Tyler Crow, tylercrow.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Tyler, and God bless you.