"Fashion"

He dresses plain and simple,

But a cowboy through and through,

And I’m a bit more flashy,

And that’s what brings us to,

An ongoing discussion,

‘Bout what I wear and such,

My old partner is sarcastic,

Which amuses me so much.

He teases ‘bout my pearl snaps,

Or the crease of my old hat,

Just has no sense of fashion,

And that, my friend, is that.

He handed me his reins and said,

I’m gonna help that calf,

That jumped into the water trough,

The next thing made me laugh.

‘Cause that calf kicked up water,

That sprayed my partner’s shirt,

Stained him green and nasty,

I laughed so hard it hurt.

He stepped back to his pony,

I handed him his reins,

I said if you had pearl snaps,

You wouldn’t have those stains.

‘Cause that calf would be  a-jumpin’,

When he saw your cowboy style,

But since you wore a Dickie work shirt,

He’ll be in that trough awhile.

Of course all this is nonsense,

But we have lots of fun,

The back and forth is endless,

With this critical old son.

If I want to wear some tall tops,

With my wranglers tucked all in,

And snaps with matching wild rag,

And long fringe chinks and then,

Wear it where I want to,

And maybe even town,

Don’t care if old pard likes it,

Or if he puts me down.

He might do it plainer,

And he’s a real top hand,

I ‘spect I’ll always give him grief,

‘Cause he always thinks he can.

And remember that the Good Lord,

Said it’s not ‘bout what you see,

On the outside of a person,

The inside is the key.

And He sees our hearts so plainly,

And if our inside’s right,

The outside will show plainly,

That the inside’s filled with light.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” (Proverbs 3:5, NLT)

When David the shepherd was chosen by God to become the new king of Israel, God said to the prophet Samuel that He did not look on the outward appearance but on the heart. Time and again, in both the old and new testaments, the scriptures tell us that what matters most is not how people outwardly look and behave. Rather, it’s what is happening on the inside of them that counts the most. The great commandment was to love God with all our hearts, then love each other. This scripture encourages us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. This means we learn to live from the inside-out, and trust the Lord from the depths of who we are. The healthy heart is characterized by intentionally entrusting every aspect of our lives to the Lord’s control.

Lord, help us to love and trust You with all our hearts, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Ann Hanson, annhanson.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Ann, and God bless you.