"Fencin'"

 A patchin’ that old water gap,

When cows escape can cause a flap,

Dad would send us, fix that crap,

‘Twas the nicest way to say.

And we’d get there and pull the wire,

Thinkin’ we should surely hire,

Someone who would never tire,

But it never went that way.

Rough, old pastures that we leased,

Stocked with steers we there released,

And then the wildest of those beasts,

Would find somewhere to go.

They’d search until they found a place,

It took some time, a careful pace,

But when we checked, their absent face,

Was somewhere else, you know.

We would have to find the hole,

That they crawled through, their bovine goal,

So wild and gone, you can’t control,

‘Cause they were thicket bound.

Take hammer, staples in a sack,

Then go and get the cattle back,

Dad shamed us, said that all we lacked,

Was cowboy skills he’d found.

Angry in the boggy heat,

Set new posts and pulled wire neat,

Then saddled up and took a seat,

To find those steers and rope.

Not in that arena there,

But off in tangled brush somewhere,

Country not fit for a bear,

The cattle tracks gave hope.

And where we could we roped and tied,

To some old tree the ones that tried,

To get away and run and hide,

We worked to get back in.

Years have passed but fences still,

Help us honor God’s own will,

To make the boundary and to fill,

With new, not what has been.

Find the holes and fix the fence,

Use your own God-given sense,

And realize He blessed you since,

You honored what He said.

Gather in all that you’ve lost,

Include the dreams that you have tossed,

Honor God, whate’er the cost,

In pastures where He’s led.

“The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey His voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul…” (Deut. 30:10, NLT)

This promise was given to the children of Israel under the Old Covenant, but it’s still good advice today. God’s rules for living, as found in the Bible, are best-viewed as boundaries that we should not cross. God put them there to govern human behavior, and they’re designed to keep us healthy and happy. God knew we would break His law, and sent Jesus to die so that we would be forgiven. But when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice and receive His salvation, we are motivated to turn from our selfishness and do God’s will. Great blessings follow the obedient. The fences are there for a reason.

Lord, help us honor Your boundaries, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bruce Greene, brucegreeneart.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Bruce, and God bless you.