"My Horse"

That old horse trader called me,

Said I have your horse,

No sir mine are here with me,

Said the one you’ll buy, of course.

I said I didn’t need another,

They’re ‘bout to break me as it is,

He said you’ll need to see him,

And let me tell you this,

When I got him over here,

I  thought he’s just for you,

Pretty as a picture,

And lots of cow sense, too.

So now he peaked my interest,

I said sent a shot,

It didn’t take him very long,

To show me what he got.

And there he was, a zebra dun,

With a strong, muscled hip,

A pretty head and arrow straight,

A blaze down to his lip.

And when I went to ride him,

He reined around all right,

Took down my rope and caught one,

And brought Strait home that night.

I rode him for a decade,

We traveled many miles,

He saw me through my heartbreak,

And gave me many smiles.

I rode him at the S.L.E.,

And Parker County, too,

I took him on the Steagall ride,

He did all he could do.

And finally old Strait got sick,

I doctored for a year,

Just seemed like there was no way,

So, one day with a tear,

I said good-bye and put him down,

But I just don’t feel right,

And when I think about it,

Somehow my throat gets tight.

I think of all the good ones,

Old Corky was the first,

And then a dun named Dizzy,

One time my Daddy cursed,

Because he slipped down with me,

Way back when I was young,

The one I learned to rope on,

When I had just begun.

I remember one named Drifter,

A stocky Texas gray,

Never thought I’d sell him,

Until I did one day.

And times when I was just afoot,

And then Old Roller came,

Least that’s what I called him,

And man, he fit that name.

And others there go loping by,

In the pastures of my mind,

A palomino mare named Breeze,

You don’t forget those kind.

When you get as old as I am,

You’re glad you still can go,

On Red and Scout and pretty Belle,

Still saddle up, you know.

Thankful that I’ve had ‘em,

The good ones, as they say,

You’re blessed when you could ride ‘em,

And then they slip away.

“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it nor more.” (Psalm 103:15-16, NIV)

These verses speak to the transitory aspect of this earthly life. Like the good horses we ride, hey are here, and then they’re gone. The same could be said for life itself. It’s here, it blooms, and then it withers and dies. Time cannot be delayed or stopped. It continues and then that’s it. But if we know the Lord, we are not defined by time. We are defined by eternity. From everlasting to everlasting we have the Lord’s love, and that’s the only thing that makes life worth living.

Lord, give us an eternal perspective of life, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by Kirstie Lambert, used by permission. Thanks, Kirstie, and God bless you.