Out Our Way: Rode hard and put away wet?

Thou shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Exodus 20:8

Out our way, the best farmers and ranchers recognize the

need to take care of what has been entrusted to them. The successful farmer, for example, knows to rotate crops and to allow the soil to recuperate between harvest and planting.

Ranchers know that while they need to constantly check on their cattle, especially during calving season, you don’t want to push them any more than they can handle. You need to give them space and time to just graze, lie in the sun, and fatten up.  Every living things needs time to rest and regain strength if it is to mature and become all it was meant to be.  

The same is true of people — we just don’t always remember that.

Out our way, in Cowboy country, we often hear tales of the old days — the big cattle drives when herders took the beeves hundreds of miles to the railhead for shipping.  

There was no union, no time clocks, and no days off on the drive. You worked hard and so did your cow pony. But every cowhand used more than one horse.  Each had their own string — a “remuda” — so they could change horses on a regular basis. Sometimes you needed a different horse for a different job simply because some horses had certain traits or talents that came in handy for a particular job that day.   

But the primary reason for trading off horse in your string throughout the day was to give the horses a rest. You simply didn’t ride and work a horse all day without periodically giving that pony a break. Everybody knew and accepted that — and not caring for your horse, wearing him out and ruining him by over work and lack of care was almost a hanging offense. In fact, for a lot of folks, it still is!

Strange, then, that for all our wisdom and regard for land and livestock, few of us have nearly as much sense when it comes to ourselves. For most people, and especially us clergy, the most often ignored and broken commandment is the one calling for a day of rest — the Sabbath.  We may care for our horses and for our cattle and for our land, but we are terrible when it comes to caring for ourselves.

As you may know, Americans work harder and longer than all other nations, and despite all the wonders of modern medicine, we also have more heart problems, cancer, and stress related illnesses than many other countries as well. That seems strange until we consider how other peoples know how to rest and we don’t.

Even on holidays like Memorial Day, more people come back worn-out from their supposed “time off” than come back refreshed. 

We don’t know how to relax! We don’t know how to nurture our souls and recharge our batteries. That is why God commanded us to observe the Sabbath — for the same reason the State Patrol commands us to put on our seat belts … for our own benefit.

So, how did you spend this past weekend? Did you rest, relax and recharge? Or did you push yourself to “have fun, gosh darn it!” and end up more tired than when you began?

Well, Memorial Day only comes once a year, but the Sabbath comes every week. Do you allow it to be a day of rest, or have you already filled it up with “activities” and chores so you flop into bed Sunday night exhausted?

Out our way, we call that “being rode hard a put away wet.” If I did that to Goliath, folks would tell me I am abusing my pard. So why is it OK to do the same thing to myself?

For the longest time I have ignored the commandment to take care of myself — and I am paying the price. No, God is not sending me trials and plagues as punishment, but maybe He has done so to wake me up. 

For the first time in my ministry, I am observing the Sabbath, and benefiting from it because it is good common sense. 

I have found I am stronger, my spiritual life deeper, and my enjoyment of daily life more profound. 

I don’t need the so-called “blue-laws” to force me to observe the Sabbath against my will — I do so now because it is just common sense. Even Goliath knows that. Leave it to that old hay burner to keep teaching me horse sense theology!

(John Bruington is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Havre. Other articles, children’s messages and sermons are available at http://www.havrepres.org.)