Out Our Way: The cinch and belt test - Matthew 25:21

Out our way, February is calving season and usually the coldest, darkest, and most miserable month of the year. It is the time when the Alberta Clippers bring greetings from the North Pole with temperatures dropping way below zero. It is a time when the snow clouds and blizzards rage all about so that, in the old days, folks tied a rope from the back porch to the outhouse so one wouldn't get lost making the 100-foot journey. But it is also the time of the blessed Chinook winds that suddenly clear the skies and much of the ground of the winter tribulations. The temperature can go from 5 below to 40 above in a few hours. 

Now, most Februarys, Doc stays in the paddock with his hay and oats, and I stay wrapped up in my blankets and cuddle up in my easy chair with a cup of coffee. The calving and hard winter work we leave to the real deal cowboys and ranchers, and just get comfortable and lazy all winter long. But then comes the sudden and blessed Chinook winds that give us a foretaste of spring in the depths of winter, and I am reminded that the winter will end and it will be time to saddle up and ride the Tiger Ridge with Charlie again.

You may recall how Doc and I so often found ourselves out of shape when the time came to head for the hills. I would lead Doc out of the paddock and into the round pen where I would lunge him for a time, and then brush him down and saddle up. The saddle pad seemed smaller and the saddle itself seemed narrower as I lifted it up and put it on his back. Then I had to reach under his belly for the cinch, which always seemed shorter than I remembered it. Indeed, when I finally managed to get it under his tummy, I found I had to pull hard to get enough slack to hook him up, and even then could only barely fasten the last hole in the cinch. Even his back cinch, which is supposed to be fairly loose, was tight. I kneed him to keep him from puffing out as some horses do, and walked him about for a good 10 minutes to see if the cinch was loosened, but it was tight as ever,

Then it was my turn, and my jeans must have shrunk because they were so tight, and doggone if the same "belt fairy" who had shortened Doc's cinch hadn't done the same to my belt. I could barely get it on. But the worst was when I tried to put my foot in the stirrup and found I couldn't get my leg up all the way. After many efforts, I finally got a boot firmly planted, but had to hop five to six times to get the momentum to swing up and over. Even then, I crawled up more than swung up. The "dashing cowboy" who had seemingly leaped into the saddle a few months earlier had become a fat old man on a fat old horse.

So the next winter, I opted to stay in shape and keep trim all winter long. Even when the Clippers raged, I tried to keep active - walking instead of driving as much as I could - including my trips to the Heart Rehab Therapy unit 3 times a week. I went out to work with Doc in the arena area of the ranch where I kept him and lunged him regularly. and come the next spring, the belt and cinch still fit.

I have been enduring a very long " winter" for the past 8 years or more - and as I reflect on my life I see I have gotten lazy about keeping in shape spiritually, morally, and creatively. I hear the "Clippers" raging about me and feel the chill and frost of deep sorrow and hurt. I want to just curl up and hide. But then God sends me a "chinook" - a smile, a hug, a kind word ... and a hundred other small but poignant reminders that I am still His beloved.  

These "little springs" remind me that this great "winter" will end and "Greater Spring" is coming. When it does, I want the belt to fit and the cinch to be tightened to the fifth notch. When He leads me out of this stall and saddles me up, I want to be in shape and ready to go. So now, though my world may be dark, cold and frozen; I seek to prepare for spring. I want to ride "point" and not "drag" when the Last Day comes. So, "with patient endurance I keep Thy word, O Lord" that I may endure to the end and be found to have been the "good and faithful servant" all winter long.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].