Doctored

The colt was in the round pen,

He suffered from a cough,

I knew I’d have to rope him,

Then slide the loop back off.

His momma in there with him,

I got her halter on,

And then while holding onto her,

Got my loop built strong.

Sailed it out a couple times,

Before I had him caught,

My syringe was loaded,

And though that’s when he fought,

He’d never been much handled,

Doctored him okay,

Slid off then my lariat rope,

Got ‘er done, as they say.

There, folks, is a lesson,

‘Bout binding us together,

Sometimes isn’t easy,

But God’s love is the tether.

And when we need some healing,

We might just shy away,

But if we’re bound together,

We’ll get well anyway.

Don’t run from God’s old round pen,

Or from His lariat rope,

When He pulls you closer,

There you’ll find some hope,

For finally getting better,

And being of some use,

When bound to what God’s after,

He really sets us loose.

So bind us to Your love, Lord,

And to Your healing grace,

Bind us to those who help us,

And together seek Your face.

And loose us from the illness,

That hinders who we are,

Created new in Jesus,

And brought back from so far.

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace…” (Eph. 4:3, NLT)

Binding and loosing seems to be an important theme of scripture. Called kingdom keys by Jesus, Paul instructed the Ephesian church to bind themselves together with peace. This was about learning to walk in harmony and spiritual unity. Paul knew that if believers stay bound together and let nothing disturb or disrupt their peace, God is able to move in and through them powerfully. Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one with each other as He and the Father were one so that the world would know He had been sent. Being bound together, then, becomes a powerful witness to God’s healing grace. In order to doctor the colt, the cowboy had to bind himself to the animal using the rope. Though frightened, the rope held the colt in place so that he could receive the medicine he needed. Sometimes we are afraid of the spiritual medicine we need, and it take God’s binding love to hold us in place so we can be healed. It’s something to think about.

Lord, bind us to Your best and loose us from evil, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Mary Ross Buchholz, maryrossbuchholz.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mary, and God bless you.