"Long in the Tooth"

Let me see his teeth I said,

He was reluctant, see,

A bay horse he called Corn Bread,

As old as he could be.

I was lookin’ for a gentle horse,

That suits a man my age,

Through with starting colts, of course,

I’m way on past that stage.

But this old horse was twenty-five,

If he was a year,

Truth is he was scarce alive,

Doubt he could find a gear.

As I drove away I thought,

I’m gettin’ long in tooth,

If it was me I’d not be bought,

And that is just the truth.

When cattle age their teeth decrease,

Some worn completely flat,

Best to sell before they cease,

To graze until they’re fat.

My mind flashed to a cowboy friend,

Who died some time ago,

Full of stories, truth to lend,

And I enjoyed him so.

Spittin’ skoal his dentures slipped,

And fell right on the floor,

I picked ‘em up they never dripped,

He kept on talking more.

Teeth and age and time and worth,

Don’t always make good sense,

The Good Lord graces years on earth,

We’re saved at His expense.

And that gives us our value, see,

Because His blood was shed,

Died so we could be set free,

Then rose up from the dead.

A cowboy rides the sweet grass,

Until his days are through,

And then by grace he will pass,

To where the horses are all new.

From birth to death our value is determined by the Lord. In earthly things value is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. You may have an appraisal, but you don’t know what something is worth until someone actually pays you. And here’s the good news. Human beings do not lose their value when they age. That’s because we are bought with a price, the blood of Jesus. This happened because of our desperate need to be forgiven and reconciled to God. But it also happened to show us our eternal worth. What is it again? The blood of Jesus is our ransom, therefore our value is determined eternally by HIm. For this reason we cannot devalue others, either. It’s something to remember.

Lord, help us realize our worth in Your eyes, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Kenneth Wyatt, cowhorsegallery.com. Used by permission. Thanks, and God bless.