"Quiet"

You learn to do it quiet,

When you gather wild bovine,

‘Cause if you go too loudly,

They’ll scatter every time.

But if you just stay steady,

And try to ease along,

You’ll find you come out better,

And the quiet can’t go wrong.

It doesn’t mean you never,

Raise your voice at all,

But not near as much as you’d think,

When you gather in the fall.

There’s a certain skill to learn it,

‘Bout the way the livestock go,

When you’re moving them a-horseback,

It’s just better quiet and slow.

And, Lord, I’ve had a horse race,

And outrun ‘em to the woods,

And see if you can turn ‘em,

And lots of times you could.

But better you don’t have to,

Make a chase at all,

And if you’re skilled and lucky,

You’ll keep the trouble small.

I find in this a lesson,

We might learn ‘bout life,

Loud may not work better,

Than quiet when there’s strife.

It’s not always the loudest,

That get to have their way,

Sometimes if volume’s lower,

Folks listen to your say.

And frankly like the cowboys,

Who quietly take their time,

The ones I like to follow,

Get things done just fine.

“A truly wise person uses few words…” (Prov. 17:27, NLT)

We are talking more and saying less these days. Our lives are filled with words- calls, texts, emails, cable news, instagram, facebook, etc., etc. This is perhaps the noisiest, loudest time in the history of the world. No way to be sure, but it seems that way to me. Gathering cattle reminded me how much can be done, and done better, if accompanied by a quieter approach. There is a time to speak up and raise your voice, no doubt about it. But there is so much advantage to being careful and wise when you do. What if we determined to talk less and say more. I think God would help us, don’t you?

Lord, help us talk less and say more, in Jesus’ name.