My husband and I have lived in our current home for eleven years now, and we have really enjoyed our time here. We affectionately refer to it as the Smith Ranch. We have about eleven acres of land that includes a beautiful one-and-a-half acre pond, a large field, a paddock, a barn, along with our house and beautiful, expansive yard. The intentional critters who live on our property are, four horses, a dog, and ourselves, and the unintentional critters at any given time could be, ground hogs, opossums, racoons, squirrels, birds, mice, chipmunks, skunks, snakes, cayotes, and the neighbors’ cats. Though we do not claim to be Ranchers or Farmers by profession, we have taken on many of their duties by default because of all the work that must be done on and around the place daily. Though it is a lot of upkeep, it is extremely rewarding when you can sit out on the back deck at night and enjoy the breeze, or on the front porch in the rocking chairs enjoying the sunset and smelling the roses.
On this ranch, we have an escape artist, a gilding, whose name is Popcorn. Though he had the name when we bought him, we can assume that the previous owners named him this because of his coat that looks like caramel popcorn. His winter coat is also curly and kinky, because of his breeding, which is Vashtie Curly. Popcorn is very personable, and will give you a wonderful experience riding him, even with his propensity to want to run, whether you have prompted him to or not, but he has a wandering spirit. If there is so much as a toe’s breadth of fence that is down and he thinks that by some miracle he can get out, he will attempt it. Therefore, one of our main tasks around the little ‘ranch’ is to make sure the fences are always mended and in good repair. His mentality and philosophy are that the grass is so much greener on the other side, of course.
His actions of escaping are brave and macho, however, that is where it ends. He has learned over the years, that he has no reason to leave home because he is cared for here. Horses are not loners, but pack animals, so he does not want to go too far from the others, especially the lead mare, so when he makes his bold move, he will have a grand ole time eating grass and then come right back to the gate wanting to get back in to be with his cohorts. The mare is the leader of the group, and when one of the other three is out of sight, she will let it be known. So, as wise as Popcorn thinks he is, his shenanigans are no secret.
There can be distinct reasons as to why there is a breech in a fence. The wooden fences can deteriorate, fences of any kind can be broken or weighted down by limbs falling on them from high winds and storms, and there can be other animals around who can over time cause them to be down or gaped open enough for someone, or something to pass through them, that should not be able to. When a fence is made of wire, which is most often strong, metal barbed wire, they can blend into the surroundings and not be seen by the horses or other animals and therefore be destroyed unintentionally. There were multiple brilliant minds who contributed to the invention of the barbed wire, also called the ‘thorny fence,’ in the 1800’s, starting in France, then being developed further in the United States into what we know today. It is said to be ‘the invention that tamed the West,’ because it was used to ‘restrict cattle and secure territory’ in what was once open range grazing land. Contention and tensions rose because the cattle were getting injured by running into the spiked fences that they could not see. They were invisible to the animals who were not used to any barrier being in their way. The wild, wild west for sure! We can understand their plight somewhat, because we have fences of various types on our property and have had the joys of having to mend them over the past eleven years.
In our meager knowledge of ranches and farms we have also come across what is called haywire. This is a thinner metal wire that is used in making hay bales. It is what holds the bales together, though in more modern times they use thin nylon baling twine. When feeding the animals, the rancher or farmer should ensure that the wire or nylon rope is cut and removed. Firstly, you would not want them to eat it and get it stuck in their mouths or stomachs. Secondly, the cattle, horses, sheep, and goats partaking of the hay, must be cautious of the hay wire if not removed, because though it does not have any barbs on it, and it is thin and flexible, if the end that is fastened becomes detached, it will fling around uncontrollably, and the animal not expecting it, will receive a blindsided blow, and this could cause injuries. This would mean extensive time and money in trying to get them patched up, or if you were in the wild, wild west, they would just shoot their horse if it became lame, because it was no longer of use to them. Thirdly, the haywire can become a tangled and rusted mess, if the wire is left laying on the ground after they have eaten all the hay they could get to, which can also be dangerous if they were to step on it and get tangled up in it. All of these have played a part in the development of the expression, “Everything just went haywire.”
At its inception, as mentioned, haywire was very thin and flimsy and was considered a cheap throw-away product. Besides being used to hold hay bales together, it was used as the ‘go to’ for making ‘temporary’ repairs, not only to fences but to anything, including machinery, until a permanent fix could be made. The internet gives us these short suggestions: “The expression “haywire” originated in New England logging camps around the turn of the 20th century. The original meaning of the phrase was “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably or fall apart”. The phrase “a haywire outfit” was used to describe a poorly equipped group of loggers, and then anything that was flimsy or patched together. The term “haywire” refers to the light wire that was used in baling machines to tie up bales of hay.” “At the turn of the 20th century the expression ‘a haywire outfit’ began to be used in the USA. This was used to describe companies that patched-up faulty machinery using such wire, rather than making proper long-term fixes.” The expression ‘to go haywire’ stemmed from seeing the factors related to the use of this wire and later also came to mean, “to begin acting crazy, become unreasonable or wild, flip out, freak out or go berserk, start malfunctioning or failing to operate normally.”
Yes, there are times in our lives that everything that can go wrong will go wrong to the point where it seems like just a mess, a ball of wire that can never be untangled; however, we must keep in mind that haywire is just meant to be temporary. The cause of the distraught plight that we find ourselves in is usually because we have been blindsided by something unexpected. Something that has come upon us out of the blue and possibly knocked the wind out of us, caused us to derail, or puts a cog in the wheel. However, these are all temporary. We must remember, though they can be horrific, storms are temporary. Trials can feel like they drag on forever until we feel like we cannot go on, but they too will pass. We may need to stop, regroup, and produce a different plan, but we can go on. There are many examples in scripture of this, but our mind most often goes to Job when speaking of trials and tribulations. He lost absolutely everything he had physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually, except his life, but he was restored with double fold blessings on every account, when God decided that it was time to clip the crazy ball of haywire, and fix things permanently. James 1:2-4 tells us also, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” When God fixes things, he does it right!
Unfortunately, we often try to get by with fixing things ourselves. Mending our fences with a thin, cheap wire, or putting a patch or a band aide on things repeatedly, hoping the temporary fix will last forever. This is a misnomer, and we are delusional if we continue to have this mentality. For our physical fences that need to be mended, we need to purchase the correct replacement materials, cut the temporary flimsy wire off, and put the time in to do the job properly. In our relationships that are eroding, we must get to the source of the problem. Stop continuing trying to think things will mend on their own and make the necessary changes to salvage and restore what was once there. In our walk with the Lord, we need to get into the word of God, stop justifying our wrong doing, and find the answers for permanent fixes to be made to the issues in our life that we need. We know that troubles will continue to come our way in this life, but by putting a little more time, energy, and thought into coming up with a workable solution, rather than a temporary, quick fix, will pay off great dividends in the long run. We will run into obstacles; however, we can have the Operating Manual aka the Word of God on hand and in our hearts, which will show us anything we need to know about making the needed repairs. We know that men particularly, do not like to read instructions or maps; however, when it comes to God’s Word, our instruction for living this life, I think it would behoove us all to make an exception.
There will be more hurts and wounds that come from being blindsided, but we have a great physician who is on call twenty-four-seven. Zechariah 13:6 prophesied about the coming Messiah, who we now know was Jesus, God come in the flesh, and he said, “And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Jesus fully knows and understands what it means to be betrayed. We know we will be hurt, but we are just never expecting it or prepared when a friend or fellow Christian hurts us. Hebrews 4:15 says this regarding Jesus, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He knows what we are going through and has taken that hurt and injury of heart, soul, mind, and spirit upon himself, so that we can have a permanent eradication of it and not just a temporary band aid to cover up how we are feeling. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” When the world is ‘going haywire’ around us, we do not have to go through life dazed and confused, we can look to Him and He will give us peace.
There are many things that happen to us in life that we should not be surprised by, yet we find ourselves flustered and in a haywire state of mind. Here are a few examples: When the alarm clock goes off in the morning, it is because we set it the night before, because we needed to get up and be somewhere. Chances are it is a daily occurrence, yet we often fall apart. Birthdays and Christmas roll around every year on the same days, yet we seem shocked that we only have one day before the event, and we are not prepared for it. A politician is voted into office, and we are astonished that he has not done one thing that he said he would do when he was on the campaign trail. We take our tests at school without cracking a book to study and garnish an F on our report card and we are in utter shock and dismay. We become distracted and forget the food on the stove, and we are surprised that it is burned to a crisp. All these things that should be normal to us, and under control, we begin to perceive them as disasters and put us into a tail spin, thinking that nothing is going right, and that everything is just a jumbled ball of haywire that can never be fixed. We need to take the proverbial wire clippers and cut off those pieces of cheap temporary wire fixes that have accumulated beyond recognition and find a permanent solution in our lives.
Planning, being aware of our surroundings, anticipating the needs around us, being prepared for our day, and living intentionally are some ways to get ahead of the curve ball that life is trying to throw at you. My husband has an expression that he uses almost every day. He says, “We’ll just take it in strides.” He has learned in his lifetime that things are going to happen, whether we like it or not, are prepared for them or not, or want them to or not. Life can get messy, but you must deal with things as they come. Ecclesiastes 9:11 states, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.” A flat tire is not expected or wanted but can happen to anyone at any given time and must be repaired to get back on your journey. We must stop living with a martyr spirit thinking that we are being picked on. We cannot live in fear and have peace at the same time. We must allow the Lord to ‘take the wheel’ as the song states.
A Dutch theologian, humanist and philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 to 1536) stated, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” and this has been quoted over the centuries. The trusty rusty internet gives this meaning to the proverb, “… if everything is bad, and one thing is less bad, then it’s automatically the best. It plays on the idea of ‘best’ being a relative term. So literally speaking, someone who has sight in one eye can see more than someone who is blind. Therefore, he’s the best. He rules. In life, if you’re better than people at something, even if you’re not even good at it, you’ll be the best. It’s winning by default. If you were playing a game and the other team forfeited, your team won just because it didn’t quit. You didn’t do anything, but you still did more than the other kids.” He states, “…my mother likes the saying because it puts things in perspective: “Once you enter the real world, nothing is perfect. A lot of life is just getting things done the best you can. It’s not like in school where there are grades. Many times, the things that are best aren’t even very good. That can be very comforting or very concerning, depending on your belief system. I think it’s kind of beautiful.”
We must beware of walking through life blindly and becoming enslaved because we thought we were impervious to trials, adverse circumstances, or hardships. Rather, being prepared can take away the panic and alleviate fear. Jesus said in Matthew 15:13-14, “But he answered and said, every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” The scripture tells us in Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” We know there are certain loans we must have in this world to get buy, for shelter and transportation for example, and we know we will need to ask for help from others from time to time in this life, however, if we would take the blinders off and begin living more intentionally, there will be fewer haywire moments and less temporary fixes in our lives. We can have a calm assurance that the Lord has everything under control, only if we have given everything to him. We must not put people in power over us unintentionally and become subservient by being blind to our surroundings. Those who refuse to see and make changes in their lives will be subject to those who are just by default doing more than them, which could be absolutely nothing.
The one-eyed king expression reminds me of ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ series of movies that started in 2003, starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. He was just as dirty as the ship mates were, and a filthy mouth like the rest. Probably came from the same place as most of them did, yet they were enslaved to him. The only difference was that he had a ship, and he saw that they were followers, so he by default became their one-eyed king and leader. They did all the work, were able bodied, mentally capable, and probably knew more about the sea than he did, but he had a ship and the plan to pillage from the rich. Pirates have no noble redeeming qualities, but he was considered the best, not because he was doing more, or doing it better, but because he had the ship, and he recognized their blindness.
Jesus said of the people in Matthew 13:13, “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” When we seek God through prayer and study of the word, our eyes of understanding can be opened. Our days can be filled with peace and calm assurance rather than going from one haywire moment to another. Our master and leader, Jesus Christ is not blindsided or surprised by life. He is not floundering about wondering what tomorrow will bring. If there is a breach in your fences of allowing things to get in or out that should not be, take the time and effort to mend them permanently, not temporarily with cheap, flimsy little excuses or cliches.
What or who is it that you are allowing yourself to be led by and be controlled by in this world? What has power over you? Disorganization, ill preparedness, fear, regret, unforgiveness, anxiety, sin, and the list could go on and on, down the road and around the corner, and never end. We can take back our lives and the authority that the enemy has tried to steal from us. Our power and authority are in the name of Jesus, through the blood he shed on Calvary for us, and His spirit that lives within us. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” We can be overcomers and more than conquerors, and not continue to be victimized by Satan’s devices, or even to those around us. Let us put the haywire on the scrap metal pile today and take control once again.