Prayerful

 

Dark Prince

Prayerful

Befouled

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

 

 

            Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.

Eph. 6:12

            Dark Prince

            The Washington Post was celebrating President Trump’s COVID diagnosis 39 minutes after the announcement.

            The column creating the death wish was apparently linked to the debate, but the reminder that progressives out there agree they have the power to evict him from the territory he has forcibly seized in their minds. They must vote him out of their thoughts and our hopes.

            We can remove this awful man from our collective headspace, which he has so thoroughly befouled.

            They simply don’t understand our world. The hate and vitriol has been consistent and constant since before November 8, 2016 the date Donald Trump was elected and there has been no subsidence since.

            It is war.

            The health of the president now creates an even greater point of debate. The state of the other fellow’s mental condition notwithstanding, the tumult over the positive test will only make their own brand of systemic character assassination more intense.

            This is the circumstance in which we find ourselves.

            Befouled

            It is interesting that such a modern movement of extra constitutional thought has reached back to use an ancient word. Befoul is not a word used often even though most of us could define it out of hand.

            To make dirty or filthy; soil; defile; sully: a bird that befouls its own nest.

            It is a word that is believed to have first been used about 1275. It comes from the Middle English word bi-foulen with foulen actually being Germanic in origin.

            To cast aspersions on; slander, the second and most ancient of intentions is what may be the more correct usage in the modern age. New movements apparently have to use old words to be new again.

            The general press befouls this president as a continuous, foundational tenet.

            The whole issue and the use of the word, though, may be the more important point of the WAPO outburst. It is time for the disconnect between the progressive group think and the natural world to be considered. Most of those people now understand our natural setting only on the basis of some occasional relationship they have with a pet (or somebody else’s pet).

            What they don’t understand is the natural world is not just a palate of colors to be mixed and organized to frame a picture or to contemplate while tasting wine. More often than not, it tends to become raw rather than picturesque and proper.

            Our current killer drought is a good example.

            Unlike the political overture of global warming, the proliferation and the continuation of this monster is fairly simplistic. La Nina is squatting over us with a big high-pressure cell that seems to have straddled us like a fat woman sitting on the middle hole of a three-hole privy. She is big enough that the boards have flexed, and little strips of her abundant derriere are now caught as if in a painful vise. She can’t move. Her lingering presence has become a cruel reality for her and for us.

            While she is squealing, we are preparing to deal with the inevitable fallout.

            Truckloads of cattle are already being shipped, but that may only be the start of the regional liquidation that the drought may prompt. In the last several days, we are also witnessing a debilitating condition in some individual cattle that we purchased in the spring. These cattle are new to our range and it is becoming more likely they might be eating the green tips of broomweed. What we are witnessing is the toxic reaction. These cattle didn’t arrive with the proper preparation from previous adult mentorship under their new range conditions. The only animals affected are these new cattle. Our home grown, located cattle, don’t show the symptoms and remain in much better flesh than two inches of summer rain should suggest.

            Viewed without context, the entire collage of circumstances could be interpreted by a foe or an uneducated observer as institutional malfeasance, but the truth is, we will find our way out of this dilemma and be better for it. No one takes these kinds of circumstances that can devolve into horror stories more seriously than the steward. Every animal is important. Every pasture is important. Every decision is shaped by some matter of experience and learning process.

            We assume the risk, and we assume the responsibility. It becomes second nature much like our angst when leaders, this particular leader, is unduly and perpetually denigrated. When the president is befouled his supporters assume the same slander.

            We are that kind of people … it seems to be our nature.

            Prayerful

            Pat, I borrowed the opening scripture from your daily devotional reminders of two days ago, but under the circumstances, it is incumbent we now add to it.

            I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

            The drought and the election of 2020 are simultaneous and parallel worries.

            The only way to get through each is to get through each, but that isn’t simply watching the process. Every day is a day of thoughtful action. It should start with prayer and end with prayer asking for wisdom, diligence, and chosen words.

            The scripture says to pray for all of them … that may not be easy, but that is the divine instruction.

 

            Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Pray for this President and First Lady.”