Tumbleweeds

This poem came to me while I was in the mountains at a men's retreat. Like all good church-based men's retreats, we had several hours of "fun" time on a Saturday afternoon. Most of the guys played golf or went hiking, but I'm more of an Ice Tea by the pool kind of guy, so I just relaxed. But I kept thinking about something said in the morning session and as I sat by the pool, I wrote...then re-wrote...until it was time to gather again. for the uninitiated, Bob Nolan was one of the founders of the "Sons of the Pioneers," along with Roy Rogers. One of their most famous songs was, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."

Tumbleweeds

Bob Nolan sang of tumbleweeds
just driftin’ cross the plains.
And even now, when cowboys sing
you’ll hear that same refrain.
I think about those tumbleweeds
just tumblin’ to and fro,
always changing their direction
with how the wind will blow.
The tumbleweed just tumbles
because it’s broken free.
It has no roots to hold it back,
its dead as dead can be.
And in the song, that cowboy
was driftin’ that way too.
He had no firm foundation
that he could hold on to.
At times I think that I’m just like
that tumblin’ tumbleweed.
just blown in all directions
by self-centeredness and greed.
When I don’t have Living Water
or feed on God’s own Word
I become a drftin’ tumbleweed.
Of that, I am assured.
But there is hope for tumbleweeds.
Don’t take this truth for granted.
God’s the gardener of your soul
and you can be replanted.

Jeff Hildebrandt © 2004