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Cowboy Pastor’s Wife Norma Elliott: Fit To Be Tied

We’ve all heard this saying, “He’s fit to be tied,” meaning someone is so mad that you have to tie him up, just to contain them. Kinda like that unruly heap of a cow that comes barrelling at you in the gate. She’s the sort that might need a rope or the sale pen. But, since it’s a little unheard of to actually tie up a person until they calm down, we have to think of more civil solutions.

Recently our son brought a friend with him to help us work cattle. Upon gathering cattle at one of the small places, we quickly learned that this young man, we will call him Lane, was an anxious worker indeed. He rode in front of others, rammed on the herd to push them up faster, and roped out of turn. You get the point, right? In other words such manorisms might be considered rude.

1. Riding in front of another rider = you think you can do their job better.



2. Rammin’ on cattle = causes them to scatter if everyone is not doing it at the same time.

3. Roping out of turn = come on, we all learned this basic rule in kindergarten.



Lane got a good chewing from a hand we had hired to help us, that will happen out west when the offense occurs several times. I wanted to warn the poor fella but it was an inevitable schooling that has happened to all of us. Although, I did learn that our friend went a bit off the deep end in his correction, in a…. “fit to be tied” kind of anger. Not the best way to welcome the new guy.

Why do we do this to others so quickly when they offend us? Is there a better way to handle conflict, or correct someone? Why yes there is and I was reminded of this yesterday in church.

1. Go directly to the person and talk to them. They may not even realize they’ve done something. Or they may have been quick tempered and handled it harshly and then realized they were wrong.

2. Don’t gossip about other people, or seek a pity party for yourself. Our goal should be restoration not demo.

3. Be quick to forgive and leave it behind. It’s good to mention right here, the boot will be on the other foot one day and we will be the person in need of forgiveness.

In the case of the cowboy who was a bit overboard, he did feel badly for the way he handled this situation and apologized. The new guy learned a memorable lesson the hard way. As Christians we have been given a conflict resolution manual, in Matthew 18:15-18. It does a far better job than I could explain here. Next time your tempted to yell at the help and point out their mistake, chose your words wisely. And equally, if you’re working for a new outfit, be respectful of how others work their country.

Honestly, we all could use some work in this area these days. We have a heap of, “fit to be tied folks” and a group of no respecters. Seems like a good time to go back to the manual. What do you think? Would love to hear from you at http://www.thecowboypastorswife.com.

Thank you for reading….thecowboypastorswife