Ya Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd!

I have always been told “Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd…Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage…Ya can’t go a-swimmin’ in a baseball pool…Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back…Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car…Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch…” No, ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to.”

            Roger Miller wrote and sang those words back when I was a kid, but the word picture it painted in my mind was how absurd the song was. Everyone knows that all of what he sang was silly, but I forgot to look at the actual meaning the song was trying to push forward. I was only six when he debuted his album The Return of Roger Miller. So it was a long time ago. The visions that came through my mind were comical and I loved the tune.

            Being a young child I concentrated on the words I liked and didn’t listen to the rest of them with as much interest. A couple of days ago the song popped in my mind as I was working in my office.  I got to thinking about the rest of the song but I couldn’t remember. Thank goodness for Google I found the words with the most meaning. Yes, the tune always sparked my interest but I couldn’t remember all the words and had to look them up.

Like many who read the Bible, I had heard it enough to remember a part of it but not enough to get the real meaning of the words. See, the chorus and bridge of the song goes like this. “All ya gotta do is put your mind to it, knuckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it. No, ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to.”

No, you can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd or any of the other things that Roger sings about here. But, we can all smile and be happy if we put our minds to it!  We can read and learn the rest of the bible to find out what God wants for us in our lives.

How are you doing? I love you all!  Britt