For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.


A phrase kept trying to creep into my head. I heard bits and pieces of it but I kept trying to latch on to "for lack of" or "if not for". I could never get quiet enough to hear what my inner voice was trying to tell me. Then last night I heard "for want of" and found this rhyme. I can't remember where I heard it but it seems that it is a nursery rhyme. Wikipedia says it talks about consequences. I think it talks about connectedness and sequencing. It was if my inner voice was saying, "First, this has to happen for that to happen." Or maybe it was, "You've got to go through this before you can have that." At any rate I got the message.