Poem: The Wolf and the Shepherd
THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD
by Linda J. MacDonald
Betrayal has savaged your once happy family,
Who lived on the hillside of love all aglow.
The wolf of unfaithfulness smashed through your fences,
And drooled rabid poison on all that you know.
Gone are the dreams of a safe bed to lie on,
Innocence lost in the dark of the night.
Trembling in pain, with no shoulder to cry on,
Wishing for death before morning’s light.
You search through the woods for a cloak you can try on,
To hide from the shame of your terrible plight.
Finding no cover or folks to rely on,
You sink in depression and shiver in fright.
While you are lost in the valley to nowhere,
You discover two paths that seem to lead out.
One shadowed path invites you go down there
The other heads upward yet fills you with doubt.
A flashy new signpost reads, “Don’t be so dreary,
Come join our party at the end of the route.”
The other sign reads, “Rest for the weary
Awaits those who climb to the top of the mount.”
So here you look on in the valley of choices,
Wishing you knew the best path to take
One way seems easy yet filled with strange voices
The other looks harder and tougher to make.
Closing your eyes, you remember a Shepherd
The wolf had attacked and managed to kill
Who came back to life and traversed the way upward
His faint voice is calling, “Come up the hill.”
And so, you begin the path that is rougher
Choosing by faith to resist pleasure’s ploy
Upward you climb with no substance to buffer
Drawn by the voice that hints of true joy
You wonder the meaning of all that befell you
Gasping for air as you come ‘round the bend
Nothing makes sense, yet you choose to move closer
Unsure what awaits once you fully ascend.
You climb and you struggle to blaze a clear trail
Despite all the jagged rocks in your way
You shove and you bleed as your knees start to fail
Trying to keep the bad memories at bay
Scraping and crawling with all of your might,
To keep moving upward away from the lair
Of voices that bid you to give up the fight
But the Spirit keeps nudging, “You’re almost there.”
Then in the clearing the Shepherd awaits you
His outreached, scarred hands for you to surmise
Proof that He knows the sorrows you’ve been through
Sharing the shame you’ve come to despise.
And so you allow Him to cleanse all the gashes
The wolf cruelly tore when he grabbed at your flesh
The Shepherd’s own tears soothe the pain of those lashes
That beat up the confidence you once possessed
He carefully wraps the knees that are bleeding
And envelops your heart by the love in his eyes
He speaks ever so kindly the words you are needing
Instilling His truth to dispel all the lies
“You didn’t invite the wolf of deception
Nor did you cause his fierce tearing of soul
Your marital partner had holes of reception
That opened the door to all that he stole.”
It suddenly dawns that the sorrow was worth it
As the Shepherd holds on and won’t let you go.
Exchanging your shame with the love and contentment
That comes from a faith that’s been tested to grow.
You take one glance backward to see where you came from,
And soon light reveals that you’re not alone
A string of the injured have followed behind you
Suffering from battle scars of their own.
Sideways attacks by the wolf of betrayal
Have damaged your children and onlooking friends.
With crutches and bandages cast off the trail
They run up to join you at faith’s journey’s end.
Your choices to trust and head up the mountain
To reclaim the ground that the enemy stole
Has leveled the path for the wounded and broken
Paving the way for the lame to be whole.
Hebrews 12:12, 13 – Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather be healed.
Proverbs 4:26, 27 – Make level paths for your feet and take on the ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil.
Isaiah 35:3, 4 – Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will save you.”
Galatians 6:9
Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint.