Wolf and Shepherd | Linda J. MacDonald, M.S.

POEM: THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD

I wrote this poem to encourage people who are weary of the battle to recover from their wounds. It is easy to lose perspective in our journey to increased wholeness after experiencing such trauma. Some may even want to give up and stop trying to heal and grow.

I trust this piece will encourage you to keep on keeping on. Like the example of JOB in the Bible, there is more to our struggles than meets the eye.

THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD

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 kindly speaks 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.[i]

Hebrews 12:12

“So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees” (TNLT).

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.

[i] Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from: