Godly Counsel
by Russell Kelfer
(There is no audio for this poem.)
Simple problems, I’ve decided,
Are the ones that others feel.
(And often they’re imagined;
And seldom are they real.)
Complex problems, I’ve decided,
Are the ones I have myself!
(For them, no simple problems
Rest midst books upon the shelf.)
What a void in our perspective,
‘twixt the simple and profound.
What petty observations
Do we make on flimsy ground,
That we tend to be objective,
And cold and hard and stern,
And others tell to suffer well,
And pray and wait and learn.
Why not rise above the question
And view from God’s domain,
And see the problem His way.
Be it grief or hurt or pain?
And realize that wounded hearts
Are often counseled best
By men whose hearts have wounded been,
And from the wounds been blessed.
That men who suffer pain and hurt,
Find comfort, hope, and strength,
From men whose hearts have felt the same,
And suffered pain at length.
Oh, the smallness of our counsel,
If the problems that are real
We reject with pious platitudes,
Because we fail to feel.
But, to have the mind of Jesus,
Whose perspective from above,
Never fails to minister,
But never fails to love!
DTM Discipleship Tape Ministries
POB 782256, San Antonio, TX 78278
1-800-375-7778 or 210-226-0000
www.dtm.org • dtm@dtm.org • © Russell Kelfer
