dr. seuss teaches a lesson

I was blog-surfing this evening, drinking my Neo-Citran before bed (yes, that should tell you why I haven't been blogging lately), and I started reading a blog done by a Thai friend, Mink. When I taught in Thailand, she was working at the church; teaching and working with the youth. She's got a great heart for ministry, and she finds wonderful things to post on her blog. (check the links for the link).

She posted this poem, which I'm pretty sure was written for me. It reads like a Dr. Seuss book, which is somewhat appropriate, because I've read a lot of Dr. Seuss in my travels. Anyway, the message resounds with me. Give it a read. Maybe it will resound with you too.

Russel Kelfer - WAIT

Desperately, helplessly, lovingly, I cried;
quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and wept for clue to my fate…
and the Master so gently said, “Wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need anwers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate,
hangs in the balance and you tell me to wait?
I’m needing a ‘Yes’ a go-ahead sign
or even a ‘No’ to which I’ll resign.

You promised, Dear Lord,that if we believe,
we need but to ask and we shall receive.
Lord, I’ve been asking and this is my cry.
I’m weary of asking, I need a reply.”

Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate,
as my Master replied again “Wait.”
So I slumped in my chair defeated and taunt,
and grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting….for what?”

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine
…and he tenderly said, “I could give you sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause the mountains to run.

I could give you all you seek, and pleased you would be
You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know me.
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
you’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in me,
when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You’d never experience the fullness of love,
when the peace of my spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give and I save for a start.
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of my heart.

The glow of my comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask,
from an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You’d never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that my grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss, if you missed what I am doing in you.

So be silent my child and in time you will see,
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though my answers seem terribly late,
my most precious answer of all is still….wait.”