Showing posts with label God's hands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's hands. Show all posts

Friday, March 8, 2024

The Best That Boast Can Laud (begins and ends with God)

Happy...Friday?!! Already😅🙏💗

So many sweet photo-op skies this week...
Below, just a few!









Col.1:15-17
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
  16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
 All things were created through Him and for Him.
17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

All beauty we behold is divinely founded!
without God's mercy and might to hold it in place
it would all fall!

Artists, since the beginning mimic His creation,
all inspiration of God-breathed origin!

My poetic endeavors have been challenged this week
it seems. It flew by in a blink of blessing!

Mon.-Food safety and management course, 

Tues.-grand-sonny visit, appointment, small group gettogether,

Wed. finishing food prep and delivery for event mentioned here 
Thursday-Help my mom with spring-cleaning (forgot camera!!)😭
...and just like that!!! It's Friday!

Today I am prepping food and house 
for our youngest daughter's birthday celebration
on the weekend!
A whole bunch of friends staying over while 
Jim and I stay out😅💝

I began this poem yesterday morning!
The first line fell from Heaven as I stood admiring the sky
while rubbing sleep from my eyes...


Time’s fountain brims with life; it peals from belfries gold and gray
Its showstoppers run rife; God never takes a holiday
The Hand that tunes the tide that ebbs and flows with season-sweeps
Regales the countryside with color, crowned with boundless deeps
The best that boast can laud as brush and pen rush awe’s grandstands
Begins and ends with God; each work of art drawn from His hands

He grants the breathless dance of worship’s unrehearsed requiem
And cheers hope’s countenance with refreshment where mercies stream
In wonders of creation, from the wellspring of his Word
Reasons for celebration overflow and undergird
To kindle exaltation that is incomparable
Salvation’s invitation still extends to one and all

God’s goodness never ceases to thrill the soul that believes
Unrivaled masterpieces humble all mankind achieves
Thus, the best boast can muster as we meditate on This
Are endeavors to trust Him more because of Who He IS
His faultless Influence imparts the best that boast can laud
All art we woo from hands and hearts begins and ends with God

© Janet Martin

Every artist who ever has dipped pen or brush
 into inkwells and paint palettes
draws from scenes cupped and cradled in God's Hands!
Thus every work of art ought to be signed-
By His grace
For His glory!










Saturday, June 24, 2023

Of Mortal and Divine

When every blade-leaf-petal is
dazzled with silver drops
we who behold would be amiss
not to pause, and praise God



The Hand of Time is, in essence the Hand of God!
So in troubled times like these,
we take heart for we are in Good Hands...

The Hand of Time unfolds flowers...







The lifespan of a flower is brief!
(see the transformation of a week in the photos below)




The Hand of God holds eternity!!
It bids us consider well whose Hand
we choose to trust!

***

Eccles.12:6-7
Remember your Creator
 before the silver cord is [b]loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
7Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

***

Outstretched, across the land and sea
Without form to define
This indelible unity
Where mortal and divine

...cradles the earth and tips yon purse
With dawn’s momentous lure
Once more life's for better or worse
Runs rife, to rich and poor

To test the sacred symmetry
That binds body and soul
And balances humanity
Against the holy Whole

Of love’s sovereign authority
Above sky, sea, and sod
Mist mingles with eternity
The Hand of Time and God

A flower cannot keep its prime
As dust's due decks the sod
The Soul slips through the hand of Time
Into the hand of God

© Janet Martin

Job 14:1-2

Man, who is born of woman,
is short of days and full of trouble.
2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away;
like a fleeting shadow,
 he does not endure.



Thursday, June 15, 2023

The Certainty of Uncertainty

One thing is certain; uncertainty!!

The uncertainty of North America
feels more ominous than ever before
as leaders,
once seeking to be led by God
have been replaced
by leaders who disregard the Christian faith
these countries where founded on!

I was touched by this phrase, 
'the good hand of God'
repeated through the book of Ezra
in the Old Testament, as he viewed 
the ruinous results of rebellion and disobedience, 
when he came to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple...




Oh God, are there yet men of understanding that your good hand will
bring to the high places of our fallen countries, 
Canada and the United States of America?!!

Oh God, for all who seek You and obey your commands Your
good hand is faithful in its guiding and keeping!
Your rod and staff comfort us! (Ps.23)

***

The certainty of uncertainty could cause us to fear
Could rob us of joy’s sweet delight because of dread’s veneer
Could blind us to the blessings where mercy’s fount overflows
Could keep our eyes fixed on the thorns rather than on the Rose

Could oppress us with ominous impressions of despair
Could shackle us beneath anxiety’s burdens of air
Could distract us from promises that anchor hope and trust
Could steal the perfect peace that ought to cheer faith’s frames of dust

The certainty of uncertainty should cause us to pray
And reach for God’s good hand outstretched to lead us day by day
Should make us more aware of He who is Faithful and True
Where come what may, nothing can His perfect purpose undo

© Janet Martin

Rev.19:11
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.
And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True...

Thursday, April 20, 2023

There Is a Hand...


Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 Savior, Lead Me Lest I Stray

 

There is a Hand to which faith clings with confidence secure
A hand that fits us with armor that fits us for the fight
And helps us in thick of opposition to endure
As we trust His command and make His love our chief delight
As we rely on He who tries and tests our hearts and minds
To see if there be any wicked way that persists still
To mar His perfect peace because of pride that blindly binds
Us to the pattern of this world rather than to His will

There is a Hand that draws us to the comfort of His Word
He leads in paths of righteousness through valleys of despair
And fills us with fresh wonder for His mercies, undeterred
To we, often forgetful of His faithful, loving care
He guides and keeps, while calling sheep still wandering and lost
His arms always wide open to welcome prodigals back
To kiss His hands, scarred with reminders of redemption’s cost
Hands still outstretched to all who still reject love without lack

© Janet Martin

Psalm 34:8-14
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.





 

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Love's Kind Command

PAD Challenge 19: Today is our third Two-for-Tuesday prompt day. 
Pick one prompt for your poem today, or write a poem for each prompt, 
or write one poem that works with both. Today’s prompts are:
  1. Write a protagonist poem, and/or…
  2. Write an antagonist poem.

 We are wired to like to know...
God's love commands us to trust.
How can we learn to trust?
First we need to learn to listen to the still small voice,
then we need to learn to surrender our will/obey
only then will we be able to trust.



We could not but for mercy’s Hand
Face what not one of us can see
Lord, help us trust love's kind command
To all disciples, ‘follow me’

There is an enemy that lurks
And seeks to thwart and lead astray
He distracts us from righteous works
With what at first glance seems okay

Lust rules with want and taunts with fear
Unlike the Love that sets us free
And guides our step, comforts our tear
And whispers gently ‘follow me’

Then like the twelve, teach us to trust
And heed love’s call to ‘follow me’
For we can do all things we must
Through Christ who strengthens faithfully

© Janet Martin

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
  Phil.4:13

  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
Matt 4:19

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

If We But Ask

No matter how much we brace ourselves for what we might face we are fitted only as we need it!
Sometimes it's comforting to visualize His nail-scarred Hand 
reaching down to hold our so-small hand as we reach up...
It's also comforting to visualize those same hands 
enfolding the rebel/prodigal/atheist as we pray!
(For we still live in the day of grace)



The Hand that lowers twilight’s bars
Then fades yon fathoms filled with stars
As daybreak like a weightless tide
Unfolds the muffled countryside
That tells the season by the shell
That cloaks the woodland, field and dell
And steals the wand’ring, wond’ring gaze
With nature’s invincible ways

That Hand that grants the benison
Whereby plant and harvest is done
That guides the earth’s orbit of teal
That spins upon The Potter’s wheel
That shapes with rise and set of sun
The legacy where said-and-done
When we are stripped down to bare clod
Are too small to shake fists at God

The Hand that weathers mortal glove
By the sheer joy and grief of love
That lends all that He gives and takes
In this go-round of sacred stakes
And instills shoal of dust-to-dust
With soul’s indelible Must
Where none, with rebel set of heart
Can shuck That which sets us apart

This Hand that does not slip or fail
That tunes the wind that fills the sail
That vexes vanity’s intent
And perplexes want’s prideful bent
Has scars left there by hate fulfilled
As He made Heaven possible
This Hand that fits us for trust’s task
Will hold our hand, if we but ask

© Janet Martin


For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,
 Do not fear; I will help you.
Isa.41:13


 


 



Tuesday, March 19, 2019

An Every Day Reality Check


 For some reason this song was just 'there' when I woke, like a morning prayer...



...then a quote I read by Charles Spurgeon; "My dear friend, I am a poor sinner still 
and have to look to Christ every day as I did at the very first."
...inspired this post.

Every day the way we walk is riddled with pitfall and snare
We are prey to he who stalks and lures thought’s ever-ready stare
Then when thought has sought redemption, hands and feet respond, well-groomed
Through the minefields of temptation, where without Christ we are doomed

Every day the life we live will take us through new highs and lows
So much touch and taste to tease us and to keep us on our toes
The ‘evidence of things hoped for’ may seem like a fairy-tale
Yet Faith is our only lifeline to the Hand that will not fail

Every day is like a buffet groaning ‘neath the weight of grace
Wooing from a wake of takers, help for hungry human race
Love, so rich in mercy offers (even scoffers) tender care
Where we all have equal access to the steppingstones of prayer

Every day is like a foothold drawing us to Time’s demise
We brought nothing to this world and it all stays when body dies
Pray the Lord we lay up treasure better than earth’s heap of Stuff
Lest life’s leap of pain and pleasure in the end is not enough

© Janet Martin