Showing posts with label consequences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consequences. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Of Payoffs In Waiting (or Something About a Gaping Grave)


Yesterday my dad's oldest brother (and Wayne's father) was laid to rest.
He is an uncle fondly remembered by his nieces and nephews
 for his good-natured, uncomplaining and optimistic outlook
 though his life had many hardships!
We cousins are in a stage where funerals have become our meeting place
and with these gatherings comes the solemn reminder
our childhood playmates are not children anymore,
all of us under the influence of Time's unflinching touch 
and we are reminded of this truth;
that death can come to the young
but it will come to the old
and the realization is dawning that our generation
 is on the heels of the one we are, 
one by one, laying to rest!
A ripe old age turns to mist
 in death's twinkling of an eye!
So then, as we turn again 
to shoulder our yokes of scarred delight
pray we do not lose sight 
of the only payoff that counts
when, for all 'momentary mountains/afflictions, 
the eternal payoff is unveiled!

Therefore we do not lose heart.
 Though our outer self is wasting away, 
yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
 17For our light and momentary affliction is producing 
for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. 
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Just beyond what we can see ...

(No matter how bitter/sweet)
lies Payoff's Eternity...

Below, a bit of 'sweet'.
This dog can be sassy and silly one minute
and sound asleep at my feet the next!!😂




Though the payoff of push and shove
Through ups and downs of life and love
May appear, to the sphere of sight
Like a showcase of scarred delight
While grappling with the yoke of truth
By fresh parades of fading youth

And though the payoff may seem small
For prayers that rise and tears that fall
Where today holds no guarantees
That Circumstance will aim to please
The Hierarchy of Hope and Dream
We nurture with fondest esteem

…and though the payoff drags its feet
Where hold and letting go compete
Something about a gaping grave
When mourners meet, its scene to brave
Reminds us with sobriety
Of a payoff we cannot see

The payoff for man’s hope and hurt
Is not a fresh-turned mound of dirt
Is not a final farewell tear
Is not the boon of now and here
Oh no! Death is the turn of key
Where push and shove/life and love’s payoff will be

So then, before it is too late
Pray we would reevaluate
The quests and payments we applaud
And rest our confidence in God
Who will, for all eternity
Unveil what the payoff will be

© Janet Martin

We sang two of my favourite hymns yesterday









Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Some 'Sure-ances/Assurances For Today


The Way, the Truth, and the Life

John 14:1-6
1Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions; 
if it were not so, [b]I would have told you. 
I go to prepare a place for you. 
3And if I go and prepare a place for you,
 *I will come again and receive you to Myself; 
that where I am, there you may be also. 
4And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going,
 and how can we know the way?”
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through Me.
***

Surely as night turns to morning and as sunshine follows rain..

Quite the deluge pouring from nature's tap today!
So many a-magical rain-drop marvel on display!









Sure as effect follows action heedless of rank or stature
Sure as truth meets confrontation with unflinching caliber
Sure as deed is like seed planted, sure as pride precedes downfall
Sure as every day is granted with a divine beck and call
Sure as summer is enchanted by enticements, autumnal

Sure as moments mete fleet measure that no miser's vault contains 
Sure as we prove what we treasure by what Thought most entertains
Sure as season follows season, sure as present turns to past
Sure as wisdom refines reason, sure as stumbles humble fast 
Sure as hello's sweet reunions, sure as farewell culls its cast  

Sure as the face in the mirror starts to wear Time’s telling strife
Sure as each breath draws us nearer to the finish-line of life
Sure as despair is a canker causing the spirit to groan
Sure as we are prone to hanker after what is not our own
Sure as hope IS a sure anchor in Messiah’s Cornerstone

Surely God’s goodness and mercy graces all that dawns and dims
Surely His kind purpose frustrates futile chase of wishful whims
Surely as night turns to morning and as sunshine follows rain
Surely as He hears hate's scorning, He hears faith's prayer, not in vain
Surely He comforts with warning; surely, *I will come again

© Janet Martin

Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
 and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.




Friday, November 10, 2023

At Life's Smorgasbord of Choices...

 

Life is not a big empty table like this one...


...before the guests arrived each with a freshly-baked delectable delight!


...turning the empty table into a smorgasbord of choices! 


Yesterday I was honored to host my mother's annual birthday tea.
All of her daughter's and daughter-in-laws are the annual guests;
this birthday tradition a long-standing, treasured highlight for all! 
Happy 81st birthday, dear Mother!



I am so thankful when weighing choices and responses/responsibilities
 that so many times without thinking I resort to 'what would mom do/say?'
And I know one of the answers was, is and will always be 'pray!' 

At life’s smorgasbord of choices
Desire is often tried
Where a host of friendly voices
Can make it hard to decide
Which to taste and which to turn from
Which to take and what to leave
For this is no feckless ho-hum
That our choices will achieve

…where each life is like a courtship
Between mortal and his/her Lord/lord
Exposing, through choice, true worship
Which in turn earns just reward
For, life’s smorgasbord of choices
When we listen, seems to be
Like a smorgasbord of voices
All shouting ‘pick me, pick me!’

Oho, there is no evasion
All are subject to reply
And we do; Delight’s elation
Is eager to satisfy
At life’s smorgasbord of choices
Replenished with each new day
Thus, because of all the voices
Wouldn’t it be wise to pray?

Pray for prudence and discretion
For hearts of humility
Where choice triggers a succession
Of choice-cruciality
Then, before we touch or savor
Today’s options, we should weigh
Their merit against God’s favor
And ask Him to lead the way

© Janet Martin

Phil.4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, 
whatever is noble, 
whatever is right, 
whatever is pure, 
whatever is lovely, 
whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things.

Now! on a more mundane note I must choose between
doing up some apples to applesauce
or
apple pie-filling
or
Clean and bag more potatoes
or sort through those I have bagged
because they are very rot-prone this year
due to all the rain we had.

Monday, November 6, 2023

Better Reason



PAD Challenge day 6: For today’s prompt, take the phrase
"Better (blank)," replace the blank with a new word or phrase,
make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.



Better critique better, Reason's Sleek Begetter
So eager to charm and entice
Desire's effulgence with instant indulgence
Better to first ponder the price

And weigh velvet voices that prey on quick choices
And trick us to trade truth for lies
Better, first to measure the worth of the treasure
And cost of the pleasure we prize

Because oft desire can be a soft liar
If we heed no Higher Decree
Than gratification of infatuation's
Accommodating fantasy

Better to look better where seduction's fetter
Is not always easy to spot
Better to fight battles before Fool's Proof tattles
On Reason's Begetter of Thought

To weigh the approach of a 'promise'-drawn coach
Where knights in shining armor plead
To study the path and the long aftermath
(of) Where Yielding to Impulse may lead...

...better to pray before we leap
Into the fray of Whim
Better to ask the Lord to keep
Thought's pleasure stayed on Him 

© Janet Martin

Today's devotion...


...from this book!



Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Of Love's Impending Choices


After a stretch of rain last week
every farmer and gardener is paying close attention
to the condition of the soil with common quest;
"is it dry enough to till and plant?!"
And then we will not heedlessly toss seeds here and there
hoping for the best. 
Planting is done with careful heed,
the eye on its harvest!
Imagine if we kept our eyes on the soil of the soul
and planted with careful precision/decision
with our eyes on the harvest!

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll...

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll
Where wonderment and warning reanoint cause and effect
Of love’s impending choices soon strewn beneath high noon’s toll
Ere Dusk collects the voices that will waft in retrospect

This is no fickle bower that bends with dawn’s blushing ‘yet’
Today’s brief leaf and flower, metes far more than meets the eye
Where though time never lingers, its swift moment-presses set
What slips through lips and fingers into permanent reply

How sacred is the summons that draws us from slumber’s woo
Where this we share in common; we will reap the seeds we sow
This should give us good reason to pay close attention to
What follows planting season and what soon Harvest will show

Dusk holds far more than lullabies beneath its beckoning 
Morn metes far more than beaming skies beneath its gleaming burst
Where love's impending choices wait to author reckoning
Where soon the Harvest voices what was moment-sized at first

© Janet Martin

Gal.6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 
for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

There is never an isolated action.
For better or worse
Action yields consequence

Some 'consequences are pure joy
such as...cake!
from this...

to this...

 to this...


to this!


...in almost no time at all!

Monday, March 13, 2023

The Terminal Temporal


Rom.3:23
For the wages of sin is death, 
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom.6:1
What shall we say then? 
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
  2Certainly not! 
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

A solemn tone to today's train of think-ink...
It is impossible to repent and continue living in sin!
As humans we all sin, yes, 
but that is not the same as living in sin.

 For every tree is known by its own fruit...
Luke 6:44

Jesus didn't die to save us so we could continue living in sin.
Jesus came to earth to die and rise again,

Truth is not altered by our denial of its facts;
Truth IS!
Truth is its own Absolute! Hallelujah!
(That's what makes Him/it trustworthy)

Today's solemn splendor spilled 
in a temporary tracery of white!






Today in solemn splendor spills from He, worthy of all our praise
This is no flippant grant He wills to fulfill mortal’s numbered days
Sovereign God lends the lease that bends with choice wedded with consequence
The bedrock of His Truth transcends time’s brief exploits of Preference
As through The Temporal we pass like lightning in an hourglass

Today, in gracious grandeur gleams like a pendent of hope and grace
With faithful fervor Mercy streams from Holy God to human race
Battlegrounds of hunger and thirst weather war-cries of pride and lust
While the deathless soul is immersed in apparel of dust-to-dust
And Temporal we behold will soon melt like mist upon a hill

Today, in precious promise pours from a Presence that is not moved
Though, by and large the world ignores Him; this by bold disregard proved
Where His Word is not hidden in the heart so that we do not err
Where conscience is not stricken by sin that entered in unaware
While The Temporal lulls asleep those who no earnest vigil keep

Today, in kind compassion brims from He who, oft misunderstood
Abides, worthy of worship’s hymns for He is trustworthy and good
And never makes mistakes; He takes the broken pieces we release
And from repentance He reshapes dashed shards into a masterpiece
And tunes us to the Temporal, that, tick by tock unveils the Whole

Today in solemn splendor spills and refills smorgasbords with Choice
A free-for-all that soon reveals whether we heed that Still, Small Voice 
This is no flippant grant God wills to the Soul's temporary cape
It is a gift; a gift that drills us with temptation and Escape
Before the Temporal gives way to never-ending night or day 

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
 since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.


“But of that day and hour no one knows,
 not even the angels in heaven,
 nor the Son, but only the Father. 
 Take heed, watch and pray; 
for you do not know when the time is. 
 It is like a man going to a far country, 
who left his house and gave authority
 to his servants, and to each his work, 
and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 
 Watch therefore, for you do not know 
when the master of the house is coming—
in the evening, 
at midnight, 
at the crowing of the rooster, 
or in the morning— 
 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 
 And what I say to you, I say to all: 
Watch!”

Mark 13:32-37






Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Lament's Metamorphosis

Sometimes I am prone to lament the effect
without acknowledging the cause...
Sometimes I want, for instance, the wisdom from above
without first seeking, yielding, trusting, praying, obeying
Sometimes I seek a harvest from seeds I neglected to plant!


The landscape seems snagged on a see-saw 
of greenish-bronze and white these days!!



As white surf recedes, exposing sodden turf
thoughts turn more and more often to planting time!

I am old enough to recognize harvest of some seeds I wish I had not sown, 
(Or, wish I could return to sow seeds I didn't)
but if we confess our sins He (God) is faithful and just
 to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
 (1 John 1:9)
He may not remove the consequence 
but He gives grace for us to face
whatever harvest brings.
Also, we are never too old to keep planting!


Lament without repentance is a futile suffering
When sorrow for the consequence ignores what wrought its sting
While impulse disregarded what it should have pondered first
Because of laws imparted that can never be reversed

We will reap what we sow; this is no casual cliché
The seeds of word and deed will grow; therefore, we ought to pray
And tend with tender care what slips into time’s sprawling field
From raring lips and fingertips soon turned to sacred yield

How subtle seasons shift; how swift the seed is fully grown
There is no way around it; we must reap what we have sown
But we are not alone; as we confess sin’s errant ways
Repentance turns groaning lament into a hymn of praise

© Janet Martin

Gal,6:7-9
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: 
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; 
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: 
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

James 3:17-18
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, 
then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, 
full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
  18Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.d


Thursday, December 15, 2022

Be Careful/Prayerful



'Be Careful we don't want your toes too close!'
  I cautioned Tot yesterday as he got as close as he could
to watch Janet cut up a massive pumpkin on the floor
because it was too heavy to lift to the counter-top.


Due to a bumper pumpkin-canning crop I welcome any favorite pumpkin recipes
(preferably not rich desserts) those recipes are easy to find😅


From little tots to adulthood...a mother's most-oft repeated caution must surely be 'be careful'!!
I find myself saying it countless times to the children in my childcare 
and many times to my grown children!
As we mature we realize there is only one way to be truly careful 
and that is to be duly prayerful!
The best way then, to say 'be careful'
is to say, 'be prayerful'!

Be careful/prayerful then, lest unaware
In what appears as harmless fun
We miss the deathly hazards where
The tempter's web of lies is spun 

Be careful/prayerful then, so when we we meet
The Wolf, dressed in sheep-like disguise 
We will recognize and defeat
With truth, the mastermind of lies

Be careful/prayerful then, and do not wink
At God's Word, man's authority
Where what He says, not what we think
Is what our conduct ought to be

Be careful/prayerful then, and by God's grace
Commit to Him, heart, soul and mind
Lest careless, prayer-less, we embrace
Hands of the blind leading the blind

Janet Martin 

Eph.5:15 NIV
Be very careful, then, how you live—
not as unwise but as wise,


Pumpkin can be turned into Bundt Cake, muffins
and all sorts of goodies!
We mix, stir and bake...and voila!! 
within the hour, results!

Some results for choices we make, take far longer 
with far more serious and far-reaching effects! 
Be careful/prayerful!!


Monday, December 5, 2022

Awed Awareness


Today's post Inspired in part by Gen.19


And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand,
 and upon the hand of his wife, 
and upon the hand of his two daughters; 
the Lord being merciful unto him...
Luke 19:16

Lest sluggishly we loiter
Lest apathy besot
Lest we grow numb and thus become

Lest we seek sorry solace
Lest terribly we fail to see
The state that we are in

Lest resolution flounders
Lest influence cajoles
The Still Small Voice that affects choice
That affects deathless souls

Lest we no longer shudder
At evil’s evilness
Or recognize the tempter’s lies
Disguised as ‘happiness’

Lord, wake in us awareness
Of Sodom’s fate, to flee
Lest, like Lot’s wife we mourn that life
And look back longingly

Seize us with holy horror
Of sin’s sad judgment day
Lord, chasten us and hasten us
To repent and obey

Lest the nonsense of notions
And opinions, absurd
With worldly vice, lulls us with ‘nice’
Lord, keep us in Your word

Lord, like Lot when he lingered
Be merciful, I pray
Let your command, like a firm hand
Seize us from Sodom’s sway

Lord, where there is a carcass
The vultures congregate
Lord, wake in us awed awareness 
Before it is too late 


© Janet Martin

Luke 17:20-37

The Coming of the Kingdom

20When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. 21Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.d

22Then He said to the disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23People will tell you, ‘Look, there He is!’ or ‘Look, here He is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. 24For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day. 25But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man: 27People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

28It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

30It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind. 32Remember Lot’s wife! 33Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: One will be taken and the other left. 35Two women will be grinding grain together: One will be taken and the other left.”e

37“Where, Lord?” they asked.

Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”


Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Of Something Very Personal


I seem to be on a bit of a better-late-than-never routine these days!
partly because recently I'm really struggling with last lines, 
so sometimes it is taking a little longer to complete the poems!
But all by the grace of God and for His glory, go/write I!


Away, away night’s crepuscule recedes; earth reappears
To set time’s stage of hopes and needs with wage of smiles and tears

A sash of marbled splendor, charged with God’s glory and grace
He lavishes time’s spender with love, never commonplace

Where once more to the holy beck and call of life we press
To give its Author all we can, or something far, far less

Where what may seem A Little Poof of moments, as they fall
Becomes the Living Proof of Something Very Personal

Kind of like a love letter by our deeds and choices penned
Then signed, sealed and delivered to God at life’s sacred end

…with no room to edit, omit, excuse, explain and such
It will be very evident who we loved, and how much

© Janet Martin

Psalm 63
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, 
my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone that sweareth by him shall glory:
but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Room of Doors



How wonderfully heart-warming it is to recall a life well-lived, in faithfulness to God.
But how very common, unpopular and unglamorous is the living of such a life,
ignoring the lure of many a wink with eyes fixed on One Door (to eternity)
that once again God's mercy holds ajar in a new day of grace!



The grace of God implores 
with love that will not fail
Where life is like a room of doors where choice and onus hail
Where seasons rise and fall 
like wave rolls over wave
Until our final port of call is back to God who gave

We share in common this,
 kiss of humanity
As wail of earthly genesis births immortality
Where Mist of Mortal Must, 
is tethered to a toll
Beneath the sheath of dust to dust resides the deathless soul

Ah, it is not enough 
to do the best we can
Or confess that we love, but only by measure of man
For all love comes from He 
who alone authors life
Each breath flirts with eternity like thread skimming a knife

The grace of God implores 
where goodness and love brim
Behold! life’s little room of doors begins and ends with Him
Time’s wave of corridors 
where seasons rise and fall
 Rolls swiftly o'er grave-stubbled shores to the Soul’s port of call

The grace of God implores 
and wills a new day's toll
Ah, pity the one that ignores the Savior of the Soul
The Way, the Truth, The Life; 
there is no other Door
Save one; where remorse will run rife forever, evermore 

© Janet Martin

John 1:4
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. 
We have seen His glory, 
the glory of the one and only Son 
from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 10:9
I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. 
He will come in and go out and find pasture.

John 11:25
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. 
Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.


John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
 No one comes to the Father except through Me.