Showing posts with label day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label day. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2022

Once More Daybreak...

Daybreak; what a gift!

Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works,
 and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 
Matt.5:16






Once more daybreak’s blush-gold glory draws our eyes to prize hope’s feast
Mercy’s Magnum Opus unfolds like a flower on the east
Beckoning the humble pilgrim pressing toward Heaven’s goal
To reckon redemption’s risen, reigning Savior of the soul

To give thanks and awestruck honor, proving praise as we obey
He who sets His law and order in the bedrock of Today
As dawn’s light flows through the darkness and yon boundless fathoms brim
Pray, the Light of loving kindness will draw all glory to Him

Pray for rekindled awareness of faith’s living sacrifice
Pray for a conscious preparedness for worship’s ultimate price
Pray however meek and lowly our service seems to be
That we offer it with holy, sincere generosity

Once more daybreak hoists the emblem of God’s merciful regard
Sets upon the earth and heavens a semblance of love’s postcard
As compassion stays the legions that wait all around His Throne
As He looks upon the millions He is waiting to atone

Once more daybreak peals with promise; God is gracious to forgive
Death, oh, death is not victorious if we look on Him and live
Come, oh sinner, poor and needy, will you still refuse to pray
Daring to meet God unready in Death’s ‘no more break of day’

© Janet Martin








Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Awesome Anticipation...

Though this poem was inspired by daybreak it applies to every breath and step we take...


As the sun rose I was impacted by the profound realization of
One Day Nearer...

One day nearer to the coming
Of our Lord; and what will be
One day nearer to our going
From time to eternity
One day nearer to beholding
He who saves us by His grace
Each new daybreak is unfolding
One day nearer to His face
And the sacred understanding
Of all that we cannot tell
When the Truth will be unending
In either Heaven or hell

One day nearer to departure
From this world of toil and strife
From the woes of war and hunger
And the cares of love and life
From the hope of our salvation
To faith’s armor laid to rest
From the cross of tribulation
To the crown of righteousness
From this temporary running
To the everlasting Prize
When at last we shed the garment
Of faith’s living sacrifice

One day nearer to the hour
Of reckoning and reward
For man’s days are like a flower
One day nearer to forever
Ere the silver cord is severed
And all but God falls away
One day nearer to the Awesome
Crossing of faith’s Finish Line
…the last petal of the blossom
Caught in nail-scarred hands, divine

© Janet Martin

2 Tim.4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:
and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing.

1 Thess.5:1-10
Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
  2For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 
3While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly,
 like labor pains on a pregnant woman, 
and they will not escape.
4But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.
  5For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; 
we do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 
6So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober. 
7For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
  8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, 
putting on the breastplate of faith and love,
and the helmet of our hope of salvation.
9For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, 
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, 
we may live together with Him. 
11Therefore encourage and build one another up, 
just as you are already doing.




Thursday, July 28, 2022

Mist-kissed Flower

This poem is a bit of bittersweet longing
 for the days/ 'mist' of July; 
a month that always seems to vanish too fast!

James 4:14
What is your life? 
You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.


Psalm 103:15-16

As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;
16when the wind passes over, it vanishes,
and its place remembers it no more.



Sweet day, you wend your way through thought and touch to disappear
The sparkle of your subtle shuttle weaving yester-year

Like ripples on a lake of laughter; longing-hold-let go
Where echelons of ever-after ever ebb and flow

It makes life feel a little like a dreamland made of mist
A little like a spectacle of echoes/roses to untwist

Dawn spills and fills dusk’s purple tray with latest live-and-learn
Where always, sweet today, you wend your way to No Return

…only to reappear, my dear, as new as new can be
To weave fresh wisps of smile-and-tear/dust veneer into a memory

Bruised bliss, This; being brave enough to kiss your hands and feet
And dance with you, sweet day; for love is always bittersweet

…sometimes I get the sense of you soft-slipping from my touch
And sometimes then, I wish I didn’t love you quite so much

Sweet day, you spill your hour to a bower of Back When
Like petals from a flower that will never bloom again

© Janet Martin


I'm off to spend a sweet day among hollyhocks, green beans, tomatoes aka Garden😊





Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Sacred Summons To Today


It may look like simply swing pushing/riding
(and we are all so excited and delighted to have a new playset
after the old one blew away!)


Why did it blow away?!
Big storm and no anchors.
(that's a poem/parable for another post)😅

Swing pushing by Janet would simply be years and years, 
and thousands upon thousands
of fleeting swing-pushes but for one thing....



Prayer.
Prayer takes the mundane and makes it sacred!
Prayer reaches far beyond the present push!
Each and every child, as they are pushed are prayed for
as well as their parents!
I pray for strength, grace and wisdom
 in parenting and marriages
that they/we may be faithful through thick and thin
one day at a time, by God's grace!
(because marriage and parenting is love's
most beautiful Hard!)

The first tot in my childcare
is renting a house this summer and our son 
is living in it as well.
One young man (who has since moved to Nova Scotia) is getting married.
One is getting his G1 shortly...
...and all of them are growing up/grew up so fast!!

This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24


God bless and guide you in today's push and pull
whatever/wherever that may be...

The night’s dark veil is rent
And to the land and sea
Returns the sacred fundament
Of opportunity

Slumber grants its reward
Of ambition renewed
Come then and let us serve the Lord
With praise and gratitude

He loves us oh, so dear
And draws dawn’s door ajar
Where no one knows how far or near
To Seeing Him we are

Therefore, none can afford
To cast a careless eye
Where His kind mercy has restored
Dawn’s lantern to the sky

Before its colors fade
Before ‘has’ turns to ‘had’
Behold the day the Lord has made
To rejoice and be glad

In the vineyard of grace
How sweet is His employ
Because no matter what we face
The fruit of grace is joy

Then, though life’s thorns may prick
Where oft we weep and groan
The Hand that lights the morning wick
Cradles each stepping stone

…and fits us for the task
He tenders to today
Forbid that we neglect to ask
Him for help to obey

A sacred summons spills
Across the land and sea
Grace reverberates and refills
Day's opportunity 

© Janet Martin








Friday, July 16, 2021

One Day/Step At A Time

This poem kinda progressed as the morning unfolded
stunning me afresh with the need to

We would wear ourselves weary with worry, 
but for what good?!
Oh Lord God, rich in mercy, help us trust You 
like we should
Help us to look longer at the lily's attire 
Until fear and pride turn into worship's pure fire

My little 'longer look' at lilies this morning
while pouring out my heart to their Creator/Clothier 








Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 
and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these.
Luke 12:27


Life grants us one day at a time
Then leave to God tomorrow’s dread
For on this ever-present climb
We cannot leap back or ahead

Futile to fret the ‘Yet’ none sees
Where fear and faith ever compete
Better to get down on our knees
And pour our cares at Mercy’s feet

For as we yield, we learn to trust
And as we trust we learn to yield
The love of God is not unjust
He clothes the lilies of the field

God grants us one day at a time
A step-by-gifted-step ascent
He holds the ladder as we climb
Where all we have and hold is lent

Then as we soften our grip
And cling to nothing but His Word
We start to taste the fellowship
That waits in heaven, undeterred

God ministers in 'breath-by-breath'
His purposes, oft unrevealed
While he finetunes the strings of faith 
He clothes the lilies of the field

How flippant is our finest boast
And all that mortal may applaud
How foolish to propose a toast
Blind to the faithfulness of God

Grace grants us one day at a time
Oh, pray that our goal will be
To give God glory as we climb
From time into eternity

© Janet Martin

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The [b]help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43:5

The World tells us to reach within ourselves!
The Word tells us to reach out to God and trust...
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 
and the Word was God.
John 1:1


Monday, December 28, 2020

Of Open Ark-door



Whether morn is gold or gray
Mercy molds each brand new day


This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it
Psalm 118:24

Ah, here it is, A brand new This; The day the Lord has made 
He crowns Bygone’s echo-abyss with Mercy’s balustrade 
Where want will lure but hope secures what we all see in part 
And heaven only knows the highs and lows it will impart 

Ah, here are we; humanity, the apple of God’s eye 
He watches over you and me through every low and high 
Where dreams will break and hearts will ache and hope will feel quite frayed 
But we are all wrapped in love’s shawl; this day the Lord has made 

Ah, here he IS; no genesis or exodus to He 
Who crowns Bygone’s soldered abyss with Opportunity 
Where one and all receive equal shares in time’s latest lease 
And play a part within the heart of Mercy’s Masterpiece 

Ah, here it is; the Truth of this; the day the Lord has made 
Is like a kind and holy kiss of God’s grace, un-betrayed 
Where He does not extend for aught Time’s sacred season-sum 
But flings ashore the Ark’s wide door and beckons to all, ‘come’ 

© Janet Martin 

2 Pet.3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 
as some count slackness, 
but is longsuffering toward us, 
not willing that any should perish 
but that all should come to repentance.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Like A Wave on The Sea...


Sometimes while supper is cooking I like to take a quick hike across the fields...
It always yields something to be awed about and makes one forget, 
for a bit, the things we could fret about!  




Surging toward us like waves of the sea
All the tomorrows still waiting to be
Who knows what laughter and heartache they hold
Sweeping the shoreline with turquoise and gold

Darling, the morrow that yesterday etched
Stencils blue shadows like art, pencil-sketched
Almost the moments that it had withheld
Have drained into the place where all days meld

Beauty is timeless as He who designs
Wonders too countless to rein into lines
Free-for-all fortune that no one can buy
Small as a sparkle and big as the sky

Sometimes the future feels like a grand wave
Rolling toward us with forces to brave
But as it sweeps across shorelines gold-gray
It never exceeds the scope of Today

Time always leaves yesterday in the dust
It never insist on tomorrow’s must
Who knows what waits where the season-bells chime
But this; we face it one day at a time

© Janet Martin


Thursday, September 26, 2019

Ah, Rush of Day...

Just imagine if there would be as much focus
on salvation for the immortal soul
as there is on climate-change...
 and the environment!
How can one fully and honourably teach on the subject 
Small wonder the world is in a state of mass confusion/ignorance!
Oh! poor, poor world, scientifically smart and spiritually ignorant!

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Matt.24:42



Ah, rush of day you brush away
The hours, one by one
You ope the books of slopes and brooks
With rise and set of sun
Where what we earn by what we learn
From season’s turning page
Does not unveil its total scale
But simply sets the stage

Ah, subtle sweep where sow and reap
Replenishes its charge
Where circuits surge and mutely merge
With Bygone’s bolted barge
While time sustains what time soft-drains
Future to history
Till last exhale dissolves the veil
Twixt Time and ‘ternity

Ah, tender tug where hold and hug
Turns into letting go
Where time goes by as you and I
Learn how little we know
Ah, rush of day you brush away
Tick-tock-shaped steppingstones
Until the soul reveals the whole
Undressed of skin and bones

© Janet Martin


Friday, August 2, 2019

Each Day...


 To rejoice on a glorious August morning is not a hard command to fulfill!
Pray we trust the Giver of each day in all it unfolds!


A heaven-to-earth nod
That fuels the momentum
That draws us back to God

Each day is like permission
To try and try again
To renew hope’s ambition

Each day, a celebration
A royal invitation
To serve the King of kings

Each day is like a treasure
That gleams with Great Unknown
Where He who grants its measure  

Each day is like a canvas
That captures vim and verve
And fills unmarred expanses

Then make each day love’s mission
From earth to paradise

© Janet Martin

The last stanza to this poem just kinda wrote itself first thing this morning as I prayed
before my feet touched down on the tarmac of Today...

The progress of this poem however took a few hours...
as Little Girl arrived
and we did our morning lo-o-o-o-o-ng swing-ride
a trampoline jump,
flower-garden-weeding
breakfast and so-forth
 while I tried composing stanzas in-between😉
Now its
Back to the Very Important Business of Swing Ride!