Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts

Monday, October 16, 2023

Ephemeral and Eternal


Gal.6:7-10
7Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked.
 Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
  8The one who sows to please his flesh, 
from the flesh will reap destruction; 
but the one who sows to please the Spirit, 
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, 
for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone,
 and especially to the family of faith.

Saturday was filled with harvest-season thrills!
(weather turned out drier than expected)








...and it's because of the on-coming generation that what we sow is so crucial;
they will be reaping some of that harvest!!

We cannot ever fully know
Where-when fruit grows from seeds we strew
Or how far-reaching is the flow
Of words we say and deeds we do

Eternal and ephemeral
The potent ink of moment-font
Unfathomable potential
For kinder thought and meeker want

…and humbler thanks for lessons learned
That teach a sweeter contentment
As moment-to-moment is turned
Into lifetimes composed and spent

Ah, we can never fully see
Where moments, as they slip through choice
Will root and sprout into a tree
As fruit of fallen seed gives voice

Then, pray for purer, truer love
For nobler goals than earth can boast
For what God grants is quite enough
To serve Him to the uttermost

As much as lies within us then
We ought to try each day to dwell
Peaceably with our fellowmen
Because of seeds that soon will tell

…how well we loved each other while
Moments tumbled through touch to meld
To Bygone’s everlasting isle
Of moments once so briefly held

© Janet Martin

Until we make our peace with God we cannot truly make peace with each other~

Yesterday, the service leader opened the service 
with prayer for this broken world
which we all have our own broken part in!
How comforting to be able to gather freely
and open God's word together to grow in

Rom.12:18
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, 
live peaceably with all men.

Isa.26:3
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: 
because he trusteth in thee.

Isa.48:22
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

My, my, how the wicked wreak havoc
where peace could/would otherwise be!

We remember those who are suffering today,
especially in war-torn countries!

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Most Humbly Thankful





as we gather
orchards and gardens
into pots and pans
baskets and bowls
it woos a hymn
that overflows
most humbly-thankful 
hearts and souls

Janet~



Ps.100
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, 
and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
 be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
 and his truth endureth to all generations.

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


Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Established Evidence

Gen.1:11-12

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, 
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, 
whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, 
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: 
and God saw that it was good.

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.

A grower's chief delight is the fruit and bloom laden plant!
At harvest, as the fruition of labor fills orchards,
gardens, vineyards and fields with yield,
it stirs humble, holy awareness, once again
to the sacredness of planting season!

I am so happy the farmer next door planted soybeans in the field beside our property.
For years this field was a grazing pasture for cattle,
but the new owner keeps his herds inside and so for the first time
since we live here (33years) I have enjoyed the evolving beauty of soybeans close-up!















...and last but not least, Today!


We will reap what we sow
The tree, known by its fruit
Choice-seeds that fall do not stay small
But soon take sacred root

Oh God, you are not mocked
Stir in our hands and hearts
The imminence of recompense
That harvest time imparts

Where the spirit and flesh
At constant odds, contend
With what we sow, for it will grow
Tis futile to pretend

Because the seed reveals
The essence of its kind
Thus, what we plant is what will grant
The harvest that we bind

Ah, even as we reap
Seeds fall; God, help us see
With reverence the evidence
Of fruit upon the tree

© Janet Martin

p.s. a reader just mentioned hopefully I will get a picture of the harvest to complete the circle! 
I sure hope so!


Luke 6:44
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For men do not gather figs from thorns,
nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Once Upon Many a Wistful Morrow (have been here and gone)

Happy September!!!


And to Adam He said:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten from the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat,
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”

Gen.3:17-19 (BSB)

We have toiled 'by the sweat of our brow', haven't we?!!
And Lord willing we are not done yet!
And we have eaten, haven't we?!
Thank-you, gracious Heavenly Father!

While not everything may have bloomed, obedient to expectation's hope, 
as we planted seeds, seedlings, and bulbs,
we are thankful for what often exceeds hope and expectation! 

From Fancy's Dream of a plethora of colorful dahlias....

to bushy reluctant bloomers 


that buried the planters until I moved them


From barren field with dust flying to a sweep of golden butterfly-like flutters...

From blank canvas....


...to our Creator's Masterpieces!!



A reflection and reply to this poem from May...


Spring's Wistful Morrow-World, my dear, has now been nearly spent..
Its planted plot and furrow unfurled in fruit-testament
Hope, giddy with spring's fantasy of flowers, bears the yoke
Of disappointment and delight; for blooms are not bespoke
And so we choose to cherish what was granted, midst withheld
Before the present perishes as past and future meld
Where we, all struggling students 'neath the tutelage of God
Are learning patient prudence, for no hand can force a bud
Or undo, what in Eden, routed man's eternal rest
As Eve and Adam doubted and put God's Word to the test
Where the infested ground we till still yields to human race
The bread we eat, the flower frill, like emblems of God's grace
Where, though spring's Wistful Morrow may not unfold as we planned
We know both joy and sorrow's plume are cradled in God's Hand

© Janet Martin

And the sunrise was no slouch either!!!




The last pic in my spring post made me a bit teary...


These tots seem so much bigger already!




Monday, May 23, 2022

Once Upon A Wistful Morrow (demands full attention now)


Woods are reinvigorated
Garbed in nature’s purest hues...



In Ontario we are in the thick of that swift and sacred planting season!

Hard work but so worth it as seeds and seedlings start to grow!

This plot doesn't look like much yet 
but hopefully in a few months it will be a vibrant dahlia garden!


The deluge of rain on Saturday halted my work before I got the stone-paths done...
One thing every bloom has in common:
it was planted!




The slacker does not plow in season; 
at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

It's that simple:
If we do not plant in planting season, 
there can be no goodly harvest

That is life's most solemn truth both literally and metaphorically!
Planting season is precious and fleeting!
Dear mothers, young parents, take heart as you till the soil of a tender soul!
Behold your sacred charge!
This is love's planting season!
Beyond the sweat and toil of tough love and training
waits the harvest!
And every day, entrust your cares
to your Heavenly Father 
who knows exactly what we need
and grants strength for the day.
No. There is no instant gratification
in planting.
It takes time and patience to grow a seed
to its full potential.
But, by the grace God gives,
endure!


Once-upon-a-wistful morrow
Brings no sweat upon the brow
Look; our feet stand on the furrow
Planting time is here and now

Sometimes as I admire someone's autumn garden
I will say, oh! I wish I would have remembered to plant
 such and such in the spring
but because I didn't I cannot harvest its fruit in the fall!

At almost 56 years old, I find myself in the autumn of life,
sometimes wishing for something I didn't plant in the 'spring',
but we look at the the spring of earth's season and are reminded of
a God of forgiveness and redemption
granting planting season once again! 
And we plant, even in the fall of life,
seeds for the harvest still to come! 


Woods are reinvigorated
Garbed in nature’s purest hues
Green in glory unabated
Saturates long-listless views

Once-upon-a-wistful-morrow
Demands full attention now
For dreams do not plant a furrow
Wishing does not push the plow

Morning spills momentous jewels
Awes us with mercies renewed
After slumber’s rest refuels
Diligence and gratitude

…and we beseech today’s Giver
For fresh fervor for life’s toil
For the field will soon deliver
Planting season’s foolproof spoil

Joy and sorrow’s measures mingle
Where birth’s showcase steals our breath
Where our zealous senses tingle
With the imminence of death

While we wonder at the favors
Of flower-font bound to fray
While we savor fleeting flavors
On earth’s bittersweet buffet

Where soon hues of first green languish
Where soon dues of planting chime
Where soon love and labour’s anguish
Turn to hues of harvest time

Once-upon-a-wistful morrow
Brings no sweat upon the brow
Look; our feet stand on the furrow
Planting time is here and now

© Janet Martin

Once upon a wistful morrow
this will be  flower garden!


Once upon a wistful morrow...
the planting dust will settle

 and
and they will be women and men