Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts

Friday, March 10, 2023

All In This Together


(Oh!! as I worked on this post I realized those first few flakes were but the prelude...)


This morning we return to a more monochromatic canvas
after, for 2023, a record-breaking three mornings in a row
of marmalade-hued morn!




We are all in this together
Universal farandole
Until God unties the tether
Twixt the body and the soul

From first breath we start to weather
Mankind’s fundamental plight
Where we, all in this together
All are precious in God’s sight

Sometimes we don’t treat each other
Quite as kindly as could be
Where we, all in this together
Are like a big family

Time wafts like a silver feather
Morn spills in marmalade hue
To we, still in this together
Not yet severed by death’s due

Then let us love one another
Before pray, it is too late
For we, all in this together
Are approaching Farewell’s Gate

What a gift it is to weather
Life together, by God's grace
Before He unties the tether
Twixt our bodies and His face

What a lot we have in common
All in this together, we
While we await God's sure summons
Are a worldwide family 

© Janet Martin

Thank-you, pear-picker in South Africa...


Banana-grower in Guatemala ...


Tea-harvester in China...


Dish manufacturer in Luxembourg...


Coffee-mug artist in the UK...






John 15:17
This is My command to you: Love one another.

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 
Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

Romans 13:8
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love.
 For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to its neighbor.
 Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

How Very Dust We Are, or Circumstantial Happiness



One of my favorite poets is Edgar A. Guest
Rich writing in a layman's terms because what doth it profit 
anyone if a poem is only understood by the poet?

Sharing a few gems for your benefit!





What if love gets so fixated on fringes and forgets 
What matters most where life is full of boast-euphoric bets 
What if the only thing I have when this day-fling is done 
Are accolades that perish with the setting of time’s sun 

What if I get so focused on the fray that I ignore 
The approach of The Judgment Day and Who we are here for 
Too taken up with ‘treasures’ that are volatile at best 
Admitting in an awful end, that I have failed the test 

What if I take goodness for granted without thankful praise 
And never root out the rebel in human-natured ways 
What if trouble would never double its substantial rod 
And I would never truly humble myself before God 

What if, this tenement of hopes and dreams housed nothing more 
Than dust-to-dust sequestered schemes of selfish, greedy gore 
Because I didn’t bother to acquaint myself with He 
Who, when this life is over unveils Immortality 

What if the ‘Glad tidings of great joy’ that the angels brought 
Would never touch the heart; the part that transforms idle thought 
What if I miss the only thing worth anything, That Day 
Because I was too focused on all that will pass away 

What if nothing reminded us How Very Dust We Are
How Circumstantial Happiness is like a shiny car
That soon loses its luster, in a heap of rusted sham
The gates of hell are decorated with dust-glitz and glam 

Pray that I fix my eyes upon a Prize I cannot see
Where nothing in this world can take the place of Calvary
...and the price of salvation wrought to pay sin's deadly toll 
What profit to gain the whole world only to lose The Soul

© Janet Martin

 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt.16:26

Defying Depths of Despair



Psalm 37:7-8
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.


Often when I am tempted to despair 
(and there seem to be SO many reasons these days )
 I think of Marilla Cuthbert's words to Anne,
"To despair is to turn your back on God"
Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables



The depths of dark despair are always there, where we might stray 
If we mistrust the care of He to whom we ought to pray 

If we beg for deliverance but do not change our ways 
If we gratify ignorance with flattery’s vain praise 

If we do not obey the law that perfect love decreed 
If we, not overcome with awe, do not find what we need 

If we while knowing better still continue thus to err 
And do not make an effort to be wiser than we were 

If we, severely stubborn in our human-natured bent 
Do not let goodness govern our intimate intent 

We will be monsters, no matter how ‘normal’ the façade 
If we do not acknowledge our lack and trust in God 

If we, so broken at our best do not rest and rely 
Without agendas, on the One who so loves you and I
 
If we do not yield heart and soul, to He who will provide 
Our joy will never be made whole; we must be rid of pride 

Or depths of dark despair will try to overtake the Light 
If we do not first trust the Care that fits us for the fight 

© Janet Martin

 

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Candidates for Love


 It's February!
The month for some extra love-'stuff'

Hear the above poem of love by William Blake read aloud here


Happy-sad,
Wonder-glad
Always interlace
Hunger-hope,
Yes and nope
Always hinged to grace
Young and old,
Bashful-bold
Always not enough
Proud and meek
Strong and weak
Candidates for love

© Janet Martin




 This is how God’s love was revealed among us: 
God sent His one and only Son into the world,
 so that we might live through Him.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.…
1 John 4:9-11

Friday, January 17, 2020

Like Next of Kin...




Last night's supper; roasted vegetables, pulled pork and coleslaw!
(Buns, not pictured, were available for those who preferred pulled pork on a bun.)
 
I love the happiness that happens at meal-time when everyone is hungry!
Oh, how much we have to be thankful for! It reminds us of what we are here for, right?!
Not to over-indulge if we are blessed enough to entertain that thought...
but to live soberly and righteously in the present age/world,
where to whom much is given much will be required.
(For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, 
and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 
as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.…
Titus 2:11-13


The chords of a love song the Lord composed and wove within
Makes all of us together feel kind of like next of kin
For though we are like strangers living continents apart
We have so much in common in the matters of the heart

Man’s struggle to survive is this world’s universal quest
Where we all need each other to succeed and be our best
God gives to some to give to those who have no bread to share
(No one is more or less deserving of Mercy’s kind care )

My dear, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made
Though shapes, shades, sizes vary as the bloom that gilds the glade
We, oh, so very diff’rent are so much the same as well
Where hope-hurt-hunger-wonder tolls a keen and kindred bell

We all face challenges, oh yes, this is the way of life
We all need to kneel at the cross to gain eternal life
We all want to be loved; we all need to learn how to love
And all who trust the hand of God will find his grace enough

Who doesn’t like a hearty feast of food and fellowship
Who doesn’t need a hand to hold so our feet won’t slip
And who of us forever finds contentment all alone
Where there is so much more to us than forms of skin and bone

Time takes its toll until all that is left of you and me
Is living soul; for none can annul immortality
Then pray we make our calling sure in He who gave His all
Today is the day of salvation; pray we heed His call

Let’s live as though we’ve met before on some shore left behind
Make a collective effort to be more gracious and kind
Let’s live out the Great Love Song that our dear Lord wove within
So when we meet on yonder shore we’ll feel like next of kin

© Janet Martin

 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Psalm 23:5

On Sunday our church family enjoyed a meal cooked by kind, willing people
to be enjoyed along with an opportunity to help fund
a week of kid's camp in Eucuador!
When we got the report this week that thanks to the funds raised we/they
are able to bring many kids to camp,
suddenly Ecuadorians felt a bit like family!


Monday, December 30, 2019

Fault-(finder) Line


 How old is The Child when they cross 'the line' that takes them out of the safety-zone
I wondered yesterday as we oohed and aahed and cuddled and kissed
The Little One who has (gloriously and innocently) not yet crossed 'the line'...
then, still innocently, they do!
And suddenly the 'law of love' seems to change its tone (in some, anyway)
where we are all prone through human nature/aka Adam's curse
 to be guilty at some point in time
of this tone-change...(shame on us)






When do we start with meaner mind
To point fingers with cruel slight
When does the youngster cross the line
That opens them to verbal bite
Is it when they begin to learn
From a teacher none can ignore
Where life is full of twist-and-turn
On roads they never walked before

When are they no longer too young
To be spared from the critic’s grind
Or become fodder for the Tongue
That is untruthful and unkind
When, instead of encouragement
Do they become the scorner’s prize
Where once they gained The Compliment
Now words condemn and criticize

When does the law of love become
More like a cold betrayer’s kiss?
Is it just when they need someone
To remind them, ‘life is like this’
That it is our mistakes and such
That makes us wiser day by day
When, (when they need kindness so much)
 Do they become the gossip’s prey?

How old does someone have to be
When they are beyond two or three
Do they start to become fair game?
Tell me, oh, thou of verbal skill
(Where we are all part of God’s choir)
When is the child ‘fit for the kill’
That puts them in Talk's line of fire

© Janet Martin

No one ever grows old enough
to be fit enough for the gossiper's firing squad

 but no human being can tame the tongue.
 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:8

 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph.4:32