Showing posts with label moments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moments. Show all posts

Thursday, February 15, 2024

On Living In The Moment

Look! morning’s epic entrance thunders with moments we’ve never met...



Because God is without beginning or end,
there will be no end to goodness!

Sometimes I am guilty of forgetting this,
 falling prey to doleful dread, 
believing the good days are over for good 
rather than finding the good in each day,
and thanking God for it by honoring Him with it
 in every way I can!

(click reference link to read the whole glorious Psalm)

How great is Your goodness
which You have laid up for those who fear You,
which You have bestowed before the sons of men
on those who take refuge in You!




I do not want to stare too long at sanguine scenes in Bygone’s glade
Nor covet echoes of a song, much softer now than when first played
Lord, give me ears to hear What Is before its music disappears
Open my eyes so I don’t miss the font that soon fills yesteryears

Beneath the hand of Time harsh sorrows and raw edges smooth, it seems
Washed by a tide, primed with tomorrows, rolling through a world of dreams
Darling, ere you and I awaken on the other side of This
Let’s be sweetly and humbly taken by the melody that is

For, far too soon Bygone’s infinite isle will claim tunes turned to mist
So, let’s not waste one precious minute while today's lyrics untwist  
Look! morning’s epic entrance thunders with moments we’ve never met
Oh, let’s not grow too old to wonder at mercies not tasted yet

© Janet Martin

Oh, let’s not grow too old to wonder at mercies not tasted yet...


Dawn's eyelids were heavy with snow-shadows!

It's been a while since Old Man Winter
 lugged out his white-wash bucket and tipped it over the earth...
I almost have First Snowfall thrills!







Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Sense of Sacredness aka Today!


If a family dinner get-together with my parents
and all ten of us kids and our spouses, all present,
and a slideshow of over 700 photos playing throughout the day
of us, our children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren
does not evoke a sense of sacredness to seemingly commonplace moments 
as they run through our fingers, I don't know what will!
That happened on Sunday.

This week, as ordinary as it appears, nothing is!
This morning as a new Today tumbled over earth's eastern edge,
not in any kind of colorful fanfare, but more like a wet, gray dog...
(or mourning doves)😂

I was again, struck by how this monotonous momentous collection of mornings
 eventually composes the song of Lifetime!

So I put a card in the mail for an old neighbor turning 90 this week,

I revived the fire, 

I continued working at organizing, cleaning and tidying the basement 


after stacking wood ..

...before two of my grandchildren came for a few hours...
(while big Brother gave the dentist a bit of a challenge. ahem😐.)



I washed the dishes after a lunch they half-ate


...all the while with a heaven-hinged sense of sacredness
in what at first glance definitely looks quite ordinary! 


It wafts from welkin wombs to where we live-laugh-love-weep-pray
To settle soft, where dusk entombs its season-sequenced play

It sparkles from a single source no needle can exact
An all-encompassing discourse that leaves no one intact

It tunes the timbre of a toll that rolls o’er land and sea
While drawing the cart of the soul back to eternity

Steeping the sacred commonplace with so much to hold dear
As paths no footsteps can retrace fall from the now and here

Like weightless notes from welkin wombs its moments waft and splay
To settle soft where dusk entombs the tempo of Today

Compelling us to take a closer look at what runs rife
Through fingers of composers of a song that we call Life

© Janet Martin

Ps.90:12
So teach us to number our days, 
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

My family likes to sing whenever we have a chance!
To close out the singing part of Sunday we,
( as best as our memories could serve us)
sang the song below together and THAT was the
sentimental icing on the cake😭



 Here are part of the lyrics  by Bill and Gloria Gaither
I can't find a link with all the stanzas 
so not sure if a few were added later??

We have this moment to hold in our hands
And to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand
Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come
But we have this moment, today.

Hold tight to the sound of the music of living
Happy sounds from the laughter of children at play
Hold my hand as we walk through the sweet fragrant meadows
Making memories of what was today.

Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling
For daddy to hear just what she has to say
My little boy running there by the hillside
May never be quite like today.

Tender words gentle touch and a good cup of coffee
And someone who loves me and wants me to stay
Hold them dear while they’re near don’t wait for tomorrow
To look back and wish for today.

Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come
but we have this moment, today.

Oh! You were trying to see the recipe in the one photo above?!
This, (making it for supper but using ground beef!)



Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Moment-sum Momentum or Pleasure of Enough


I linger intentionally these days;
days that time flies through!


'oops! Sorry gramma!'


He kissed Baby Jesus and said 'nap' and put Him back to His mommy😘😍


...suddenly the momentum of moment-sums soft-rouse
A kinship with November’s sparser sweeps...


 and barren boughs...


I linger more; I cannot bear to hurry you because
You slip through hearts and fingers like autumn’s dying applause
Of wind-strummed leaf and harvest’s remnant sheaf, frost-brittle where
Not long ago you frolicked on spring meadows, green and fair

…and trembled in bud-bowers full of flowers to unfold
You tickled us with hours while turning the new year old
You leaped from fallow furrows, clothed earth in a gleaming gown
Before we sheared each field like sheep, and begged of you, ‘slow down

Sometimes we mourn the way you steal the seasons you beget
Yet in your age-old ways you heal the very wounds you let
With rise and fall and ebb and flow of morn to eventide
You tame once hurried footsteps; bid us to regard each stride

and so I linger more, while you run fearless fingers through
The tatters of a sigh, an autumn sky deep, denim-blue
Where suddenly the momentum of moment-sums soft-rouse
A kinship with November’s sparser sweeps and barren boughs

Dear Father Time, each season awes us with so much to love
And so I slow my pace to taste The Pleasure of Enough
And linger more to look and feel and learn what you would teach 
Before moment-momentum melds to reels beyond my reach

© Janet Martin

You leaped from fallow furrows, clothed earth in a gleaming gown
Before we sheared each field like sheep, and begged of you, ‘slow down’...


Our neighbor's dog is our dog too esp. when it comes to treats!
 He knows if he waits long enough
Mrs. Janet will, without fail, find a treat for him😅😂💓
and he is always eager to give me a big, wet, smelly farm-dog kiss of appreciation
(if I let him😝)














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!

Monday, October 2, 2023

(Precious) Pearl-Storm...

Once more, moments, like precious pearls, mete morning’s gilt-edged gauze... 


Once more, moments, like precious pearls, mete morning’s gilt-edged gauze
Fresh opportunity unfurls its thunderous applause
For better or for worse, dawn’s river rushes earth and sky
Where we will bless or curse the Giver by how we reply
And we will surely influence some soul we touch today
With kindness or indifference, by what we do and say

Soon blush and bronze of daybreak dons workaday shoes and hues
Moment-pearls spill and roll and bounce through prayers, hopes, dreams and dues
Through thought, through lips and fingertips, pearl-pulsed payoff impends
As time’s fleet treasure-measure slips to profound dividends
A wonder-storm of glints and swirls; we groan and grin and gasp
Ah, life; a subsequence of pearls that glimmer through our grasp

Before the torrential downpour of moment-pearls subsides
And silence tempers the uproar of morn-to-eventides
Let’s live as if today were love’s final pearl-spending spree
Before God unveils troves that prove the heart's fidelity
Let’s pay more earnest heed to the accounting that awaits
Our words and deeds when life’s precious moment-pearl-storm abates

© Janet Martin

Luke 12:34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today's workaday shoes are about to get gloriously garden-dirty!😊





Tuesday, July 18, 2023

However Great or Small...

Before the Yet of dusk is met with setting of the sun...


John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

 
Before today's bitty ditty was done I had an invitation from Daughter to join them 
so we could do groceries together, then they stayed for lunch,
Grand-kiddos eager for more fresh-carrot crunch...
 so morning poem is now afternoon Poem!

Before this gifted day will wend its way to nevermore
Before it slips into the crypt with fellow days of yore
May what we do be kind and true, however great or small
A humble offering to bring before the Lord of all

Before it is too late to recreate its memory
Or recognize its fleeting prize of opportunity
May we commit to do our bit, however great or small
With willing heart embrace our part to praise the Lord of all

Before the Yet of dusk is met with setting of the sun
Before the Past secures the latest cast of moments spun
May we employ life’s tasks with joy, however great or small
Remembering its offering is to the Lord of all

© Janet Martin


Emily and I preferred a little more than toasted bagels and fresh-carrot-crunch for lunch...
A fresh from the garden mixed greens salad with thinly sliced white onion and beets, 
feta cheese and toasted sesame seeds.
 YUMMY!!



Monday, July 10, 2023

Like Sea-song...

 


Time rushes through heart doors and rolls like sea-song into memories
It roars through dreams where nothing seems to faze the toll it takes with ease



It grins and thins blue-sky July like pigment on a painter’s tray
While a collection of impressions, like blown bubbles, wafts away


And draws us nearer to that place we all approach with every breath
The grace of where we are is scarred with mementos of life and death


Magnificence of innocence soon stripped of luster of first leaf
How soon we start to recognize the bloom of every bud is brief


Ah, today does not bat an eye as it marches through you and me
Turning the future into past, cast in ethereal imagery


As, what was once so riveting and all-encompassing becomes
A trail of seasons scattered like flower petals and cookie crumbs


Where, while time rushes through us like sea-song that rolls across the shore
The older that we get we pause to hear its music more and more

© Janet Martin






Thursday, May 25, 2023

Of Life's Sacred and Surreal

today's post,  a first...



 ...sharing, with special permission from my youngest daughter,
an excerpt from her very precious Christmas gift to me last year,
a collection of her poetry and journal snippets,
 glimpses of heart-pieces like only ink allows...

It's been a little while since we were both in our respective corners of the morning
but today is a perfect reflection of this...



Wow! yup...poetry plunked, plucked, pried and prayed from the schmozzle of living...


often with reminders, no matter what season we are in...to Cherish!
because seasons are so brief, each with a beauty of their own!

Whatever season we are in no matter when or where
Time seems to slip through our skin in whispers thin as air
And suddenly we turn to see what once seemed long and slow
Now, pictures in a gallery where echoes ebb and flow

Nobody, no matter how strong can keep the tide at bay
That runs through us like sea-song as it washes years away
As generations roll like soul-filled waves that rise and fall
Prey to the subtle season toll that no shoreline can stall

…reminding us that no matter what season we are in
Time's echo-chimes soon scatter like thistle seeds on the wind
While we learn to savour the full flavour of moment crumbs
Before they slip forever to what each season becomes

...before the Giver of each life retrieves what seasons lease
As a momentous Shuttle weaves the ilk of Time's increase
Still slipping through our fingers soft as silk yet hard a steel 
Leaving a sense that lingers, of life's sacred and surreal

© Janet Martin

The same feeling that inspires many a poem and song
like this one...




By humility and the fear of the Lord
are riches and honour and life
Prov.22:4




Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Measure of Here and Now


Rather than vainly mourning what has slipped through Bygone's Gate
Let's make the most of here-and-now before it is too late
Rather than vainly fretting about what the future holds
Let's cherish that which here-and-now so preciously unfolds

Sometimes I am dumbfounded with joy and grief
over what no hand can stay
Comforted that the heart can keep
what moments brush away...

Grand-kiddos growing up SO fast right before our ever-thankful gaze...


Wishing you a wonder-filled here-and-now!
wherever in the world you are💗💖

Some morning here-and-now after-effects


I went down the road for some farm-fresh eggs
to make brownies (which I over-baked)😖


I'm bringing the snack for our Bible study group tonight so
if we choke on the brownies I guess we can wash it down with grapes??😅



Your ‘here-and-now’ and mine differ geographically
But here-and-now is common ground wherever we may be
Where so much more than chance grants circumstance, as you and I
Weather the brunt of consequence according to reply

For here-and-now though ever-present, scatters in its wake
The landscape of a lifetime forged from choices that we make
Where oft, now’s What frustrates its How, beyond complete control
Yet, each response right here-and-now impacts the sacred whole

Therefore, no matter what composes here-and-now’s love-song
Whether of thorns or roses, nothing stays the same for long
Where by the grace of God we go, from rise to set of sun
Where footfalls of love’s yes and no can never be undone

But leads into new here-and-now that trickles through our hold
The warp and woof of wish-and-wow like threads of gray and gold
Soft-slipping through our fingers like treasure; gladness and strife
Entwining Here-and-now into the measure of a life

© Janet Martin

Eccles.12:11-14
The words of the wise are like goads, 
and the words of [e]scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 
12And further, my son, be admonished by these.
 Of making many books there is no end, 
and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
14For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.


Since I had my mixing bowls out I decided to make some energy balls as well!
This recipe below is a super versatile base for whatever seeds, nuts and dried fruit
is added! Cocoa powder can be substituted for carob powder. 
Toasting seeds and nuts before adding, enhances the flavor