Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts

Saturday, February 24, 2024

For Today's Roses (still taking shape)


Some days life is a lovely maze of roses and butterflies.
And some days are more like thorn pricks and bee stings.
No matter what kind of day we are having,
only we are responsible for how we reply...

(Yes! This sunny stretch is turning my thoughts gardenward😀💖)

Wishing you a rose-giddy weekend!



Dawn unfolds like a butterfly alighting on earth’s supine pose
Once more courage and faith ally, to try the bud that holds the rose
Where, dust of trust pulses with dreams and wholesome opportunity
Where, though circumstance sets the scene, reply is up to you and me

Where we are always young enough to do the good we ought, to pray
To take and make the most of love before life’s flower falls away
And speak the kind and gentle word and live to give rather than get
And keep our focus undeterred, on Due Season not rendered yet

Then, not grow weary in the good we ought to do, ere reaping starts
And, when love is misunderstood, to answer with forgiving hearts
Then we will never lack for joy, but always find fresh ways to gape
At buds beginning to deploy today’s roses still taking shape

© Janet Martin

Gal.6:9
And let us not grow weary while doing good,
 for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.


Yesterday was pleasant on the southside deck...


Today temps have plummeted to more seasonal settings


Tuesday, December 12, 2023

More than It (December Dawn) Seems...


This morning kicked off its tick-tock shaped sun-kissed socks and shoes
before I was able to complete the poem 
that burst into wanting-to-be shortly after waking...

The beauty of meditation 
and the duty of obligation
 always com/posing stiff competition!

Sometimes a poem culminates best 
not pressed/suppressed by sheer determination
but by releasing its fragments until they return
in whispers begging to be penned.
So it was today...
I began dipping chocolate bars and maybe because my
fingertips were chocolatey and my mind at ease
lines teased and flickered,  begging me to wash my hands
and capture them before they waft irretrievably away 😂🙏

On Saturday's post I forgot to flip over the recipe card 
for homemade Chocolate Bars, to show dipping instructions.
I am sharing the dipping instructions instead,  from Jim's (husbands') aunt.
(who makes perfect chocolate bars every Christmas)
Melt your preferred variety of chocolate (I used semi-sweet blocks)
over LOW heat. 
(put water in a pot and set another pot on top and let  the chocolate melt at 
around 3 or 4 temperature on the burner.)
(add a bit of shortening or Paro-wax for glossier finish.)


Dip and cool!


This morning showcased a most welcome sunrise after a stretch of unsunny dawns!


Dawn seems to wear a prayer-like solemnity where new mercies spill
As heavens pale and lift the veil that yester-dusk lowered until
We couldn’t see December’s close-cropped lea, the dark and leafless copse
Etched in stark magnificence against brilliant, westerly backdrops
That dimmed and disappeared; earth’s tiered sweeps shrouded by a sea
That drew away Today laden with ample opportunity

Dawn seems to sing! Every morning the old is reborn and made new
As mercy grants rekindled chance to learn to love as we ought to
Humbly aware of He who cares and helps us bear our shares of Must
Before we pass through that last door of Soul-to-God and dust to dust
And thus, because life is precious and Time a Very Fleeting Flow’r
Dawn seems to wake an urgent ache to make the most of every hour

….each moment rife with unlived life becoming lived; the untouched, touched
And often we forget what we beget as dawn is crudely crushed
By hands and feet; demands compete and how we meet them will become
Without disguise, the ink that dries in a Book tabling each day’s sum
While ticking clocks keep kicking off the shoes and socks at dawn reborn
And sometimes we are prone to see nothing at all but 'morn-to-morn'

…and often dawn seems here and gone without a second thought or prayer
A gift from God we barely nod at as it drifts, not to thin air
But to a page, where age to age is recording daily reply
Its telling proof spelling the truth that will be futile to deny
Then, pray that want may be subdued by gratitude as mercy streams
Renewed; where dawn is like a glimpse of Heaven bursting at its seams

© Janet Martin

And, let we forget!!!
As true now as in the days of Jeremiah's lament...

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are
 new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
Lam.3:22-24











Monday, September 12, 2022

A Royal Opportunity

 

(photo in the public domain)


A few comments from King Charles III's proclamation speeches;
‘I shall strive to follow the inspiring example that has been set…’
‘Even as we grieve, we give thanks for her life well lived’

We have a royal opportunity to have something in common with Queen Elizabeth;
Through faith in Jesus Christ, to set an inspiring example
 and to leave behind a life well lived
to honour the King of kings and Lord of lords

 The family of believers in Jesus,
 is the greatest royal family of all!
Everyone is welcome🙏

John 3:16-17 NIV
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but to save the world through him.

***

Far more than merely moments spring from time’s volatile fount
Where life runs rife with choices for which we will give account
As step by step and day by day we all advance toward
Last Breath, when this world slips away and we will meet the Lord

What earnest heed we ought to give to what we do and say
Between the past and future, we live always in Today
Where no one knows how near or far its final grant will be
Or when the person that we are becomes A Memory

The common ground of opportunity is made of dirt
A momentous velocity of happiness and hurt
Where we all share the common need, however rich or poor
Of faith in Jesus Christ; He alone keeps the soul secure

This is the day the Lord has made; oh, will it be our last?
Not all will see its shadow laid to rest in ages past
Lord, help us live as if today could be the steppingstone
To that which never fades away, when life on earth is done

© Janet Martin

Col.1:9-13
For this reason, since the day we heard about you,
 we have not stopped praying for you 
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will 
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 
10so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord
 and may please Him in every way: 
bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
  11being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might 
so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, 
who has qualified youc to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness 
and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, 
14in whom we have redemption,
d the forgiveness of sins.







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








Monday, June 13, 2022

Let's Live Today In Such A Way (as if we could die of a heart attack)


Jim didn't know his out-of-the-blue-question last night
(after we had ceased chatting for a little while and I was snoozing
 between pages of the book The Gauntlet
would spark today's poem.
He suddenly asked 'what if tomorrow is the day when people say
 'did you hear?!! Jim died of a heart attack today!'
Maybe you're laughing a little but...
It's not an impossibility for any one of us 
and perhaps a prudent/valid question to contemplate before
' the dust returns to the ground it came from, 
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.'

Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped
and the golden bowl is crushed,
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring
and the wheel is broken at the well,
7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Why does it matter so much?!
Because the soul is deathless with only one of two destinations
depending on the preparation we have made!
Salvation-heaven
Rejection-hell

I can't even remember if or what I answered 
but Jim's last words last night set the tone for my first thoughts this morning!
And inspired today's poem🙏💗

Take time to thoroughly appreciate life's simple, temporary joys
but first, address soul-sacred Eternity


(Grandson checking out gramma's birthday espresso)

Second-cousins sharing a swing...
(Photo used with permission💖💖💖)

My sister's grand-daughter pulled a goofy face just as I clicked😂


To live today in such a way, that it could be our last
Transforms our sighs and what we prize where morning hoists its mast
For none can tell how near farewell draws its finality
As we embark toward that mark, we know but cannot see

To live today as if we may not have another, wakes
A sacred sense of recompense in every breath one takes
And stirs us to a humbler view of time’s momentous fount
moments become the holy sum of which we give account

To live today as if to say ‘thank-you’ to God, who grants
Its gift of grace, each lovely face we kiss, each ‘second chance’
Will help us weave the steps we leave behind into a prayer
For those still in the thick and thin of love and living’s care

To live today in such a way will beckon us to be
More mindful of the thinning glove that cups eternity
How sweet the flask that metes the task for loved ones near and dear
How fleet the feet that rush to greet the mists of yesteryear

Where sorrows surge and morrows merge with splurge of seasons spent
This is the toll that weans the Soul from mortal filament
Pray, let’s be kind and keep in mind what lies beyond yon past
And live today in such way, that it could be our last
And live today as if to say ‘I love you, you, and You’
And live today as if we may meet God when it is through

© Janet Martin

I remember wise words spoken by my dad years ago...
"live in such a way that if God told you today or tomorrow you will die,
you would carry on exactly as you would otherwise have.
Live life always ready to meet God!


Eccles.3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Also He has put eternity in their hearts,
except that no one can find out the work
that God does from beginning to end.


Heb.9:27-28
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many;
and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin,
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.


She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins."


Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind
by which we must be saved.”


Acts 16:30-34
Then he brought them out and asked,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,
you and your household.”
32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord
to him and to everyone in his house.
33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them
and washed their wounds.
And without delay, he and all his household were baptized
. 34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them.
So he and all his household rejoiced
that they had come to believe in God.




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, March 26, 2021

Invisible Onus

 

While waiting for wild gales to subside a bit before going out
I seized the extra-poem opportunity without delay 😊


Opportunity is a bud begging to bloom!



It alights on the break of day like bird upon a limb
It spreads its fare like a buffet waiting to be a hymn
A sacred supplication from the moment we awake
An open invitation to be willing to partake
To rich and poor its coffer spills, minding ability
So we may seize its offer; it is Opportunity

It grants the chance to hope and pray, to do the best we can
To work with what we have today, and love our fellowman
To be a good steward with what God allots to our care
And not get caught up in the fruitless thought-life of ‘compare’
To bear the yoke of circumstance with meek humility
Aware that life is like a dance with Opportunity

…a bittersweet succession of love’s laughter, pains and aches
It lets us learn life-lessons, not through failure, but mistakes
It does not shake its head and sigh of us, ‘it is no use’
But with each day of granted breath we are without excuse
By the grace of the Giver, to embrace what waits to be
Where life is like a river rife with Opportunity

…that spills its ilk of silk and steel in an ethereal sup
Sometimes a milk and honey meal, sometimes a hard road up
Where nope and yup pour from a cup without jangle and form
Where Hope is but a wraith-like rope that dangles in the storm
Equipped by faith that makes us whole, for Opportunity

© Janet Martin

As we have therefore opportunity, 
let us do good unto all men, 
especially unto them who are of the household of faith
Gal.6:10

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Daily Gift (already in full swing)


By the time we swing our legs over the side of the bed 
to go from horizontal to vertical, 
before our toes touch the floor
we have already been presented with opportunity
to turn our heart/mind earthward or heavenward!

Last night before I went to bed I told Victoria 
I really should write a timetable for today, 
so I don't waste a minute of trying to complete 
a whole bunch of odds-and-ends tasks such as...

wash out and tidy the fridge and freezing compartment

stack wood so we can get more on Saturday,
 
organize pantry again (sometimes I wonder if somewhere the pantry has a sign;
 if you don't know what to do with it pitch it in here) 


tidy fruit cellar because last week I hauled a shelf out of it
when I was fall-cleaning the livingroom that I decided 
would be the perfect size for the back wall and the first
step/shelf toward the dream of creating a little book-nook!
 
now, what to do with everything that was on it before...
(I know how to make a lot of extra work for myself😛)

All this to say, this morning... 
I woke up with a rip-roaring headache and nausea 
so I went back to bed, woke up at 10:30 (thankfully childcare is Thursday and Friday this week)
and feel much better! now I am having a coffee and pretending it's six in the morning
instead of eleven, oops noon!
(lots of pause-and-serve opportunities already!)

Each day is like a gift laden with opportunity
No matter what our circumstance or vocation may be
It tests our best intention with basic matters of fact
Where it is up to us to decide how we will react

The vantage-points from agendas we cannot set in stone
Are always at the mercy of a hand over our own
It moves through plans like a toddler through sibling’s well-laid blocks
And doesn’t mind a mite about the steady pace of clocks

Each day presents a heap of ways to think, then say and do
To learn to bend, not break, with God’s kind grace to help us through
It challenges our patience, tests our words and tries our trust
And offers endless opportunities to readjust

No day, try as hard as we may, is ever quite bespoke
My, my how swift its gift soon drifts like curlicues of smoke
While we are wrangling into practice the fine filigree
Of learning how to make the most of opportunity

© Janet Martin

Gal. 6:10
Therefore, as we have opportunity, 
let us do good to all people, 
especially to those who belong to the family of believers.


 










Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Making the Most of Opportunity


I take a lot of good-natured ribbing when it comes to poetry,(which is fair)
 teased, depending on what is happening that likely I'm coming up with a poem...
I wish it was that easy😊😉 
...but on the other hand, everything I do is poem-fodder, perhaps, Lord willing!
Last night was my turn to bring a meal to alpha and someone teased me that maybe this will be the topic for the next poem...in a way it is, but not because of the food, but rather the people who came out to eat before doing the next lesson in alpha on their journey to Bethlehem/discovering Jesus!

What is Alpha? below is the introductory video to the course...
 

What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? 
 To whom will you run for help? 
Where will you leave your riches?


The love of God is beckoning; oh loved one, do you hear
Because the day of reckoning is drawing ever near
Where we will meet the One whose hands are Calvary engraved

The Hope of God is imploring; oh, hopeless sinner, heed
For the cost of ignoring Him is terrible indeed
Ah, who can bear to meet Him, middle-step and unprepared
Too late to seek redemption when the soul from flesh is bared

The grace of God is pleading still, lest graceless death is Chief
Come, only Jesus can fulfill the Bulwark of Belief
Then haste, the way the shepherds did when angels hailed Christ's birth
To taste firsthand the wonder of Heaven come down to earth

The mercy of God moans and groans where moments hide His face
The One whose blood atones extends time’s steppingstones of grace
Until the breadth of moments yields unto eternity
The love-hope-grace-mercy of God grants opportunity

© Janet Martin


If you are interested in taking the alpha course google it to find one near you.
If you would like details on the one offered at WBC please contact me or WBC.
Anyone, everyone welcome!

Friday, August 11, 2017

Like A Rose...







Dawn blooms like a rose on the sill of first light
It flows like a river to sea
It plants on Past’s fathoms of fumble and flight
Unbroken opportunity

Its token of mercy fills heaven and earth
Its birth like God’s gentle reply
He pours hope’s redemption across field and firth
In offers of another try

Day is a like desktop strewn with much to do  
Clock edict orders every hour
Dawn is like a maiden with eyes, gentle blue
She brings to each door a fresh flow’r

Tip o’ heaven’s hat an’ good day to ye all
Be prudent, be patient, be kind
For soon this new bloom like all flowers will fall
To moon-lit pastures, echo-lined

© Janet Martin