Showing posts with label planting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planting. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Of Love's Impending Choices


After a stretch of rain last week
every farmer and gardener is paying close attention
to the condition of the soil with common quest;
"is it dry enough to till and plant?!"
And then we will not heedlessly toss seeds here and there
hoping for the best. 
Planting is done with careful heed,
the eye on its harvest!
Imagine if we kept our eyes on the soil of the soul
and planted with careful precision/decision
with our eyes on the harvest!

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll...

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll
Where wonderment and warning reanoint cause and effect
Of love’s impending choices soon strewn beneath high noon’s toll
Ere Dusk collects the voices that will waft in retrospect

This is no fickle bower that bends with dawn’s blushing ‘yet’
Today’s brief leaf and flower, metes far more than meets the eye
Where though time never lingers, its swift moment-presses set
What slips through lips and fingers into permanent reply

How sacred is the summons that draws us from slumber’s woo
Where this we share in common; we will reap the seeds we sow
This should give us good reason to pay close attention to
What follows planting season and what soon Harvest will show

Dusk holds far more than lullabies beneath its beckoning 
Morn metes far more than beaming skies beneath its gleaming burst
Where love's impending choices wait to author reckoning
Where soon the Harvest voices what was moment-sized at first

© Janet Martin

Gal.6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 
for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

There is never an isolated action.
For better or worse
Action yields consequence

Some 'consequences are pure joy
such as...cake!
from this...

to this...

 to this...


to this!


...in almost no time at all!

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.

Friday, May 27, 2022

Sacred, Fleeting Season

Suddenly, as I worked on this post, I couldn't stop weeping
for all the precious children of the world!
(How often it is the innocent who suffer
where innocence untaught 
grows up not knowing 
what they know not)

How sacred is the virgin soil
Of childhood's innocence ...


It is no mere coincidence that a child loves to hear about Jesus!
Every child in my childcare has shown me unbridled delight as we pause
before lunch to thank God for our food with this little prayer

God is great, God is good
Let us thank Him for our food
By His hands we all are fed
Thank-you Lord, for daily bread
Amen

From wide-eyed curiosity of a one-year old to eventually joining in,
 their faces beam with pure joy from pure hearts
as we thank God!
(and oh, the glorious conversations this little prayer sparks💗🙏)

On the inside cover of  a vintage version of The Pilgrim's Progress


 is this certificate of acknowledgement to honor the recipient of the reward.


Imagine if we still handed out such noble literature in our public schools
 as rewards to students!

Today students in this system,  
as tender as 5 years old 
(if the teacher chooses to comply)
are taught/groomed to dispute the indisputable...
He created them male and female, 
and blessed them 
and called them Mankind 
in the day they were created. 
Gen.5:2

Jesus answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning 
the Creator 'made them male and female,'

However, from the beginning of creation,
 'God made them male and female.'

...and we wonder at the chaos and confusion of this age?!!
where by and large, the world has turned its back on God?!!
and ignores His everlasting Word?!!
Where defiled hearts defile innocence?!!

Evil as surely as good 
recognizes the sacred, fleeting season of childhood!

How sacred is the virgin soil
Of childhood's innocence  
How terribly accountable
Each one who tills and plants

Where evil as surely as Good
Recognizes this truth;
The fleeting season of childhood 
Soon sheds its tender youth

How then, we ought to sift the seeds 
That fall, so they will sprout 
A goodly crop, to choke the weeds
Of heresy and doubt 

Before planting time, brief and fair
Slips from the supple limb   
Remember the Creator, ere
They find no joy in Him

Janet Martin

"H-m-m! He's got one too!"
exclaimed Innocent Granddaughter at her observation
during little boy's diaper-change.
"Just like my baby brother!"

'Yes' I replied.
'that means he's a boy! 
If you 'got one' you're a boy!
If you don't, you are a girl!
God made it that simple and easy to figure out
and don't ever let anyone tell you any different!'

(Believe it or not, these unthinkable conversations are important today!!)

Eccles. 12 NASB
Remember God in Your Youth

12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, 
before the evil days come and the years approach 
when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”
; 2 before the sun and the light,
 the moon and the stars are darkened, 
and clouds return after the rain; 
3 on the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, 
and strong men are bent over, 
the grinders stop working because they are few, 
and those who look through [a]windows grow [b]dim; 
4 and the doors on the street are shut 
as the sound of the grinding mill is low, 
and one will arise at the sound of the bird, 
and all the daughters of song will [c]sing softly. 
5 Furthermore, people are afraid of a high place 
and of terrors on the road; 
the almond tree blossoms, 
the grasshopper drags itself along, 
and the caper berry is ineffective. 
For man goes to his eternal home 
while the mourners move around in the street. 
6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is [d]broken 
and the golden bowl is crushed, 
the pitcher by the spring is shattered 
and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 
7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, 
and the [e]spirit will return to God who gave it. 
8 “Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher, “all is futility!”

9 In addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge;
 and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.
 10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.

11 The words of the wise are like [f]goads, 
and masters of these collections are like driven nails; 
they are given by one Shepherd. 
12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: 
the [g]writing of many books is endless, 
and excessive study is [h]wearying to the body.

13 The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: 
fear God and keep His commandments, 
because this applies to every person. 
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, 
everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.





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

Friday, May 20, 2022

Of Westward Slopes...(and juxtapositions)



I started this poem yesterday morning before Cutie-duty began
...and just like that the westward slope claimed its faithful prey



Now it's off to do some more planting...

Where bitter gall and sweet surprise mingle within life’s glass
And no one knows as daybreak glows what waits to come to pass...



The westward slope of daybreak draws the sun across the sky
The duel between dark and light fuels charge and reply
Duty resumes the rivalry of age-old no and yes
Beauty bestows its rose to crown the woes of brokenness
Where each of us is faced toward the Place from whence we came
Today’s debut, like none before and yet so much the same
A gift from He whose promises forevermore endure
To span the rift twixt man adrift and hope’s anchor secure

The happiness of hope is not a Thing money can buy
But faith’s unswaying confidence in ‘more than meets the eye’
Where bitter gall and sweet surprise mingle within life’s glass
And no one knows as daybreak glows what waits to come to pass
To aggregate the ebb and flow of delight and despair
Where Doubt, the Eden-sired foe still seeks to sets its snare
Where pride still goes before the fall and love still never fails
Where, when repentance bows the head, the grace of God prevails

The wrongs of time will be made right for all eternity
The mysteries of God will be revealed for all to see
The glass we peer through now is darkly, but then, face to face
As we behold The Fulness we received; grace upon grace
Where whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly too
God is not mocked; He grants the seeds we run our fingers through
Where want and wonder war as time pours out heartache and hope
While we are drawn toward the low’ring Door on westward slope

© Janet Martin


At first only one party sacrificed their turn on the swing,
the other not swayed in the least my the fact that sharing is caring...
but quite content in the temporary satisfaction of serving Self!
eventually everyone was persuaded to be a cheerful giver
even if it was only turns on a swing!

This passage is good to read from time to time
because 'planting season' is so brief!

2 Cor.9:6-11
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
 and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, 
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, 
so that in all things at all times, 
having all that you need, 
you will abound in every good work. 
9 As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food 
will also supply and increase your store of seed a
nd will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, 
and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.











Monday, March 14, 2022

In Due Season

I settled on the title In Due Season after being torn between
Of Promises Fulfilled and Under the Climbing Sun 😅

What inspired this poem?
Well, kinda the pretty morning


...where the sunshine, after a STORMY weekend


kinda kindles 'planting thoughts'!


and kinda from yesterday's visit 
as my husband and I mostly listened to
my parents in their eighties (or almost) 
my husband's aunt and uncle, mid-eighties 
and my husband's mother who is ninety, as they visited
with much laughter and fond recollection of days gone by
(no pic😐)
I am so thankful for our 'elders'
 and the truths they took the time to prayerfully
plant in their children so that we would be equipped
when our planting-turn came...
Because in due season we will all reap what we sow...

Gal.6:6-9
Let him who is taught the word 
share in all good things with him who teaches.
7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 
for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
  8For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption,
 but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
  9And let us not grow weary while doing good, 
for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
(or, if we faint not)


Under the climbing sun, once more the dawn dissolves the dark
Once more upon the way to God, Time’s passengers embark
Beneath the great arc of the sky man’s numbered days decline
While what we sow begins to show by the fruit on the vine
Where we are always in the Ever Very Present Now
As doubt and expectation try the hand put to the plow
And often we grow weary as we wait upon the due
Of a Season out of this world somewhere beyond the blue

Tick-tock, tick-tock, a clock we cannot see is winding down
As crucial as the fallen seed are crucial seeds not sown
For Truth we do not learn cannot in turn plant what we ought
Where fruit we reap begins within the nucleus of thought
To author seeds of words and deeds from a most sacred fount
Granted by the Creator to Whom we will give account
Then pray, thought finds Truth’s Way before the reckoning is due
In a Season still waiting until planting time is through

Forbid we squander moments lent by Immortality
But like a husbandman of souls, with kind humility
Consider He who did not count equality with God
Reason enough to excuse love when called to bear its rod
Beholding in due season Heaven’s gain for Heaven’s loss
Then pray we too may see beyond the weariness we bear
To a due season when we reap what pray, we sowed with care

Under the climbing sun once more Mercy extols God's grace
Redemption runs it fingers over worlds no eye can trace
As kind compassion lends another ration to time's path
Where, slow to anger, He will not forever stay His wrath
Where disobedience runs rampant as seas with no shore
Where Conscience does not seem to reverence God anymore
Where still, He will not fail all who anticipate the due
Of fulfilled promises in a season of All Things New 

© Janet Martin

With what shall I come before the Lord
 and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly[a] with your God.

Micah 6:6-8



Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Harvest Homily


Today's harvest has the potential of
turning me beet red! 😄
I planted beets and boy!! did I get beets!
(looks like a few woody ones)

At least it's a literal beet red!
Some harvests have the potential of turning us beet red
but not with beet juice😡😆

We might think we can twist fate’s arm
And trick the hand of recompense
But some things we cannot out-charm
Action will equal consequence

Where what we sow is what we reap
The seed cannot its fruit estrange
Then close and careful vigil keep
We cannot trick what cannot change

The seeds that fill us with regret
If we repent God will forgive
Though consequence will still beset
He helps us through each day we live

We might think we can twist God’s arm
And plant some seeds that will not grow
Consequence is immune to charm
The seed it is, the fruit will show

© Janet Martin

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

  

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

If I Were An Onion...


For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, 
they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive
 in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Pet.3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 To him be glory both now and forever! 
Amen.


Seeds that don't grow or bear fruit are good-for-nothing.
Which onion are we?
The onions I planted this year have not grown at all!


As I started pulling them in disappointed frustration
the thought struck me. 
Is this what God will pluck up when my life is over
or will I be a big, round Fruitful Onion?
(like the ones I purchased)


What a waste and pity
Seeds that never sprout
Always just a gritty-bitty
Shadow of a doubt

What a futile effort
After sun and rain
Not even a hint of fruit
Planted, but in vain

What a shameful outcome
Fruitless all the way
Still the same at harvest-time
As on planting day

© Janet Martin

John 15:2
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; 
and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.