Showing posts with label wonderful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wonderful. Show all posts

Saturday, May 7, 2022

The Things That Don't Change...(never lose their wonder)


Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things
like laughter and love as a child's childhood wings...

πŸ’–πŸ’–πŸ’–

Last night I dashed to a nearby farmer's field to
revel in the wonderful joy
of the heaven's declaring the glory of God!



While I ogled and ah-h-ed, the farmer who owns the field happened by with his tractor.
He hopped out to admire the view too.
Who knew that this burly, dirt-covered busy man and I shared in common
a sheer delight over nature's wonders...
that he too takes pictures every year of buds unfolding and barn swallows nesting etc.
that he thrills to the pink flood of daybreak as it rushes through his milking parlour.
We celebrated the fact that for all life's change and trouble
the things that never change, never lose their wonderπŸ’–


The things that don’t change never lose their wonder
The Hand that wrings Spring’s shower-bowers brings
Beauty to feed the soul’s ravenous hunger
A world unfurled with green and petaled things
Where the swallow swoops and the woodland rings

Heavens on fire with dawn and dusk glory
Tugging our gaze from earth’s cares for a bit
As if Someone bigger is writing love’s story
Where we are honored to be part of it
In spite of tests to Quest’s valor and grit

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles
Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills
Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles
Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills
Over the edges of hedges and rills

Brook-laughter luring bare feet to its shimmer
Green is the valley and blue is the sky
Spread like a banquet-blanket heaped with dinner
Food for the spirit and feast for the eye
Tugging at tethers hinged to hearts, oh my

Mint tints in treetops long stripped of leaf-luster
First maple-plume is a daisy bouquet
Lark singing with all the might it can muster
While the dark arc of night turns to today
Stars fall, violet-strewn like noon’s Milky Way

Seeds fuel furrows, faith-jewels soft falling
Where sallow fallow will soon brim with hymns
Where Nature is like a kind mother calling
Where blithe breeze somersaults, where cobalt whims
Hum and strum yellow willow-cello limbs

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder
The Hand that authors them will never fail
To birth the beauty that feeds the soul’s hunger
Heaven and earth like a glorious grail
Tipped to wow us with creation’s regale

© Janet Martin

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles
Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles...






Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills
Over the edges of hedges and rills...



Psalm 136:1-9
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
3Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
4To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
5To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
6To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
7To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
8The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
9The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever...

click here to read the whole glorious chapter!

Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? 
Who is like You--majestic in holiness, 
revered with praises, 
performing wonders?


Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God,
 are the wonders You have done,
 and the plans You have for us--
none can compare to You--
if I proclaim and declare them, 
they are more than I can count.



Thursday, April 21, 2022

While Faithfully He Parts the Gates...

April mornings in Ontario, Canada serve up a salad-bowl of seasons...
Spring sunshine,


Inspiring picnics...



Picnic lunch: fresh homemade bread, fresh farm-made cheese, zucchini relish canned last summer,
locally made summer sausage, and cucumber slices!
In the fresh air it was a five-star meal in a top-notch setting
of quilt table-tops and no-shoes service!




THEN whoa, back to winter woolies,



...and today?
Raindrop rhinestones and ringlets!



Grand-daughter sighs ecstatically as she counts 'all thothe puddlthe'πŸ’–
(but, no puddle splashing today. They are simply too frigid to be healthy!
Warmer puddle-days are just around the corner!)


Creation swells with goodness; wellsprings brim that none can drain
Life’s Giver keeps His promises; He grants the sun and rain
Where nature heeds its father’s rules and trust its father’s lead
Where miracles burst from capsules of bud and bulb and seed

The crux from which earth’s deluxe wonders seep, thrills mortal gaze
The cradle from which birth thunders in silence, leaps with praise
Awe authors humble worship to He who some dare deny
From the fringe of eternity mercy and grace reply

Love lavishes this creature place with glorious majesty
Although the beauty of His face we cannot clearly see
We glimpse Him in the seasons as they toll from shore to shore
Frilled field and flower oceans rolling past our very door

The thankless creature shakes a fist; the grateful creature bows
As gray, or gold and amethyst bends daybreak's gleaming prows
Where whether unawares or not each precious creatures stands
Not only on a foot-width plot, but in God’s gracious hands

Morning’s welcome mat shimmers as it unveils land and sea
Creation swells with glimmers of the Giver’s majesty
Oh, God forgive, greed claws, hate desecrates and bombs destroy
While faithfully He parts the gates where nature rings with joy

© Janet Martin

Something about the gory scenes of war 
bleeding
beneath trees bursting into blossom 
on hills 
steeped in virgin green
tugs at the crux of one's 
soul! 
πŸ™πŸ˜’

Psalm 89:11
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: 
as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.





This Is My Father's World Lyrics
(so comforting for the times we are in as we lift our prayers
for all the hurting to Him)

This is my father's world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres

This is my father's world
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white
Declare their maker's praise

This is my father's world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas
His hand the wonders wrought

This is my father's world
Oh, let me never forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet

This is my father's world
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is king, let the heavens ring
God reigns, let the earth be glad

This is my father's world
He shines in all that's fair
In the rustling grass, I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere


Songwriters: C. Barny Robertson / Dp / Maltbie Babcock

Monday, September 20, 2021

Wonder-World -Wealthy

Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.

6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”

 (because Awesome Wonder makes life wonder-full)





Wonder rewards its heritor with wealth a-hundred-fold
A well-spring without barriers to joyfully behold
It fills the world with pleasure to enrapture and confound
A vault of hidden treasure overflowing all around

Some wonder we behold with eyes and some with humbled heart
As we begin to recognize its vault of ageless art
Its wealth, not in showcases filled with ‘look but do not touch’
But spilled from friendly faces, wisdom’s fount, seasons and such

Wonder waits to be tasted at each turn, it seems to me
Thus, Time should not be wasted in indulgent vanity
But rather, with each breath exalt the Giver of today
Because at every turn Death also stalks its primal prey

Wonder is worship’s uttermost; nothing can take its place
It strips proprietors of boast in its selfless embrace
And lifts the drooping spirit as it fills us with surprise
And gifts us with the merit of love’s selfless paradise

As high as heavens pathless hills and deep as deepest sea
A world of still impending thrills, unfurled epiphany
A grand buffet that beckons, its fulfilling feast beguiles 
Where The Creator reckons mortal appetites, and smiles

Pride goes before the fall and strangles wonder that would be
It caters to a call of covetous idolatry
And leaves a sense of joy amiss, its bliss a bitter fraud
But Wonder’s perfect happiness reveals a glimpse of God

Wonder wakens awareness, not to pelf of miser’s lure
But to unrivaled rareness of wealth coin cannot procure
Wonder wears threads of duty but, like autumn’s orchard bent
It yields the fruit of beauty in a heart sweetly content

© Janet Martin






Saturday, July 10, 2021

Wonder-full

First, when I got up this morning a wave of woe washed over me;

So much would-be worry and want, without true trust in One greater!

 Wonderful, Merciful Saviour


Wonder-full, though oft-times dismayed
By disappointment’s rending rod
In spite of plans and dreams waylaid
Nothing separates us from God

Wonder-full, though heart-cries resound
With grief where unbelief is bold
Because iniquity abounds
The love of many has waxed cold

Wonder still fills the heart with awe
To think, God, rich in mercy gave
His Son to die because He saw
How many souls His death would save

He did not, in the face of hate
Retaliate, but cried ‘forgive’
His suffering, so very great
So that the least may look and live

Thus, we may live, still wonder-full
In spite of hardship’s draining toll
God’s Word and love none can annul
Or thwart the Saviour of the soul

© Janet Martin

Wishing you a weekend filled with wonder!

So much to steal our breath in His Word and in His works!






Psalm 10: 12-18

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

Everlasting Masterpiece


My, how earth is filled with wonder
My, how birth delights our gaze...


Who waters the world with showers...


My, how You get our attention
Where the skies Your works proclaim...


June/the Creator of June throbs in hearts and earth 
with wealth of beauty and wonder!

June's jubilance always fades far too fast
but its Creator and His love are everlasting!
Isn't that our greatest joy of all?!

My, how You get our attention
Where the skies Your works proclaim
Where Beauty is the reflection
Of the love from whence we came

My, how earth is filled with wonder
My, how birth delights our gaze
Where burgeoning bud-vaults thunder
With an outpouring of praise

My, how often we forget You
While, though hemmed in by Your Hand
We begin to fret, and doubt You
For ways we can’t understand

Who can thread the loom of flowers?
Who instills the sower’s seed?
Who waters the world with showers?
Who, the morning has decreed?

Who can boast, but what is given?
Who can save man’s soul from hell?
Who of us can ascribe heaven?
Who the thoughts of You can tell?

You, the author of creation
And salvation's precious gift
You, faith's rock-solid Foundation
Who will not falter or shift 
  
My, how Your mercies surround us
Fount beneath and vault above
Hope within where you confound us
With an everlasting love

© Janet Martin

Jer.31:3

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; 
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Monday, April 26, 2021

Wonder-Full World

  PAD Challenge 26;


For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) World," 
replace the blank with a word or phrase, 
make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.


Somehow 'firsts' of a season always fill me with fresh wonder...
first snowfall, 

first buds,

 blooms and bouquets,


first garden crop sprouts,

...
 then first pickings

... to first fallen leaves

the world is wonder-full!

'something to stare at in earth's every crease...


Wonderful wonder, how wondrous art Thou
Melding the mundane to Marvelous Wow!
Stealing the thunder of man’s vanity
Breath-taking wak’ning to Your majesty
Yielding to You honour and glory’s due
Worship in its purest form, tried and true

Wonderful wonder, the world is a fount
Brimming with Beauty, too ‘bundant to count
Who can step over the threshold of day
Into a morning, wild with Mercy’s yea
Never astounded and never amazed
By over-under-around-us, un-phased

Wonderful, wonder-full world at our door
So much to experience and explore
Something to stare at in earth’s every crease
Winter to spring, bud to bloom masterpiece
Heavens above hills and rills, land and sea
Thund’ring with wonder still waiting to be

Wonderful, wonder-full gateway to awe
We, lavished by love’s extravagant law
Dare not become so numb as not to feel
Hands of the Potter ‘round clay on the wheel
Smiling, methinks, as He opens our eyes
To the glad wonder of life’s next surprise

© Janet Martin





Wednesday, March 17, 2021

From Wonder's Treasure Trove...



Do you ever wonder, when you get up
what wonders will fill you with wonder today?
And isn't it wonderful how wonder always take us by surprise?!
Beneath...


or above



Wonder spills its treasure trove!

Wonder is delight’s amazement, worship’s outpouring, unflawed
Wonder is that perfect moment as we forget all but God
As we marvel at the beauty of an unexpected ‘gift’
That surprises Ordinary and gives commonplace a lift

Wonder is awe’s perfect pleasure, making the meek mortal glad
From a trove of priceless treasure spills a thrilling myriad
Cheering creature-care with comfort as God captures our gaze
Composing from thrumming heart-strings a hymn of rapturous praise

Wonder sweeps away gray shadows from the deeps beneath our skin
Granting, at least for the moment, happiness without chagrin
Stealing our breath with sudden, sweet glimpses of paradise
As we taste the crumbs that scatter from a Table in the skies

© Janet Martin

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works 
Which You have done; 
And Your thoughts toward us 
Cannot be recounted to You in order; 
If I would declare and speak of them, 
They are more than can be numbered.

Psalm 40:5




Friday, January 22, 2021

Marvel-Medley

In the book The Dean's Watch
the Dean, Adam Ayscough's great sorrow was 
that he did not discover joy until near
the end of his life.
But when he did, how he marveled at
how wonder-filled life became.

Glimpse Him in sky-grandeur, 
in rock-wefted specks of snow






Marvel where a myriad of masterpieces spill
Crunching beneath footsteps and bedecking tree and hill
Waiting in the wake of winter to break boreal mud
Ensconcing earth in rich em’rald of unfettered bud

Marvel at the mercy that disperses second try
Meting, ever meting so much more than meets the eye
Like the wind that whispers in the winnowing of dark
Tugging at bare branches and strings tangled ‘round the heart

Marvel at stars lilting in the laughter of a child
Season-panoramas stitched like patchwork quilts run wild 
Fashion from thy ration of life’s lease, a counterpane
Pieced by sun and shadow, clover meadow, rush of rain

Marvel at the melody that throbs with God’s ‘behold’
All that He created waits, pure worship to unfold
Glimpse Him in sky-grandeur, in rock-wefted specks of snow
Savour the sweet flavour of joy, wonder’s afterglow

Marvel at the way mere man is lavished with God's grace
Fitted to love's masterplan with ways thought cannot trace
Permeating purpose into every single breath
"To God be the glory, Maker of heaven and earth" 

Marvel at the endless possibilities of awe
God's forgiveness is the bedrock and crown of love's law
Marvel at the hemline of Majesty trailing where
We behold but the fringes of His Everlasting care

© Janet Martin


For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
O Lord, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.

this marvel-medley was pieced together between
pre-dawn lego-creations, 


scrambled eggs...

second coffees 

and other such domestic marvelsπŸ’—
(tell me, is not the sound of tea or coffee being poured
one of life's sweetest, simplest marvels?!)








Saturday, September 26, 2020

Wonder IS God's Signature

 



A Wonderful First Fall Saturday of 2020!




Wonder is spring’s first fair flower 
Summer fields and Autumn’s show 
Wonder is a winter morning 
Swaddled in fresh-fallen snow 

Wonder is boundless, blue welkin 
Wonder is wee bird that sings 
Wonder is a reawak’ning 
To a world of lovely things 

Wonder is dew-diamonds dazzling 
Daybreak with silver-starred blur 
Wonder is a just-hatched gosling 
Wonder is God’s signature 

Wonder is worship’s expression 
Stirred by beauty’s sundry form 
Wonder is God’s intercession 
As He takes the heart by storm 

Wonder gleams in sun-steeped stubble
Wonder whispers, roars and sings
Wonder soars above life's troubles
And restores hope's broken wings

Wonder eases disappointment
Silenced wish and whim applaud 
While we gaze in sheer amazement 
At unveiled glimpses of God

© Janet Martin





Ps.92:1-8

It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
2 proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.


4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
5 How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
6 Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.


8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.