Showing posts with label wonderment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wonderment. Show all posts

Friday, June 23, 2023

Wonder-Thunder

 





That I should have 
the benefit
Of strolling beneath 
lofty trees
With eyes to see
 the height of it
And ears to hear 
the sighing breeze
And ink to spell
 the sight of it
And thought to fill 
with wonder’s verve
And drink in 
the delight of it
Is so much more than
 I deserve

© Janet Martin




Thursday, May 4, 2023

Tangible Reminders (of Who God Is)

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
Psalm 68:19

Sometimes when we pass through seasons of (prayer)-discouragement,
God convicts and comforts us 
with tangible reminders of who He is; 
Faithful 
As surely as nature displays his faithfulness
in every season,
so too is His perfect timing in our lives!

These two poems by Edgar A. Guest remind us to take a breath
...and Behold!




The birthplace of today runs rife
(In spite of weight of care)
With much to make this little life
A lovely thing to bear

Beauty’s showcase is marvelous
Winter-spring-summer-fall
Makes it impossible to miss
The One who wills it all

The budded branch bursts into song
The tresses of its hymn
A shelter for the feathered throng
The nests in lofty limb

A masterpiece of petals spills
From frilly lily-loom
River-ribbons wind between hills
At night star-gardens bloom

…and as the afternoon unwinds
To twilight’s vestibules
The Artist of dusk’s murals finds
Constant originals

Beneath a canopy of sky
Oft aweing mortal gaze
We go; God sees the low and high
Of every trail we blaze

…and beckons us to trust the love
That moves His mighty Hand
In ways that grants grand glimpses of
Who none can understand

© Janet Martin


…and as the afternoon unwinds
To twilight’s vestibules
The Artist of dusk’s murals finds
Constant originals...


The budded branch bursts into song...


The tresses of its hymn
A shelter for the feathered throng
The nests in lofty limb...


1 John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 
that if we ask anything according to his will, 
he hears us.





Friday, April 21, 2023

Mercy-bespoke...


Today's poem was inspired in part by the surprise of a pretty sunrise, 
where I had mentally prepared for a rainy start to today, 
and the lusty robin heralding new morning and maybe forecasted rain too 😅💖
Also by the sudden conviction that we all should want to wonder more
 at our Creator whose morning/mercy never misses its mark!

...and, mercy bespoke??
yes! not the way man orders it 
but the way God orders it, perfectly, undeservedly!

The gilt-edged grace-pledged morning spills
From molten molds, mercy-bespoke
To draw the dark from dells and rills
And hills and fields like a plush cloak
Tugged from yon verge’s frameless clime
Unveiling vistas perched like art
On pedestals as old as time
To strike sheer wonder to the heart
For He, whose faithfulness remains
In spite of recreant reply
God’s covenant of old sustains
Renewal, filling earth and sky
Where you and I are not forgot
Caught between what was and will be
On a fresh threshold, mercy-wrought
On the verge of eternity

Where none can see how near or far
We are to The Sunrise That Flings
One Final Gilt-edged Gate Ajar
To draw the soul on welkin wings
Beyond this Bar of Burdened Must
And trust, not for the faint of heart
Where gilt-edged daybreak cheers tear-dust
With mercy-bespoke works of art
While we weather four-season’s wraith
The tether round wings not yet spanned
Where warp and weft of hope and faith
Confounds the ground whereon we stand
Feathering from the soul, the shroud
That fickle fools dote on and laud
Forgetting the fate of the proud
On That Morning that unveils God

…where gilt-edged, grace-pledged morn extends
The great divide, where heavens brim
With glimpses of He who befriends
The creature who confides in Him
Where, without fail He fills the dark
Awakens the trill of the lark
Kindles anew, devotion’s prayer
Where often we misunderstand
The Faithful Hand that tips the grail
That pours across the slumb’ring land
Ethereal sands that rend night’s veil
Where, on Creation’s Pedestal
Once more He plants love’s Living Proof
An every-morn Original
That only fools dare hold aloof

© Janet Martin

Lam.3:21-26-31-33

his I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord...

For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For He does not afflict [i]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

I've shared this song many times because I love to listen to it
in the morning when I rise...I hope you do too🙏💓




Saturday, February 11, 2023

Until We Kiss The Hands That Hold Us...


Evil in its lowest forms of hatred for God,
in shameless applause for sin!
Disasters that destroy and wreak unfathomable havoc and grief
oh God! We cry and You hear!

Psalm 18:6
In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.
 From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

David's new release feels like perfect timing
Our thoughts and prayers are with many suffering, 
esp. those in the earthquake aftermath




Some hurts would be too hard to bear without God’s hand to hold
Life, but a valley of despair where tragedies unfold
Hope, a hollow oblation in the station of the mind
Seeking sweet consolation, it can never fully find

Some hills would be too hard to climb without God’s hand to clasp
His word transcends the march of time; His goodness is steadfast
Where, like an outstretched Hand God’s word will undergird and still
The heart-storm when we do not understand love’s perfect will

Some crosses would feel merciless, without God’s Hand to trust
Without unfailing promises to cheer our weary dust
To comfort us because we know He never leads astray
But for faith’s benefit will show the error of our way

Some sorrows would seem hard, too hard without…ah, look and see
Behold his hands, how they are scarred because of Calvary
He suffered in our stead to break the curse of sin so man
May undeservedly partake of pardon’s perfect plan

Some wonder is too much to spell with lowly ink of thought
As we bow where love’s blood-drops fell and death’s triumph was wrought
Where redemption enfolds us and hope anchors us until
We kiss the hands that hold us in love’s pure and perfect will

© Janet Martin


Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Let's Take a Winter Stroll

 The photos present a condensed version of today's poem😊






(most of the brook is frozen but
here and there its song bursts through! Delightful.)










Let’s stroll beneath the blue-sky wraith that draws us to applaud
And scale hope’s slopes not veiled by faith to touch the hand of God
Let’s consider the lilies clad in winter-white array
And sing as glorious throbs of gladness carry cares away

Let’s linger in a theater of hill and dell and tree
To watch the brook meander on its journey to the sea
Let’s keep a careful distance from the clock’s determined mien
That steals with plum persistence into shadows long and lean

Let’s pay closer attention to masterpiece-laden trays
Where inept comprehension staggers beneath breathless gaze
Let’s weigh the weightless treasure of Now’s equilibrium
Stunned by the mighty measure of Moment’s momentous sum

Let’s wonder at suggestions of what eye has never seen
And ramble through reflections of summer’s unraveled green
Let’s trace gracious caresses that evoke a hymn so pure
From frosted fronds and tresses etched on bottomless azure

Let’s find a sabbath feeling stealing through want’s workaday
Holy, holy, the healing where nature’s orchestras play
Let’s listen to the rise and fall of fallow wind-strummed span
Until we grow so very small and utter ‘what is man’

Let’s look beyond the obstacles that mar our every days
And marvel at the miracles that preach, teach and amaze
Let’s bear love’s yoke of broken hurt with footsteps worship-shod
And scale hope’s frozen slopes of dirt to glimpse the face of God

© Janet Martin

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have [b]ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit[c] him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than [d]the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!



Saturday, November 19, 2022

Unplumbed Knowledge (Too Wonderful For Me)


Inspired by Psalm 139
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
 Psalm 139:6

O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. v.1

Search me, O God, and know my heart: 
try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me 
and lead me in the way everlasting. v.23-24



There is no fooling You
Lord, you know all our ways
While we were knitted in the womb
You beheld all our days
While we were being wrought
You knew us every one
Before a thought became a thought
Before a deed was done
Your knowledge hemmed us in
Behind, beside, before
Beneath the shadow of your Wing
You keep us evermore

Lord, we are fearfully
And wonderfully made
You know the place intimately
Where thought and choice are weighed
You search and know each heart
Nothing is hid from you
For you fashioned our inmost part
Before one breath we drew
Then, search where you have searched
Lest wicked ways remain
Lest craftiness of pride is perched
Where worship is made vain

Lord, lead us in the way
Of everlasting life
Shield us from the cunning buffet
Of vanity’s vain strife
But purify our hearts
To praise you more and more
Your goodness and mercy imparts
All we are thirsting for
Your thoughts; what preciousness
To think that they should be
Of us, oh, Lord, such knowledge is
Too wonderful for me

© Janet Martin








Monday, May 9, 2022

Wonder-joy or Joy-wonder...

This poem was sparked by the caption above the first photo from Saturday's post.

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

(*grandkiddos tucked in with 'great-gramma quilts'
Quilts/comforters made by my mom)
They both graduated to bigger beds and new blankets last week because
we are waiting for new sibling to arrive!!!



This poem is a thankful medley of corralled recent joys...

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things
Like love’s many splendors as Child's childhood wings
...like bedtime sunshine from radiant smiles spilt
As youngsters are tucked beneath *'great-gramma-quilts'/warm handmade quilts
For four-season favour’s tender metaphors
For sweet satisfaction from completed chores
For spring gardens not pestilence-riddled yet
For doors flung and fettered by sunrise and set
For floors freshly polished with pastures of green
For hello, farewell and love’s points in between
For each ‘what’s for supper’s’ God-granted reply
From panful to plateful to stomach-full sigh
For hugs, hearty handshakes and ‘long-time-no-sees’
That turn, in a twinkle, to fond memories
For mischievous puppies and children to scold
For babies and bouquets and bushels to hold
For tables to gather around, for a chair
High on a hilltop, with wind tousling our hair
For spring birds returning after winter spent
For blue heavens crowning earth’s dust-covenant
Of seedtime and harvest, cold, heat, night and day
For brook-song that sparkles on its merry away
For each friendly flower that brightens life’s path
Through trouble’s dark hour and its aftermath
For gratitude deepened because of a Cross
For thankfulness sweetened not by gain, but loss
For courage refurbished by kind word or smile
For laughter to lighten the weight/wait of The While
For wishes recanted that never came true
Where God’s mercy granted a wiser ‘thank-you’
For holy appointments like ‘right here, right now’
Of ‘nose to the grindstone’ and ‘hand to the plow’
For life’s simple bests that money cannot buy
…cloud-frigates a-float in an ocean of sky
Orchard-wicks rekindled with pink blossom-frill
Final flurries swindled of bluster and chill
For pleasures made possible because of ink
Like poetry-treasures and good books to drink
Like lingering over a page-stunning tableau
Mesmerized by the sheer surprise of the show
Like finding a friend when we least expect it
So, then we just sit and enjoy for a bit
Before paper-thin farewells, page-turned appease
Dictional echoes and deferred fantasies
As we turn to tangible matters of fact
Like laundry-mountains and dirty dishes stacked
Like love-letters penned by those still near and dear
We thank God for joy’s wonders right now, right here

© Janet Martin

For pleasures made possible because of ink
Like poetry-treasures and good books to drink
Like lingering over a page-stunning tableau...


For spring birds returning after winter spent...

For blue heavens crowning earth’s dust-covenant
Of seedtime and harvest, cold, heat, night and day...



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...

💖💖💖

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 wonder💖


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.



Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Handful of Seeds?

 



For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),
write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.


It doesn’t make sense that something so little and brittle should kindle such joy
The rush of elation roused by contemplation of what waits within its employ
Of places to wander and graces to ponder as wonder its plunder beholds
Completely breath taken by what will awaken, that raindrop and sun-kiss unfolds

Each April as surely and sweetly and purely as winter’s traces disappear
A feeling comes stealing, nay, reeling and pealing like bells tolling in the new year
As seeds for the garden (so seemingly common) then, utterly awe and amaze
And fill heart-recesses with thrilled happiness-es that spill into anthems of praise

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward
The way that a kernel begets virgin, vernal abundance of goodness outpoured
Instilled with cool bowers, bright rainbows of flowers, provision for needs great and small
So little and brittle, ah, handful of miracles; Perhaps it makes sense after all

© Janet Martin

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward...





the fruit of our labour's reward...