Showing posts with label worry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worry. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Of Highs and Lows (aka as Life's Arpeggio)


Life is full of highs and lows...
High; a wonderful time at a ladies Christmas brunch on Saturday morning


Low; extremely high winds on Saturday afternoon destroyed our play-center/swing-set


this loss is small in scale compared to the destruction of the tornadoes in Kentucky
but its disappointing all the same!

Another glorious sunrise!

'The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody
The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery'

The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody
The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery
Life’s gain and loss an albatross of mingled joy and strife
As seasons surge and moments merge into a song of life

The stroke is swift that snuffs the gift from morning’s gleaming wick
The string that tunes spring afternoons is soon cut to the quick
And a new page becomes the stage for faith’s arpeggio
Where He who grants its song and dance will never let us go

Look up; the cup that overflows with highs and lows is held
With utter care and God knows where and how each drop will meld
Like notes, into the rush and woo of holding and release
Each rise and fall and beck and call part of life's Masterpiece


© Janet Martin

...and in our lows we are reminded in Luke 12:22-31
Do Not Worry
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 
what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 
23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 
24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;
 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 
25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]?
 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. 
Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 
28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, 
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
 how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 
29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 
30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, 
and your Father knows that you need them. 
31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

tots looking at the birds...
'They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;
 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! '

Have a wonder-full day!






Friday, July 16, 2021

One Day/Step At A Time

This poem kinda progressed as the morning unfolded
stunning me afresh with the need to

We would wear ourselves weary with worry, 
but for what good?!
Oh Lord God, rich in mercy, help us trust You 
like we should
Help us to look longer at the lily's attire 
Until fear and pride turn into worship's pure fire

My little 'longer look' at lilies this morning
while pouring out my heart to their Creator/Clothier 








Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 
and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these.
Luke 12:27


Life grants us one day at a time
Then leave to God tomorrow’s dread
For on this ever-present climb
We cannot leap back or ahead

Futile to fret the ‘Yet’ none sees
Where fear and faith ever compete
Better to get down on our knees
And pour our cares at Mercy’s feet

For as we yield, we learn to trust
And as we trust we learn to yield
The love of God is not unjust
He clothes the lilies of the field

God grants us one day at a time
A step-by-gifted-step ascent
He holds the ladder as we climb
Where all we have and hold is lent

Then as we soften our grip
And cling to nothing but His Word
We start to taste the fellowship
That waits in heaven, undeterred

God ministers in 'breath-by-breath'
His purposes, oft unrevealed
While he finetunes the strings of faith 
He clothes the lilies of the field

How flippant is our finest boast
And all that mortal may applaud
How foolish to propose a toast
Blind to the faithfulness of God

Grace grants us one day at a time
Oh, pray that our goal will be
To give God glory as we climb
From time into eternity

© Janet Martin

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The [b]help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43:5

The World tells us to reach within ourselves!
The Word tells us to reach out to God and trust...
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 
and the Word was God.
John 1:1


Monday, July 5, 2021

Conquering Worry's 'What-if'


The dark of night is borne away
and swallowed in the light of day
The dark of life is like this too
If we trust God to see us through




Worry’s ‘what if’ robs us of peace
It crushes us with constant care
And fuels the futile increase
Of anxiety and despair

Worry’ s ’what if’, by God’s kind grace
Through faith’s unfeigned humility
Will help us find our rightful place
Leaning on God on bended knee

Worry’s ‘what if’ is mercy-blind
To He who knows and sees our need
Only a heart fully resigned
Can find the courage to proceed

Worry’s ‘what if’ is hard to bear
It robs us of strength for today
Until we place its burden where
God helps us to trust and obey

Worry’s ‘what if’ is like a noose
That snuffs life’s light with dread’s dark rope
Until we cut agendas loose
And humbly cling to Living Hope

© Janet Martin

And we know that in all things God works for the good 
of those who love him,
who[i] have been called according to his purpose.
Rom.8:28

This verse is not a blanket statement to all humanity; 
but it is a promise to all who love God
and are called according to his purpose!
Pray then, that we confess our sin/pride 
to He who is faithful and just
 to forgive our sins and cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Pray our whole Soul-goal is the first and greatest command
and the second like it...
“’Love the Lord your God 
with all your heart 
and with all your soul 
and with all your strength 
and with all your mind’ 
and,
 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”








Saturday, January 20, 2018

Don't You Dare Be Far Too Happy



 This is today's weather ...above freezing!
Then I checked the forecast and it seemed to exult in warning "don't you dare be far too happy!"

Don’t you dare be far too happy
Sullen naysayer sighs
And holds up doom-and-gloom’s forecast
Beneath sun-smiling skies

Don’t you be too light of heart, love
The darksome cynic warns
And misses the song of the lark
Because he fears the storms

Don’t you dare be far too jolly
The glow’ring grumblers sob
In second cups of woe-is-me
While sunbeams dance and bob

Don’t you be too sure of summer
Broods the blue pessimist
While big sky is full of laughter
And earth is golden heaven-kissed

© Janet Martin


Friday, February 19, 2016

It's Up To Us





We can wallow in the quagmire of doubt, failure and despair
Or recognize our brokenness and yield to God in prayer

We can flounder in the quicksand founded in fear’s futile plight
Or we can cling to the lifeline of faith fixed beyond our sight

We can tumble with the tempest or surrender, safe, secure
Believing in God's promises and thus through Him endure

We can worry ‘bout the morrow and the sorrow it may bring
Or choose not to borrow trouble but trust God in everything

© Janet Martin

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Of Unforeseens





The Unforeseen hovers between what is and what will be
Its certainty and mystery trembles; how far away?
We touch this place of present Grace and opportunity
For what will be is much too much to try to bear today

The Unforeseen is a thought-sheen of hope and fear and faith
It twists within the heart; a mist, intangible yet sure
How easily our Want transforms hungers gossamer wraith
Where free-fall of Time’s fortune cannot one moment secure

The Unforeseen soon fills ‘has-beens’ and countless yesterdays
We cannot shoulder its duress and peace and happiness
And what tomorrow holds will in God’s time unfold its ways
Today is quite enough to fill with our humanness

The Unforeseen will spill with green and gray, pitch-black and gold
It tests our understanding of goodness, faith, hope and love
Yet, when It comes it will not be too much for God to hold
For then and only then will He His utmost power prove

© Janet Martin

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Those 'What-if' Bullies






The solitude of quiet thought
Can be a sweet and tender bliss
Unless we stray and tread the path
Of monster-shaped, ruthless ‘what-ifs’

The what-ifs’ lunge and jeer and leer
Leaping from unexpected dips
A bully-whisper in our ear
Quenching the laughter on our lips

Oh, we do well to guard our thought
Forbidding it to wander where
These demons wait to mutilate
Our hope with visions of despair

And in thought’s quiet solitude
When what-ifs threaten their torment
How sweet to know that God is good
We walk in moments He has sent

The what-ifs that will come to be
Must first pass through His hands above
To dwell in ‘what-if’ misery
Is thus to doubt His faithful love

The solitude of quiet thought
Can be a sweet, tranquil retreat
If we surrender what is not
And place our ‘what-ifs’ at Love’s feet

© Janet Martin

 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isa. 41:10

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deut. 31:6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3: 5-6

Monday, July 16, 2012

The Seemingly Impossible




It would be easy to be buried
By the mountains which loom about
The mountains of dirty laundry
Of longing, of fear, of doubt
There are mountains of work and worry
Of bills needing to be paid
Of broken, waiting for repair
Or healing; there are mountains we’ve made…

But then, suddenly I remember
The words Jesus spoke tenderly
‘If we have faith, as a mustard seed
Mountains can be moved to the sea’
So I cling to that grand Invisible
I cannot touch or feel
And by it the seemingly impossible
Becomes conceivably real

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Moment on Moments...



Flickers of joy
Shadows of sorrow
Live in today
And not in tomorrow
Why tarnish the present
With uncertainty?
Worry is the employer
Of futility
A thief of moments
Forever lost
For tomorrows bridges
Have never been crossed
And tomorrow’s battles
Have never been won
So live in the moment
Before it is gone

© Janet Martin

 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34