Friday, July 20, 2012

Today's Friday Thoughts~




I wish to know when I am old
My legacy is not fool’s gold
Treasure stored each day I live
Is not in what I keep, but give

***

How hard it is to pry clenched fists
But harder still to see
The blessing they have surely missed
By clenching vanity

***

‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’
Came Samuel’s firm reply
I wonder what we say to Him
When He calls you and I

***

With i-phones and cell-phones
And head-phones and such
I wonder if we still hear
God very much

***

Moments are the ripples
On life's rising, falling sea
One over takes another 
And is never-more to be

Janet Martin



Authentic Treasure


 

And now we wake
Gladly partake
With no brief hesitation
The good of life
Even its strife
Is not without elation
If we have food enough to eat
And shoes to wear upon our feet
And strength enough with which to meet
Toil’s present expectation

But oh, the bloom
Of grief and gloom
Where laughter turns to crying
Dare we to think
We ought not drink
The gall of anguished sighing
Will we take good but not the rest?
And for ourselves heap up life’s best
While others flounder in its test
Alone, starving and dying?

This is the day
The Lord has made
Not for our passive pleasure
But that we might
His heart delight
By loving without measure
To cast our bread upon the sea
To serve in kind humility
To store in fathomless degree
Love’s everlasting treasure

© Janet Martin


 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job 2:10



Thursday, July 19, 2012

Trusting Completely


Fully, wholly, utterly
Without one reservation
This is how you came to me
Oh, God of all creation

Completely You poured out Your love
The debt of sinners bearing
Lord, teach me then how I may trust
Completely without fearing

© Janet Martin

 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
Why do we doubt the one who made
the earth and all therein
Why do we doubt the one who gave
His life-blood for our sin?
Why do we doubt the one who vowed
His grace is all-sufficient 
Why do we doubt Thee, Holy God
Jehovah, all-omniscient  

Teach me HOW to trust you, oh God


Teach us how to give in complete trust!


Almost Eighteen



It isn’t easy being almost-eighteen
When other pastures are fairer and greener
Than the row that you were given to hoe
It isn’t easy
Being almost-eighteen…
I know

It isn’t easy being almost-eighteen
So many unknowns remaining to be seen
So many doors all seemly barred
So many decisions
And all of them
Hard

It isn’t easy being almost-eighteen
Uncertain of how far or how fearless to dream
As fantasy and reality
Wage debate
Each hovering beyond
The garden gate

It isn’t easy being almost-eighteen
Realizing that life is not ‘but a dream’
And rowing your boat against life’s stiff tide
Is anything but
A ‘merrily, merrily’
Ride

But darling, I’m not sure if any of us really ‘knows’
One foot then the other, that’s the way life goes
No one can see
The next line, the next page
And life is a faith-leap
No matter our age

…and darling, it isn’t easy being forty-six
Swiftly, so swiftly life’s impatient clock ticks
I hold and I reach, I trust and I pray
I learn while I teach
and feel you slipping
away

It isn’t easy, so all we can do
Is ask God day by day to gently lead us through
Whether we are eighteen
Or forty-five
Time is a hungry foe that licks
Away our lives

© Janet Martin


Of Little Everythings



Of ruby lips and fingertips
Alight with eagerness
Of freckle-noses
Dandelion-roses
Contentment’s sweet caress
Of garden walks
Of balled-up socks
Of laundry-laden lines
Of teaching, reaching
Tenderness
From learning’s ageless vines
A wandering, pondering
Beautiful
Through living’s bitter-sweet
And knowing grace
Bestows its trace
In wild-blooms at our feet
Of forgiveness
And gentleness
Of simple-threaded bliss
Of realizing
Heaven’s glimpse
Is surely, purely this…
Ruby child-lips
And fingertips
Alight with eagerness
A mother’s/parent’s joy
Wee girl and boy
Contentment’s sweet caress

© Janet Martin

Matt (our son) asked me last night if I ever do anything. Then he laughed and re-iterated, ‘Well I know you baby-sit and you clean, but do you ever do anything else?! I grinned a little and winked; “h-m-m-m,” I said, “I think I cook once in a while.” He laughed, pondering my response for a moment before going up-stairs to bed.
p.s. Today they were all home and it is much cooler so we walked to the bush for a picnic...It reminded me of when they really were 'wee'...sigh:)


What our children see as ‘nothings’ is a parent’s ‘everything’.






Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A Homemaker's Prayer




Lord, teach me how to build my house
In tender, purpose prove
Compassion and humility
Shaping a home of love

Let my submission be fulfilled
As your wisdom ordains
That peace may brim from floor to roof
In pure, joyous refrains

May others needs preceed my own
May kindness never cease
Lord, mold these walls of brick and stone
Into Your masterpiece

Lord, let me serve in thankfulness
And gladness be my crown
Lest by sad, stubborn selfishness
I tear earth’s haven down

Lord, teach me how to build my house
Not of my own design
May it be heav’n’s foreshadowing
Through your blueprint divine

Lord, teach me how to build my house
A simple dwelling place
In wood and mortar skin on earth
Of heaven’s kind embrace

© Janet Martin 

 The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands. Prov. 14:1




This is Prayer




These are not just fleeting notions
Or some passing thought we feel
These are groaned pleas of confession
Making His forgiveness real

These are tender humble whispers
For safe-keeping in His care
These are trembling exaltations
As we praise Him; this is prayer

It’s a constant, keen awareness
A servant-hood that we embrace
As we recognize His mercy
In the outpouring of grace

It’s a kind, faithful enabling
Through life’s disappointing strains
This is prayer; complete entrusting
As his Spirit fills, sustains

His grace provides in moment-measure
Over all, His love prevails
This is prayer, constant communion
With the One who never fails

© Janet Martin

My grace is sufficient for Thee. 2 Cor. 12:9

Living Moment to Moment...


                                                ~As drops fill a sea so moments fill a life~

Poetic Bloomings gives us permission to borrow someoneelse's line in Hey, That's my line'

*Taken from Walt J. Wojtanik's Living Day-to-Day synchronicity poem

*Within every waking moment,
the gift of life is heaven sent.*
So if we learn to cherish moments
We will learn to be content

We cannot see the trickle
Of Time’s elemental force
But we can feel its whispers tracing
Our temporal discourse

Within every waking moment*
Trembles possibility
Gift of life, oh fleeting morsel
Full of opportunity

We cannot preserve its tenure
Tick by tock its measure slips
As we touch and taste the treasure
Flowing from Time’s gracious lips

Within every waking moment,
the gift of life is heaven sent.*
Oh God, I vow to cherish it
The gift of life that you have lent

© Janet Martin