Joy's Awesome Alloy; Emmanuel, 'God With Us'

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: 

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isa.7:14

 

What joy we find through Jesus

Too great to fully tell

Abiding Hope; ‘God with us’

 What love! Emmanuel

God with us and God for us

In Him love will not fail

Though the world wars against us

God’s promise will prevail

Never alone; His Spirit

To comfort, guide, reprove

And all who humbly hear it

Find peace and joy and love

What joy for all believers

Nothing can take the place

Of Hope we find in Jesus

Through love’s redeeming grace

Then sing! None can replace Him

Let earth and heaven blend

As hearts and voices praise Him

In worship without end

© Janet Martin

December Decoupage

 This morning at first glance it seemed the Painter's tray

 was filled with colors like drab, dreary, bleak...

 ...but on closer look. wow! look at all those colors in this decoupage!

and glass-rhinestone garnished trees!

 ...feathered sketches

The splurge of snow that fell the other day becomes a sea

Of puddle-mirrors; a gray shawl is tossed across the lea

The sodden leaves, like russet decoupage pressed to earth’s heart

Soft-stirs the downcast gaze with Beauty’s undefeated art

Where the easel that holds the canvas that unfolds each while

Always showcases Something that reflects the Painter’s smile

To rouse within the nature of our very human ways

A glorious sense of wonder and a humble hymn of praise

© Janet Martin

But, if we are feeling a little 'gray' here's why! (click link)

Commemoration AND Expectation!

I began a load of laundry and other house-holdish chores when rat-a-tat-tat, 

somewhere beneath my ribs and in my head a song began to beg Existence!

Night's noose of dread and weariness is cut loose by Morning's Star!

Hallelujah!

 

Rejoice, hope's celebration

Is more than we can see

Sacred commemoration

Joined with expectancy

Hope, heaven’s holy hunger

Hope, hunger’s holy prayer

It fills the heart with wonder

In spite of earthy care

It keeps us looking forward

Whilst still remembering

It mingles joy with sorrow

And paupers with a King

Come join the celebration

Where hope, true joy imparts

The candle of the nation

Resides in human hearts

As Love convicts the sinner

Yet sets its captive free

For Love sent a deliverer

To ransom you and me

So now Commemoration

And Expectation meet

In joyful celebration

Before we kiss Love’s feet

© Janet Martin

With Faces Turned From Fear...Advent Hymn

And I’m telling you: When we dash one person’s light — we dash a world of light,

 because we tend to pass on our pain, instead of passing the peace.

Ann Voskamp

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: 

for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; 

he also is become my salvation.

Isa.12:2

...and here Hope begins!

The Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” 

perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

While Israel would have sung the song in expectation of Christ’s first coming,
the church now sings the song in commemoration of that first coming
and in expectation of the second coming in the future. 

excerpt from What is Advent

With faces turned from fear

To Bethlehem they sped

There shepherds beheld Hope so dear

Laid in a manger-bed

With faces turned from fear

Repentance and belief

Bestow the joy of Jesus here

To comfort pain-shame-grief

With faces turned from fear

To Bethlehem we turn

Where hope abides to gently cheer

And grant what none can earn

With faces turned from fear

Toward Hope’s glorious Light

Salvation sweetens sorrow's tear

Until faith becomes sight  

With faces turned from fear

Though evil’s army seethes

It cannot conquer Peace so near

That Hope in God bequeaths

With faces turned from fear

Toward Hope’s glorious Door

‘til Jesus Christ will re-appear

And reign forevermore

© Janet Martin

Why I Am Still Awake...

Too much to tell before the bell of midnight chimes time's solemn toll

And all the walls that wore thin shawls of noonday skin are black as coal

And all the days of golden haze and green-grass chaise and gorgeous bloom

Have fallen prey to charcoal gray and strewn like ash to Bygone’s tomb

Too much to do before the hue of aural blue turns velvet black

Before the sweep that always keeps the moments scattered in its track

Before the door to Nevermore swings shut and turns what is to naught

And all we hear of This, my dear, is echoes in a world of thought

Too much to touch and taste and see where daylight dims too soon, it seems

And most of what we have and hold is tendered to yesterday’s dreams

And places too far-off to reach because of midnight’s soulful knell

As tomorrow becomes today and today turns into farewell

Too much to learn and teach and earn and preach and praise and warn and pray
...before the dusk is like a husk after morn-noon is shucked from day
Too much to live-laugh-love and let go, before oh, the hug-tug-war
Where soon the air will wear the whispers of what was but is no more

© Janet Martin