On Keepin' Our Chins Up and Keepin' the Faith

All those proverbs and clichés we spout are proof of what life has always been about;

living and learning through life’s troubles and our mistakes.

Keeping our chins up, when the going gets tough, the tough get going,

because it’s always darkest before the dawn

so we just keep on keeping on

because tomorrow’s another day

and every cloud has a silver lining

and if a stitch in time didn’t save nine

we put more water in the soup ‘cause there’s better days a-comin’!

 What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.

Eccles.1:9

 

Seems we’re never at the end of earnin’ some new learnin’

But the greatest of these, love, just keeps us all returnin’

Pedal to the middle, oh, and old nose to the grindstone

Countin’ blessin’s darlin’, workin’ fingers to the bone

Seems life never tires of the curve ball and the cutter

Work a whole harder for a bit of bread an’ butter

Pray a whole lot longer for a seed of faith to cling to

Come what may the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you

What won’t break us makes us stronger, but don’t try to borrow

That which breaks the donkey’s back (don't worry ‘bout tomorrow)

Strive toward the one reward, jubilant and fervent

Face to face with Christ the Lord, “well done, faithful servant”

© Janet Martin

 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matt. 6:34

Always Something (to remind us)

...the 'flooded basement' saga continues (see previous posts)

Trying to find the root of the problem. Day one did not. 

It only made a mess of our poor neighbour's field!

I feel so bad. 

Tonight when I thanked Washing-machine Fixer for coming long after most people's days are in,

 I admitted that the knot in my stomach will be there til the other problem gets solved... 

Not quite as neat, tidy or inexpensive as changing a leaky hose!

 

Always something to remind us life is full of dreams upset

Full of roads sometimes unwanted, that we have not journeyed yet

Full of new ways to surprise us like a roller-coaster ride

Highs and lows, good-byes and hellos thwarting travel-plans mid-stride

Always something to remind us life runs rife with simple joys

Sunrise spills its morning glory over all that it employs

Where the flipside of sheer wonder is time’s hunger, hurt and grind

And the trouble that will find us to remind us to be kind

Always something to remind us of new ways to trust God more

Where, after what lies behind us makes us gladder than before

Then thought turns an eye more tender to a fellow-trav’lers needs

When the heart learns to surrender to the One who intercedes

Always something to remind us there is Beauty all around 

 Disappointment’s let-down sets the stage for triumph’s battle-ground

Teaching us to count our blessings that perhaps we had ignored

And remember it’s the long-run that we ought to strive toward

© Janet Martin

for some strange reason this song keeps going around in my head today...

could it have something to do with water, maybe?😏

Soon Simply Memories...

Simply Memories...

some we savour and try to slow down 

and some we shoo away with a mop and broom as fast as we can!

What a start to the year! 

We celebrated with a flood of family and friends...and water!

 It was a most memorable New Year's Eve indeed!

Monday night's downpour turned what started as a relaxed evening into a race against a river!

 What a nightmare!

... from approx. 2-3:30 a.m. was the worst;

after everyone left we realized the water that was rushing in through the floor drain was picking up speed, and gaining on the sump pump, and the lower part of the basement was going to overflow which meant the whole basement would be flooded so Jim and I lugged pails and pails and pails of water up the steps, pouring it out the window...
we felt like sailors trying to keep the ship afloat!
But it was worth the effort and finally the gush released some of the pressure and the pump is keeping up so far; yes, it is STILL running in.

Now we need to call Mr. Fix It to get to the 'root' of the problem!

...around midnight the men are trying to attach all the hoses 

we can find to take the water as far from the house as possible!

The red quilt was a bit of a dam to channel it into the lower basement to where the pump is.

Well, I can't wait til this whole 'event' is simply part of 'remember when?'

How soft and swift time’s daily gift

Of bend-and-lift unwinds

The color wheel that sets adrift

The pictures in our minds

How smooth and suave, morn’s pink and mauve

And high noon’s sun-lit bars

Slip, like a crimson disc far-off

Into a vault of stars

How tried and true time’s sky-wide blue

Grows dim and disappears

Always adding a new day to

One’s view of yester-years

How shadow-lined our frames of mind

Fill wall-less galleries

With pictures of days left behind

Simply called Memories

© Janet Martin

Because Some Days We Miss and Happy New Year

 Take a bow

Here's to a year 

of making the most 

of Now and Here

this picture is my New Year's Tradition;

A picture of a greeting card my grandparents received many years ago.

 

Because some days we miss, it seems

A blip of busyness and dreams

Before they meld to misty reams

On sentimental seas

Because some days we miss so much

A perfect blend of taste and touch

That hastes through have and hold and such

Into fond memories

Oh, stippled stairs of hugs and prayers

Of love-you, miss-you, tugs and cares

Of tending-spending-mending flares

That fade on dusky west

To reignite upon the east

Because some days we miss the Feast

That begs the beauty from a beast

That roars with toil and test

….and teaches us the crucial art

Of life’s most elemental part

Love challenges both hand and heart

With hunger and hooray

And reminds us to humbly peer

Into the nimble Now and Here

Because some days we miss more, dear

After they slip away

© Janet Martin