With Whisper and Heave-ho or On The Bright Side

Well, on the bright side, I said to myself, after some recent turn-of-events,

At this point I will never be tempted as in the parable of the rich fool, to say

"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;

take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry"

 Luke 12:13-21

 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,

 and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Matt.6:26-27

Time is a troubadour etching its verses

Into the fabric of wish-weathered strife

His hearty hunger never reimburses

That which becomes the sum of love and life

We choose the attitudes whereby we carry

Worship or worry into dawn’s domain

While with each whisper and heave-ho we bury

That which will never pass this way again

Change is a constant but so is God’s mercy

Trust is a prayer-warrior oft put to test

Hearts are both battle-grounds and humble havens

Cherishing comforts, accepting the rest

© Janet Martin

Break of Day

 This Time of year we have front-row seats to break of day!

We rouse to watch dawn draw away

Dark, vaulted, velvet hold of stars

To splay on earth’s east fringe, flushed bars

That ushers in the break of day

Through far-off floodgates pours God’s might

That none can dam, detain or thwart

Across shorelines of hope and hurt

Proceeds a tidal wave of Light

Through streets of snow the workers go

Where through much change much stays the same

In ups and downs, smiles, frowns, praise, blame

In more-we-learn-the-less-we-know

Til this; the kiss-and-tell of time

Takes everybody by surprise

While we marvel at death’s disguise

Rose-ribboned dust of rhythm and rhyme

…oft jolted by matters of fact

Borne in hands work-worn, eyes tear-starred

Where aftermath, toil-soiled, hurt-scarred

Still leaves God’s promises intact

© Janet Martin

Shameless Confession

p-s-s-s-t...here is a glimpse of 'him' and all before noon... on a Monday!!!

Mind you there were some messier, not photo-ed shots as well, like

'let's shake my sippy cup til its empty while Grandma's on the phone trying to solve some of the world's problems, then let's splash! 

and, let's see how many marbles fit in my mouth

(also while Grandma was on the phone, round two, dealing with round one 'reason'😐)

(yes, grandma should know better than giving a toddler marbles but we had great fun with them til I turned my back and he climbed up to where Grandma had set the jar, she thought, safely,

so a think-twice lesson for her/me!)

Still, I'm shamelessly in love with a 'guy' that does not let me down easy,

does not save me from my choices 

but grants lots of second-dances and new-day romances, 

mostly with messes without roses

so, you might be thinking this poem is going to be about my grandson, but it's not really...
he, along with everyone/everything else I love is part of this poem!

Oh, you win me over somewhat like a lover

Woos his beloved, the belle of his dreams

For I am a maiden easily betaken

With the love-language of meadows and streams

Oh, write me a river that winds ‘neath the shiver

Of poplar-quiver, silver in the sun

Play me an evening of long shadows leaning

Against the hill where the wild geldings run

Strum me a serenade better than Mozart played

Simple seduction of wind-tousled trees

Darling, I am betrothed to your melody clothed

In common threads of almost-memories

Oh, you win be over with pom-poms of clover

Tassels of goldenrod, star-veneered snow

Let’s take the long way home through the lines of a poem

Let’s linger longer and not hurry so

Oh, there is no Mundane Monday with you, honey

Money can't purchase what you and I have

You will be faithful and I will be grateful

You will be truthful and I will (try to) be brave

Amiable Romeo, my, but I love you, oh

Your touch tells me more than ‘much words’ can say

Father Time, what a fool I’d be to play it cool

I’ll fall in love with you every day

© Janet Martin

More Than A Weather Warning

 For the past week the red 'BE ALERT' caution bar has flared continuously

 on the weather network with storm and temperature warnings!

 Imagine if the blue sky flashed with red warning-bars
 or a stop watch to let us know the The Day and The Hour!

But 'no man knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in Heaven or the Son himself.

Only the Father knows!'

Matt.24:36

Be alert, stay on your guard

The hurt and work of life is hard

Pay earnest heed to what you hear

The Word of God is truth, my dear

A solid Rock on which to rest

For time is delicate at best

Vapour of mist that disappears

Into the blue of yesteryears

So be alert, in deed and thought

For the end comes when we think not

© Janet Martin

The Word of God is filled with loving and earnest caution 

for us to be alert

kinda like 'whether warnings'; whether we are paying attention to what matters most!

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matt 26:41

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come. 

Matt.24:42

So be on your guard! Remember that for three years

 I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Acts 20:31

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Heb.2:1

My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment.

Prov.3:21

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Luke 21:36

Here's Hoping!

 Last night Jim said (while we were watching the All-star Game being played in San Jose, 

while adding logs to the fire to ward of the deep chill from the north)
that he wishes we could move to San Jose and leave this bitter cold behind for good.
 I replied if he moves that would be very sad indeed because
 I am so glad to live in a climate that grants four true seasons, 

so he would be moving all by himself.😀

(no more just chillin' side-by side like two old love-birds)

Then Judy's post this morning added perfect YES-seasoning to

some tids and bits simmering in my poem-pot...

Here's hoping we love each season for what it lends,

because everything in life is but a season!

Here’s hoping we learn to accept what life sends

And love every season for beauty it lends

And never let longing give leave to destroy

With want’s inward pining, today’s would-be joy

Here’s hoping the orchard in winter’s white tress

Rings with sparkling echoes of spent happiness

While wild, the wind whistles up one street then down

Where trees like stark thistles shape harvest’s ghost-town

Here’s hoping we treasure Time’s measure of sand

Aware that whatever we hold in our hand

Is but for a season, like the flowers that bloom

While we cherish, not worship, what none can exhume

Spring; heaven for dreamers with restless bare feet

Summer; like a song of long days, toil sun-sweet

Autumn; awed awareness of Time tender truce

Winter; slows the dreamer once young and footloose

Here’s hoping we learn to let go when we must

To live for far more than Time’s loaned dust-to-dust

To look for the good in each day that God sends

And love every season for Beauty it lends

© Janet Martin

 To every thing there is a season, 

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Eccles.3:1