Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Once More The Break of Day




Where like a bloom sheds bud’s dark brace, once more the break of day
Unfolds the flower of God’s grace to cheer us on our way








Once more the break of day extols God’s mercies, ever new
And sets beneath feet bearing souls, Time’s beaming avenue
Where hope hoists up its sail upon frail vessels made of dust
As we, like blind men trace the braille of humble faith and trust

Ahoy, ahoy, where sorrow-sacred joy buoys the heart
Where winds of change oft rearrange the courses that we chart
Where like a bloom sheds bud’s dark brace, once more the break of day
Unfolds the flower of God’s grace to cheer us on our way

Our Captain, like a father delights in giving good gifts
So we cling to His lifeline lest our sight-prone vessel drifts
And misses, at the end of days, the goal of Heaven’s shore
As we step out of vessels into Soul’s Forevermore

© Janet Martin



Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Because Not Everything That Glitters Is Gold


Desire without knowledge is not good—
 how much more will hasty feet miss the way!
Prov.19:2

I got this cute little box filled with sweets from a friend for my birthday...I agree, 
Life is a beautiful 'ride' but certainly not without hills, spills, bumps and bruises!
...and oh, those hasty leaps that we have a long time after to recover/learn from😐
Where would we be without a patient and merciful Father?!

Desire without knowledge is disaster’s recipe
This life is like a college, for students of vast degree
To leap without first looking is a sad way to crash-land
We should learn how to study with a shovel in our hand

The broken road we traverse is stream-lined with white-flagged graves
The surface of the Present does not showcase battles braved
Or how surrender, after stubborn will tenders its strife
Hoists up a tear-stained trophy, scarred with Want’s hard knocks of life

The fortune of our follies, love, can cause us to despair
But Mercy is a patient Father; none else can compare
And though the leap we took without first looking yields its fruit
God helps us (if we trust) to work it out for our good

….where we learn, after leaping that reaping is bittersweet
And anything worth keeping is not found on Easy Street
That the harvest of haste does not taste at all like we planned
…the sparkles of Desire like a big, mouthful of sand

© Janet Martin



Monday, June 24, 2019

Hard-fought Victory

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. 
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, 
how great is that darkness!
Matt.6:23


Sometimes Mondays feel like its 'back to the boxing ring', right?!
Punch, jab, kick, goes life... 
hard to be eager for what a new week holds if ill-equipped!


Life/love is full of hard-aches, some beyond our control and some Self-inflicted😒🙃

Hard to see the beauty if the charge of Duty blinds
Hard to feel Hope’s gladness if the weight of worry binds
Hard to hear the music over noise of greed or fear
Hard to smell the roses if we never pause, my dear

Hard, hard to be happy if we serve the lord of self
Hard to know the truth if God’s word sits upon a shelf
Hard to taste life’s sweetness yet harbor a bitter grudge
Hard to love our neighbour if first we decide to judge

Hard to walk in Light where Guilt looks for the dark to hide
Hard to truly love if heart of hearts is filled with pride
Hard to help the needy with hands full of miser’s blood
Hard to find peace in this wicked, old world without God

© Janet Martin


Saturday, June 22, 2019

Because Love Is Not a Walk in the Park...


 When love is 'performed' out of sheer Duty
It is a thorn void of joy's Beauty





The cost of love can drain the glove where pleasure’s prize is pain
Yet love keeps no account of wrongs but simply loves again
The way we are can scar the best of good intention, oh
With proof that we all need Love’s blood-bought grace whereby we go
…and remind us how much we owed but Love braved and forgave
To free us from the clutches of a long and hellish grave

Oh God, failure would be a weight that drives us to despair
For Thought can play tricks to enslave us to dread’s gloomy lair
But Thou, Creator God, art greater than torment of fear
Your Hope in all love’s heartache is an anchor for its tear
Where agony of sorrow, when love seems to fail somehow
Is healed a little as we reach to touch Thy thorn-pierced brow

Ah, Love; sometimes the masquerade of loud and flashy frauds
Seduces us to lust after the glut of lesser gods
But there is only One through Whom Love was, is and will be
And God will prove in time enough, His authenticity
For He is Love, and all who love (His face hid by Time’s veil)
Bear witness to kind proof of He whose Law will never fail

Therefore, no matter what may lie before us (or behind)
Love soothes the soul with mercies everlasting, ever kind
Where all that we encounter is an opportunity
To place our bodies on the altar of humility
And offer Self as living sacrifice to He who gave
Himself in perfect love to free us from hate’s hellish grave

‘There is no fear in love’ oh God, drive out the foe of thee
Who seeks to lure us from the comfort of Love’s Surety
And screams bold accusations to we, all broken at best
Where we could be persuaded to believe the devil’s lies
And be intimidated by The Vile Accuser’s cries

…but for the holy confidence in love of God alone
Where cost of love can drain the needy glove of flesh and bone
But never can annul the miracle performed within
Where Love redeemed the convict and forgave us every sin
And broke the chains that Hope maintains until that Solemn Day
When love, God’s love at last will have the perfect, final say

© Janet Martin

and a good read here on love' Love is not whatever you want it to be...



 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, 
God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
 1 John 4:12

Friday, June 21, 2019

Prayer-Stair


 Here's to that sacred work of Stair-building...

A mother’s prayers could pave a stairway to the moon and through the stars
For cares of love can press so hard where happiness is full of scars
The child that makes Her laugh and weep in that quick leap to woman, man
Can prime a mother’s heart with prayer like nothing else in this world can
Where time is never kind enough to satisfy its thirst for tears
Where modern-day Goliaths still test David-faith with taunting fears
Where she must often reach to touch the hem of grace to heal the void
That began when each newborn left Her deeply awed and overjoyed
Where she will never know the freedom she does not ever desire
Where, as they grow she feels the tug that keeps the Torch of prayer a-fire
And Hope must bind Her heart and mind or else how could she bear the Must
That unravels a maze of ways to teach Her how to Simply Trust

© Janet Martin  

 After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. 26 “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. 27 I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. 28 Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they[h] worshiped the Lord there.

1 Sam.1:25-28