Content (A Prayer)

The message at my mother-in-law's funeral yesterday

filled my sorrow-worn heart with comfort as we

'press toward the mark for the prize 

of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Phil.3:14

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

 For we brought nothing into the world,

 and we can take nothing out of it.

1 Tim.6:6-7

As I listened I was impacted by a wonder-filled wave

of comfort, joy and gratitude for the enough-ness of God's Word!

It inspired a prayer for contentment...

Lord, today before we embark toward its setting sun

And press anew toward the mark for the prize not yet won

Lord, grant us eyes to see Your Hand and ears to hear Your voice

And hearts content to understand faith's reasons to rejoice

Content to trust the measure of Your ever-present care

Content to count Your perfect love worth every cross we bear

Content to comfort sorrow's pleas with promises to claim

Content to fall upon our knees and call upon Your name

Content to live a hymn of praise for Your kind faithfulness  

Content to commit all our ways to You; You cheer and bless 

Content to know You will not cease throughout eternity 

That you will keep in perfect peace each mind stayed upon Thee

Content to satisfy Want's thirst from wellsprings of Your word

Content where daybreak's bowers burst with mercies undeterred  

Content, because Your grace bridges the depths of death and hell

Content because your Word's riches no tallying can tell 

Content because better than gold, is the joy of You, Lord

Content because we know You hold Time's vulnerable cord

Content because You hold the key to happiness unfurled

Without You reigns depravity though we gain all the world  

Content to strive to imitate Divine Humility 

To be obedient, though great the cross and cost may be

Content to know without a doubt what You say You will do

Content to make today about eternity with You 

Content to live to give you all honor and glory, oh

Forgive me, Lord, sometimes I fall prey to Self, as You know 

Content because Your love is true, your Word is too, and then

Content because greater are You than anything. Amen 

  © Janet Martin

The song below is comforting too...

Wish You Were Here

 

When We All Get To Heaven | Official Music Video | Redeemed Quartet

Death Wakens Awareness....To Life/Love

It is a season of mourning in our family...

 Now we bid fond earthly farewell

to James's (my husband's) beloved 93 year old mother,

who passed away on Friday.

(obituary HERE)

How we will miss her,

but how we rejoice that she is released from her

weary and worn out body.

Dear mother,

No more precious shared lunches and coffees and chats...

or birthday celebrations

or being greeted by your sweet, welcoming smile

from your chair where you delighted in watching birds

and people come and go.

No more hardships for you, dear mother!

Your chair is empty...

Once again death rouses awareness...

Death, is a Certain Doorway through which all will disappear

A sacred, solemn, Supreme Inevitability

And when its Immutable Must summons one near and dear

It tunes Thought to Time's Holy Lease hinged to eternity

Death wakens re-awareness to the gift of Here and Now

It spotlights love's track-record forged by what we do and say

And brings us boldly face to face with ourselves, somehow

And Precious Opportunity afforded in Today

Death stirs in us a sense of so much more than meets the eye

The Part no lens can captivate, and knowledge cannot quell 

It bids us ponder somberly love's breath-by-breath reply

To He who gave himself to break the curse of death and hell  

Death rouses us to look at life and its impending goal

It begs for answers to questions none should flee or ignore   

'What doth it profit us to gain the world and lose our soul?

And who can carry anything through death's leveling Door?

Death wakens fresh awareness to the preciousness of 'us' 

And how it is a privilege to live to give and share

Each others joys and sorrows;  then, rather than fret and fuss

Or point accusing fingers, to fold them in thankful prayer 

 © Janet Martin

1 Cor.15:53-58

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 

and this mortal must put on immortality.

 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption,

and this mortal has put on immortality, 

then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:

 “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O[n] Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, 

be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work 

of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Awaiting the Transfiguration...

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

 And what does the LORD require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy

 and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Far fairer than the beauty of the bloom that steals the show...

(The hardy hollyhock steals the show in November 💗)

The sunrise as it fills east-skies with color-feasts unfurled

The solace of the countryside in twilight's afterglow

Far fairer than the beauty of the bloom that steals the show

The sunrise as it fills east-skies with color-feasts unfurled

The solace of the countryside in twilight's afterglow

Or gardens silver-dazzled, each frond frost-rain-dew-drop pearled

Or autumn's glory transcending poetic eloquence

Or fleeting fame and fortune's pedestal, precarious

Far finer, nobler, priceless, precious, is the diligence 

Of all whose footsteps etch in daily dust, unbeauteous     

Kind second miles and detours that no world-stage will applaud

A legacy of seemingly small and forgotten deeds 

Enough to love mercy, act justly, walk humbly with God  

Awaiting the transfiguration of love's scattered seeds

© Janet Martin

I am among the Walking Blessed these days...

blessed by so many continued comforting messages and deeds of kindness!

No wonder Jesus said 'Blessed are those who mourn'!

Nothing Is Mine Alone Save This...

Lest I harbour an unforgiving spirit,

Lest I forget whose love and grace grants what I consider 'mine',

Lest I grow greedy, self-serving/reliant, proud, bitter, 

Lord open my eyes and remind me,

The only thing that is mine 

is my reply to You

for all You have given/done for me

On Sunday we were challenged to contemplate our

response, attitude and gratitude for forgiveness

Click HERE and then click Nov. 10 service

for beautiful baptism testimonies, 

and meaningful message!

Mark 11:26

But if ye do not forgive, 

neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Lord, you forgive, You bore my shame/blame

Not one sin saved to damn 

Then Lord, help me in the same way

To forgive fellowman  

May these words forever strike a chill to our undying souls,

'I will not forgive'

Thy handiwork and love, my awe...

Dear Lord,

Remind me, what is 'mine' is Thine

All that First Glances own

Are but gifts from Thy Hand divine

Nothing is 'mine' alone

Save Thy forgiveness for my sin

Thy Presence for my fear

Thy Love, my stubborn will to win

Thy Word, my hope and cheer

Thy promises, my faith's delight

My joy, Thy grief achieved

Thy death for my eternal life

The hour I believed

Thy rod and staff to comfort me

Thy pardon for my debt

Thy mercy, my humility

Thy grace for my regret

Thy life for mine; Thy life-blood shed

Thy prayer-groaned/honed albatross

'Father forgive'; Thyself instead

Of me upon the cross 

Thy penance for my reckoning

My power by Thy Name

My reply to Thy beckoning

Is all that I can claim

Thy handiwork and love, my awe

Thy Righteousness, my peace

No hope have I save by Thy law

That anchors my release

From death and hell, My freedom sealed

By Thy decree divine 

My brokenness, by Thy Wounds healed

All that I have is Thine 

So, when my erring attitude

Forgets Thy goodness, then

Correct my lack of gratitude

As You see fit. Amen

© Janet Martin

I've shared the songs below many times

because I love them!

There Is A Fountain With Lyrics By Selah

Forgiven-Crowder

Come As You Are-Crowder

Soul-dier's Charge/ Challenge!

Remembrance Day: Last Post and Reveille

Someday a universal Last Post/ Last Trump will sound

begging these questions...

To what ending do we labour,

Shoulder burdens, laugh and weep

Keep the faith and love our neighbor

Rise and shine and go to sleep

To what purpose do we reason

Weathering life's highs and lows

Persevering through each season

Bearing one another's woes

To whose command do we cater

Left foot, right foot, on and up

Does the grave or something/One Greater

Drain life's Intangible Cup

To what finish do we struggle?

What good is the bad we bear?

What makes worth earth's toil and trouble?

What makes lucrative its care?

To what Triumph do we rally?

Braving sorrow's bitter sting

What makes bearable the valley

To what Promise can Hope cling? 

For what profit do we suffer?  

What makes the Prize worth the fight?

What is dark foreboding's buffer?

What defends deferred delight? 

What Cause rouses us from slumber?

What fuels faith's Sacred Charge

What use are tears without number?

Is prayer but a drifting barge?

Is joy but what this world offers?

Always death's impending prey? 

Is wealth but cold, gold-lined coffers

By ill Fate's stroke borne away?

Or, is God's love, life's ambition?

Is  His Promise worth the price?

Is His Reward worth the Mission

His love worth the sacrifice?

Does what-waits-to-be compel us

To trust and be of good cheer

Does the love of God indwell us

Making all the difference here? 

Love helps everybody shoulder

Life, as on and up we plod

Love never fails any Soul-dier

Who has put his/her trust in God

Love's Call of Duty is wending

Warriors God-ward, undeterred

To a Beginning,  unending

Eye has not seen nor ear heard 

Then with valiant, holy fervor

Spirit armed and gospel shod

Fight the good fight like a Soul-dier

Bringing all glory to God

© Janet Martin

1 Cor. 2:9

it is written:

“No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no heart has imagined,

what God has prepared

 for those who love Him.”b

2 Tim.2:3-5

You therefore must endure[a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, 

that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 

5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, 

he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Like November (or Dancer's Dare)

How it tugs at tender heartstrings; November's bronze-brown-blue-grey...

Suddenly we are all children gazing wide-eyed...

...at the Creator's reminder of love's many-splendored hues

"look! it's raining, marveled the 2 1/2 year old little boy,

as we gazed agape at God's symbol of promise, that without rain, cannot be seen!

How it tugs at tender heartstrings; November's bronze-brown-blue-grey

How it woos Surrender's smarting as fall's fading ballads play

As the sassy zephyr swindles hues of scarlet-yellow-red

As a beloved Maestro dwindles leaf-montages overhead

How we wish time didn't hurry like the homeward trek of feet

Or like leaves that scuttle, scurry and cartwheel 'cross yard and street

How like lonely shepherds, shadows scale the slopes at eventide

How November's sheave-shorn meadows cast a quiet countryside

How the part that balks and reasons rocks the heart with poetry

How the quiescence of the seasons taunts Want's bent of vanity

How the rebel wind rants, reckless, where once rustling cornfields gleamed 

Akin to grief, raw and restless where once winsome Dreamer dreamed 

How the ache of farewells, meted in each fallen leaf, runs wild

Yet, beauty is not defeated; wonder is a laughing child 

Where the canvas of November showcases the Artist's law

Earth, a hearth of dying embers, kindles hearts with unplumbed awe 

Where the sweep of furrows, umber, slumber, green and gold bereft

Where no onlooker can number what remains of autumns left 

Where solitude of November stokes a haunting melody

Strains of 'Nothing stays forever' wafts across the bloom-doffed lea

Autumn's Anthem spills unbidden; how its lyrics lilt and swirl

Suddenly we are all children, universal boy and girl

Gazing wide-eyed, meeker, kinder, at November's stunning dues 

At the Creator's reminder of love's many-splendored hues 

How it tugs at tender heartstrings; sorrow in its finest form 

Hones a sense of hope where Parting, takes the world by golden storm

Loosed Leaf startles grief with gladness, tango of ten-thousand-(thousand) feet 

Dares the Dancer to brave sadness like November, Bittersweet 

© Janet Martin

Parting, takes the world by golden storm...

Daring the Dancer to brave sadness

Song for We Who Often Wonder

As our church family weathers another staggering loss,

pray we are drawn closer to each other in humble faith because

we know God is faithful and righteous in all He does!

God will Take Care of You

Through each moment meting hours

Tuning morning, noon and night

Through each garden filled with flowers

Not yet visible to sight

Through each up and down we weather

Whether foul or fair wind blows

God is faithful through whatever

His perfect purpose bestows

While we oft, in sorrow wonder

At God's ways we cannot know

While we marvel at the thunder

Of His grace, whereby we go

While the ranks of reason wrestle

With thanksgiving tried by tears

God is good and God is faithful

In all His love commandeers

Then, without doubt’s hesitation

Though we do not understand

Praise the Author of salvation

Trust the leading of His hand

 God, rich in mercy invites us

Never to despair because

He is ever good and righteous

And faithful in all He does

© Janet Martin

(below, a passage I have treasured like never before 

in my personal season of sorrow, as well as I weep with

others who weep)

Ps.145:17-19

The Lord is righteous in all his ways

and faithful in all he does.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;

he hears their cry and saves them.

In Need

After You...

Yesterday and today's beauty beg for a Dear Lucy bit o' poem...

Dear Lucy💔💖

How bittersweet to sit at your kitchen table

without you bustling about,

pouring tea and serving far more food

 than one could possibly eat!!

But, seeing you in your daughter

sweetened the bitter ache of missing you so...

Lucy's kitchen window yesterday,

like a framed work of God-art!

Dear Lucy

There will still be love and laughter

Time will still fling wide dawn's door

But death leaves life, ever after

Never like it was before

There will still be hills/thrills and hollows

Much to chase and much to choose

But no matter what still follows

No one will quite fill your shoes

There will still be dreams and dances

Across Mercy's ballroom floor

But a lifetime of fresh chances

Cannot grant what was before

There will still be grace-bent gladness

Memories, precious and new

But, not without pangs of sadness

That death left in place of you

There will still be love and laughter

Hopes to seize and joys to claim

But no matter what comes after

Nothing will be quite the same

Love always,

Janet

View from your driveway...