The Autumn of Middle Age or Of Modern Day Trade Winds...

Someone just a few years ahead of me, reassured me before I turned sixty,

that the sixties are not Old Age yet, but the Autumn or sunset years of middle age...

I rather like that perspective! 

A modern-day trade wind doth blow and scatters leaves like saffron snow

And trades vistas of woodland-green for vermilion and scarlet sheen

Once upon summer's yesterday we thought that it was here to stay

Oh, how we laughed in the sunshine that kisses cheeks and rustles vines

Till a chill trade-wind blew and drew us from its sun-warm avenue

Autumn, with startling hues and cheers, frees a fresh train of pioneers

Bidding them slow the hurried pace that seems to hound the human race

Until Trade-winds as old as time waken prospects past youth's fair prime

....making us humbler in our stance and more aware of what life grants

So we kick off our dancing shoes and kneel on ground, rich with adieus 

Then wag our heads 'aha, aha' as we acquiesce time's livelong law

Where none escapes trade's winds or wars as we are drawn to foreign shores  

...and like all who have gone before, if God grants three score years or more

We join the Autumn-seasoned ranks with purer praise and meeker thanks 

In the Autumn of middle age, we sense time's swifter turn of page

As stiffer trade winds start to blow and sting with Winter's hints of snow

...so in life's Autumn sunset years (before its swift score disappears)

Lord, teach us to embrace its clime by living one day at a time

...not peering with foreboding dread to Winter's world looming ahead

But with gladness gratitude brings, because the Lord has done great things

Janet Martin

Ps.126:3

The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are glad.

Autumn Is Come

Happy First Day of Fall!

Hail, cuppa tea, spice-ecstasy of cloves and cardamom 

And whole new ways to cherish days because Autumn is come 🍂

When I read this poem below, in a birthday gift book from a friend,

it kindled my own Autumn is Come poem-fire...

nothing compared to this gem,

but still, penned with love for Autumn's Creator!

Where gaudy plumes, a-top their tombs wave colourful farewells ...

Autumn is come; the sunny sum of summer days gives way

To frosty morn and fields of corn's brittle and rustling lay

The chestnut sheds it prickly threads; the blue jay shrieks and scolds

The verdant sheen of virgin green mutates to reds and golds

Autumn is come; season of plum and pumpkin pageantry

Of cozy clothes and rosy glows on apple-cheeks and we/me 

Of menus shucked and picked and plucked through labour of our hands

As summer yields gardens and fields to autumnal demands

Autumn is come; amber and rum-hued ambience imbues

The rousing air as treetops flare beneath yon welkin blues 

Creation draws worship's hurrahs from Beauty's wonderment 

Where earth and sky are charted by God's ancient covenant 

Autumn is come; farewell, sweet summer's sultry afternoon

Welcome, fond days that brim with praise for lavish harvest-boon

For orchard-loot as ripened fruit plummets like falling stars

With muted thud, in haloes, ruddy and ready for jars 

Autumn is come; we sense a drum-roll-like sea-song in shells   

Where gaudy plumes, a-top their tombs wave colourful farewells 

Where thistledown unfurls its crown in silver parachutes 

Where we appraise time's hallowed days to gather harvest's fruits 

Autumn is come; we are not glum though summer disappears

To everything from spring to spring, there is a season, dears

Its law ordained and awe-sustained by God's pow'r undefined

He stirs the seed with fruit to feed the need of humankind

He bends the earth with nature's mirth, and tends Time's transient toll 

Each season rife with joys of life to gladden heart and soul

Hail, cuppa tea, spice-ecstasy of cloves and cardamom 

And whole new ways to cherish days because Autumn is come 

Janet Martin  

 

That Which Hope Veils or With Quietness and Confidence

The old week ended with a hard day's work in the garden...

(I had a bit of a 'what if we get frost?!! panic- moment 

on that crisp morning, so I picked all the ripening tomatoes)

and then, because our generous neighbour lent us his loader we

pulled out a lot of plants as well...

At break time Neighbour's puppy came for some Jim-love...

 

A new week begins and who knows what waits, but God!

What perfect reason then, to proceed in step with God

How do we begin to do that?

With godly repentance that leads to salvation without regret!

Without regret because when God forgives

He remembers our sin no more!

Because what God gives this world cannot begin to comprehend

2 Corinthians 7:10

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

but worldly sorrow brings death.

Isa.30:15

For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

Isaiah 48:17

Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit,

who directs you in the way you should go.

The end that waits beyond the part of seeing, choosing, doing, oh

Of loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, then fellowman

Of trusting through the thick and thin of joy and sorrow's high and low

Until the end that will begin that which hope veils of Master Plan

...where wage of unrepentant sin is death; the gift of God is life

To all who yield their lives to Him in obedience, humbly awed

Where what is seen is temporal; where what hope veils awaits the knife

Of final breath; and the eternal aftermath of life with God 

...where we endure the hardship of love's discipline from He who cares

Like all good fathers should, enough to suffer reproof that corrects

So we revere, with diligence the part that hope yet veils with prayers

In quietness and confidence His strength sustains where He directs 

...until the day when we present the body He formed and gave breath

To do His work; to be content while hope yet veils the consequence 

May we throw off all earthly ties that entangle and end in death

And fix our eyes upon faith's Prize with quietness and confidence 

Janet Martin

Inspired in part as well by Heb.12

Be Still My Soul - Mount Royal Kantorei

Lyrics

Author: Kathrina von Schlegel (1752); 

Translator: Jane Borthwick (1855)

Tune: FINLANDIA

Published in 221 hymnals

1. Be still, my soul! the Lord is on your side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul! your best, your heav’nly friend

Thru' thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul! your God does undertake

To guide the future as he has the past;

Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake;

all now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while he lived below.

3. Be still, my soul! when dearest friends depart

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then shall you better know his love, his heart,

Who comes to soothe your sorrow and your fears.

Be still, my soul! your Jesus can repay

From his own fullness all he takes away.

4. Be still, my soul! the hour is hast'ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still my soul! when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Dear September or, From a Poet's Stuttering...

Ps.148:1-6

Praise the Lord.[a]

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise him in the heights above.

2 Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

3 Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for at his command they were created,

6 and he established them for ever and ever—

he issued a decree that will never pass away.

Happy, happy, final summer weekend of 2026!!

How grandly the gateway to summer's last Saturday, flung ajar!

White and purple aster-oceans, billow in gardens, exiled

Save by He who heaps earth's passion on September's smorgasbord...

my daughter just sent me the above photos, (used with permission) because

they were the perfect fit for today's poem and because

she was feeling exactly like me...thinking this year she won't fall in love with fall, then

something sparks and BAM!! head over heels we fall for fall!

You rush rapture's rivers through us; summer's last hurrah runs wild

Overflowing nature's storehouse with gold, no miser can hoard

White and purple aster-oceans, billow in gardens, exiled

Save by He who heaps earth's passion on September's smorgasbord

Your heavens declare God's glory; modern-day psalmists gaze, awed

As your ink spills a love story that surpasses mortal pen

As you bend vineyard and orchard with fruited favour from God 

As you seal the days of summer with Time's plum-pungent amen 

You must be an ardent lover; Hydrangea and sedum blush 

On your arm, butterflies hover, zinnia and salvia founts

Sparkle in a plumed piazza buzzing with the final rush

Of hummingbirds, bees and crickets; somewhere Jack Frost lurks and counts

...down Fair Flower's numbered hours, before he exacts his brass 

But for now you gild spilled bowers with an affront to his kiss   

Mauve milkweed, mullein-fringed fences, goldenrod and silver-grass

As you kindle summered senses with pumpkin and squash hued bliss

Dear September, you awaken a song of love and lament

Torn between scenes time has taken and its undefeated law  

Gently, where summer still lingers, where beauty is never spent 

You ease the grip of our fingers from summer, with autumn-awe 

...and chart pathways of osmosis through a confusion of blooms

Tangles of larkspur and cosmos catch at heart-strings, fluttering 

Where farewell's unflustered courtship draws us through disheveled rooms

Rousing humbled hymns of worship from a poet's stuttering   

Janet Martin

You must be an ardent lover; Hydrangea and sedum blush... 

 Tangles of larkspur and cosmos catch at heart-strings, fluttering...

 

Dear Lucy, Till We Meet (Over There)

Thank-you everyone for your beautiful thoughts, messages, cards,

 gifts and prayers this week. Deeply treasured!

I'm not sure if the two-year mark will close the collection of Dear Lucy poems,

but it perhaps might...to everything there is a season.

Yesterday both Lucy and her husband's sisters and sister-in-laws gathered

at their place to work and remember Lucy again, and touch the plants she planted

and fall-clean the home she poured such happiness and love into,

and to bless and encourage her family in a very practical way.

This motto in the laundry room reminded me of an important part in grief's journey...

Though it may be speaking of flowers it applies to life's garden as well,

don't you think??

To let go of grief is not to let go of the loved one we miss

(sometimes it can feel that way)

but, to try to cherish more intentionally, humbly, and fully the time/life we still have.

When I wrote today's poem a week or two ago I thought it would be the one

to share yesterday, but it turned out not to be.

Instead it will close out 'the week of' with tender reflection and love 🙏

Dear Lucy,

I'll never forget that solemn occasion

When loved ones gathered, to lay you to rest

When hearts grief-shattered yet cheered by salvation

Were comforted thus, in sorrow's sudden test

I'll never forget the tear-joyous chorus

'Amazing grace, oh, how sweet, sweet the sound'

While rain-misted breeze sighed through trees around us

We stood with heads bowed, on farewell's holy ground

...and found in the depth of death's undisguised hour

Someone who knew our pain, through and through

Comfort and courage beyond human power

Holds/helps/heals us till we cross death's threshold too

...into the light of our Glorious Saviour

Where no tearful sorrow or parting will be

Into the triumph of hope's final favour

Where we will dwell throughout eternity

Till then, while we tend to Time's holy duty

Pray, we may discover, in this broken world

Through God, the breath-taking, unearthly Beauty

Of Joy like a banner from Heaven, unfurled

I'll never forget what changed life forever

Dear Lucy, I (we) will miss you every day

But God grants what no circumstance can sever

His grace is sufficient, come whatever may

I'll never forget, but love with intention

Those still within reach of arms, voice and prayer

While cherishing ways, too many to mention

That I (we) miss you so, till we meet 'over there'  

Janet Martin

The scripture reference put on the chalkboard in Lucy's kitchen 2 years ago

still applies...

Romans 8:28
And we know that God works all things together for the good

 of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

A friend sent me this song last night.

Lucy would have loved it!

To everyone missing someone,

may it bless you today!

Brandon Heath - "Can We Go Home Now?"

We Do Not Weep Alone

Ps.145: 8&9, 14, 17-19

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

The Lord is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works...

The Lord upholds all who fall,

And raises up all who are bowed down...

The Lord is righteous in all His ways,

Gracious in all His works.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them.

Ps.146:5

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Ps.147:3

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds...

On this two-year anniversary,

For everyone who remembers and misses Lucy,

A poem of comfort drawn

from the Wellspring of God's promises... 

"You have not truly lived until you've stuffed your face in a peony"

Lucy💗

He heals the broken heart

And binds grief's bleeding/gaping holes

As sorrow yields each longing part

He comforts and consoles

  

With everlasting love

With hope, not of this world

He soothes the sorrow-ravaged glove

With Ointment of His Word

...and though we know not how,

When crushed by death's fell blow

He raises up all who are bowed

Because He vowed it so

...and ministers to all

Who call on Him in truth

He gathers us close when we fall

Beneath lament, uncouth 

...and catches our tears

We do not weep alone

The Great Physician sees and hears

Each brokenhearted groan

He binds the wounds of grief

With gentle, nail-scarred Hands

And floods the soul with sweet relief

From sorrow's stark demands

He heals the broken heart

In His time, In His Way

Meanwhile, His promises impart

All we need for today

Janet💗🙏

In Everything...

I began today with a garden wander...

so I don't miss the bliss of This

blinded by Much To Do!

God, help me live and love

with open eyes, heart and hands...

The 'wander' is the prelude to tackling a red mountain of Tomato-Task.

In every up and down, 

and morning, noon or night

Laughter or tears 

or smile 

or frown 

or struggle 

or delight

In every twist and turn 

or smooth sailing, 

or gale

Or lesson yet to learn, 

or triumph 

or travail

In every loss 

or gain, 

heartache 

or happiness

Or measure of pleasure 

or pain, 

refreshment, 

weariness

In every ebb and flow 

Of seasons as they sweep

Through bloom 

to petal-snow,

Through waking hours, 

or sleep

In hold

or echo-font

In cold

or heat, my dear

In plenty 

or in want

In favours kind,

severe

In hello 

or farewell

In health 

or ailing bod

In all that we can think to tell

In everything, 

thank God

Janet Martin

It is not hard to give thanks

in a bountiful harvest season,

with health and strength for toil!

Kind Heavenly Father, thank-you.

Ephesians 5:20
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything

 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, 

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God.

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed,

 do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

 giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in every circumstance,

 for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

We Thank Thee-Jim Reeves

 

Between Now and When...(A Sacred Consideration)

The somberness of this week, (remembering the sudden death of my sister)

stirs a sacred consideration/consciousness of The Inevitable;

Eccles.12:7

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, 

And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

No argument of man can thwart what God has decreed,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 John 3:16

Between Now and the moment When

our final breath transports us into the presence of God

we have the opportunity to Remember our Creator;

to repent from our sins and believe in Him!

Come As You Are-David Crowder

 

Between now and when our final, fatal breath is drawn

When the heart yields its bower bent with hope and heartache's spawn

As earthly order ceases in the twinkle of an eye

And time's temporal lease is sealed with one eternal sigh

  

Between now and when we will slip from life, through death's sheer veil 

When every former fellowship we knew is bound to fail

When the dark glass through which we peer dissolves in one felled breath 

And the soul sheds its dust veneer unfazed by mortal death

Between now and when we will face the Crucial Certainty

Of stepping from Time's transient grace/place into eternity  

How will we use each gifted chime, pouring from Favour's Fount

To pages sealed until non-Time, when we will give account  

Between now and when What Will Be, WILL BE forevermore  

We have fresh opportunity to prepare for the Shore

From which no bark returns to tell the world that it IS true

There is a Heaven or a hell when life on earth is through 

Between now and when we will see God, who loves you and me 

We ought to consider where we will spend eternity  

And pay more earnest heed to truth's decreed and undeterred

From God, who grants us all we need through the Light/Life of His Word

Janet Martin

Eccles.12

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,

Before the [a]difficult days come,

And the years draw near when you say,

“I have no pleasure in them”:

2While the sun and the light,

The moon and the stars,

Are not darkened,

And the clouds do not return after the rain;

3In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,

And the strong men bow down;

When the grinders cease because they are few,

And those that look through the windows grow dim;

4When the doors are shut in the streets,

And the sound of grinding is low;

When one rises up at the sound of a bird,

And all the daughters of music are brought low.

5Also they are afraid of height,

And of terrors in the way;

When the almond tree blossoms,

The grasshopper is a burden,

And desire fails.

For man goes to his eternal home,

And the mourners go about the streets.

6Remember your Creator before the silver cord is [b]loosed,

Or the golden bowl is broken,

Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,

Or the wheel broken at the well.

7Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

8“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,

“All is vanity.”

9And moreover, because the Preacher was wise,

 he still taught the people knowledge; yes, 

he pondered and sought out and set[c] in order many proverbs.

  10The Preacher sought to find [d]acceptable words; 

and what was written was upright—words of truth.

  11The words of the wise are like goads, 

and the words of [e]scholars are like well-driven nails,

 given by one Shepherd.

  12And further, my son, be admonished by these. 

Of making many books there is no end, 

and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

14For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.