Simply Steppingstones...

As soon as I question Your ways, God

I forget my place

I am a sinner washed in Your blood

I am a sinner saved by Your grace!

 But God proves His love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom.5:8

Lord, let me not forget my place

I am a sinner saved by grace

What you allot, allow, ordain

Help me accept and not complain

The mind and heart of God, who knows

The love wherefrom all blessing flows

Pours in a mercy-tide to we

Who would be hopeless/helpless without Thee

Our anguish cupped in mortal glove

Often misunderstands Your love

Yet, words are inept to explain

The loss You suffered for our gain

Then, in this leap of hold-let go

Remind us, Lord, each high or low

In all we touch, taste, see and do

Are simply stepping-stones to You

…where all we prize of earthly ties

Is but a vault of veiled good-byes

So let us not forget our place

We are but sinners, saved by grace

© Janet Martin

 
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of Your strength and proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning. 

For You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

We Are Family

 Some provinces in Canada are celebrating Family Day today...

Right here, right now some are laying loved ones to their eternal rest,

their names forever etched only in memories, on their family tree.

If we are part of a family, let's never take it for granted!

Let's love/cherish one another while we can in every way we can!

I love this poem by Edgar A. Guest...

We Are Family...

Of bark-and-bite

And hold-me-tight

Of learning while we teach

Hearts over flow

While arms let go

Where yearning kindles reach

And happiness

Is made of mess

And mess is made by we

Who, humbly blessed

Have known life’s best

For we are family

Love’s ecstasy

And agony

Its fireballs deploy

We scale and dredge

The height and depth

Of both sorrow and joy

Where push and pull

Cannot annul

Blood-lined affinity

Nor winds nor sea

Uproot this tree

For we are family

The Hand that weaves

The limbs and leaves

We trace back to our roots

Designs the vines

With quirks and lines

Unique to its own fruit

Where why we are

The way we are

Would be easy to see

If you had known

Great Uncle John

Well… we are family

Where our nose

Or gait exposes

More than we may guess

And old photos

Might startles those

Who look past formal dress

To recognize

In stance or eyes

Familiarity

As we embrace

The names we trace

That makes us family

Then live-laugh-love

And kiss-hold-hug

The touch of Time is brief

Where far too soon

Death snuffs the croon

And flutter of the leaf

To take its place

Where fingers trace

The phantom filigree

That brings us to

The me-and-you

And makes us family

© Janet Martin

The Stick-Together Families

By Edgar Guest

The stick-together families are happier by far
Than the brothers and the sisters who take separate highways are.
The gladdest people living are the wholesome folks who make
A circle at the fireside that no power but death can break.
And the finest of conventions ever held beneath the sun
Are the little family gatherings when the busy day is done.

There are rich folk, there are poor folk, who imagine they are wise,
And they're very quick to shatter all the little family ties.
Each goes searching after pleasure in his own selected way,
Each with strangers likes to wander, and with strangers likes to play.
But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's empty joy they find,
For the children that are wisest are the stick-together kind.

There are some who seem to fancy that for gladness they must roam,
That for smiles that are the brightest they must wander far from home.
That the strange friend is the true friend, and they travel far astray
they waste their lives in striving for a joy that's far away,
But the gladdest sort of people, when the busy day is done,
Are the brothers and the sisters who together share their fun.

It's the stick-together family that wins the joys of earth,
That hears the sweetest music and that finds the finest mirth;
It's the old home roof that shelters all the charm that life can give;
There you find the gladdest play-ground, there the happiest spot to live.
And, O weary, wandering brother, if contentment you would win,
Come you back unto the fireside and be comrade with your kin.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-stick-together-families-by-edgar-albert-guest

(some of my family members are trying to decide
if they could quickly 'ease' through mother's flower-garden with a load of wood...)
Yup!

 When you have the name Grandson no bowl is off-limits!

 

The Stick-Together Families

By Edgar Guest

The stick-together families are happier by far
Than the brothers and the sisters who take separate highways are.
The gladdest people living are the wholesome folks who make
A circle at the fireside that no power but death can break.
And the finest of conventions ever held beneath the sun
Are the little family gatherings when the busy day is done.

There are rich folk, there are poor folk, who imagine they are wise,
And they're very quick to shatter all the little family ties.
Each goes searching after pleasure in his own selected way,
Each with strangers likes to wander, and with strangers likes to play.
But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's empty joy they find,
For the children that are wisest are the stick-together kind.

There are some who seem to fancy that for gladness they must roam,
That for smiles that are the brightest they must wander far from home.
That the strange friend is the true friend, and they travel far astray
they waste their lives in striving for a joy that's far away,
But the gladdest sort of people, when the busy day is done,
Are the brothers and the sisters who together share their fun.

It's the stick-together family that wins the joys of earth,
That hears the sweetest music and that finds the finest mirth;
It's the old home roof that shelters all the charm that life can give;
There you find the gladdest play-ground, there the happiest spot to live.
And, O weary, wandering brother, if contentment you would win,
Come you back unto the fireside and be comrade with your kin.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-stick-together-families-by-e

The Stick-Together Families

By Edgar Guest

The stick-together families are happier by far
Than the brothers and the sisters who take separate highways are.
The gladdest people living are the wholesome folks who make
A circle at the fireside that no power but death can break.
And the finest of conventions ever held beneath the sun
Are the little family gatherings when the busy day is done.

There are rich folk, there are poor folk, who imagine they are wise,
And they're very quick to shatter all the little family ties.
Each goes searching after pleasure in his own selected way,
Each with strangers likes to wander, and with strangers likes to play.
But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's empty joy they find,
For the children that are wisest are the stick-together kind.

There are some who seem to fancy that for gladness they must roam,
That for smiles that are the brightest they must wander far from home.
That the strange friend is the true friend, and they travel far astray
they waste their lives in striving for a joy that's far away,
But the gladdest sort of people, when the busy day is done,
Are the brothers and the sisters who together share their fun.

It's the stick-together family that wins the joys of earth,
That hears the sweetest music and that finds the finest mirth;
It's the old home roof that shelters all the charm that life can give;
There you find the gladdest play-ground, there the happiest spot to live.
And, O weary, wandering brother, if contentment you would win,
Come you back unto the fireside and be comrade with your kin.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-stick-together-families-by-edgar-albert-guest

The Way Time Is...

A year ago today hubby had a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his bladder. 

Thankfully his check-ups to this point show no return of it and we are glad,

but as I recall thinking how I'll be SO relieved when this is behind us (the anxiety etc.and we are!) 

...here we are, a year later where Hope and Trouble have changed their outfits but never leave!

It seems we always have fresh cares to 'cast upon the Lord'!

(1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.)

 “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; 

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” 

(Psalm 55:22)

Be careful; while we wait

For morrow’s bud to bloom

The Way Time Is scatters today

Like petals on a tomb

Be prayerful; while we wait

For gates to ope or close

The Way Time Is never returns

The petal to the rose

Be thankful; while we wait

For days to come or go

For soon The Way Time Is will be

The petal on the snow

© Janet Martin

 

Because We Live In A Fallen World

 

(above photo from the archives to remind us living in an ice-ensconced world to hang in there!)

According to Your faithful love

(though troubles test and try)

Oh Lord, our God make it enough

To know You know the 'why' 

According to sufficient grace

(for You have promised this)

Oh Lord, our God, hold us in place

When all else seems amiss

According to Your perfect peace

Foreign to unbelief

Oh Lord, our God help us release

Our doubt to Mercy's Chief 

According to Your Divine Law

(ah, who can comprehend?)

Oh Lord, our God, fill us with awe

For Love that has no end

Lord, we live in a fallen world
But hope is not deterred
For Love will triumph over all
According to Your Word

Janet Martin

 ...we live in a fallen world so we will have troubles,
 not planned/orchestrated by God but allowed by He whose love will never fail.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Valentine's Poem for rich and poor,

young and old,

single or wed

Today with all         its wonder waits

Who knows what will     befall   No need to fear;

nothing escapes The Greatest Love of all.  The heart,

 though primed with good intent…Is not a chocolate sweet

Its love is human, bred and bent  With hunger and deceit

But oh, what hope and happiness Instills this mortal glove

Because Someone saw fit to bless…Man’s want

and need with love; the best of this world’s

 treasure-trove can never fill the part

That God intended for His

 love that satisfies

the he-

art

© Janet Martin

We choose the language of wine, chocolate, roses

He, crown of thorns, sop of gall

He, by example showed love suffers crosses

He proved that love conquers all

So when love does not look like we envisioned

With starry-eyed fantasy

Lord, remind us of Love's ultimate mission

Remind us of Calvary