Dear Lucy, Here You Will Always Be...

Lucy, I was in the middle of some late spring cleaning doing the upstairs windows...

missing you missing my 60th birthday fuss and love... 

Oh, I can almost hear you exclaiming how 60 sounds surreal and wowing, and half-listening

as I explain 'things', how sometimes out of nowhere

 a poem just seizes my senses and needs out!

 and then we talk... in breathless mostly half-sentences between questions, 

catching up on each other's lives...

and laughing and weeping and praying...

 depending on the joy or grief of love...

Lucy, the grief of our parting has sweetened/refined my joys. 

I sense you in a harvest of deepened friendships... 

you opened my eyes to a world of outstretched arms...

two of them, mine...

because its the hard times that remind us how much we need each other. 

You are teaching me the bitter-sweetness of this verse, dear Lucy...

John 12:24 

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, 

it remains only a single seed.

 But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

What?! oh! you're asking 'why so many ellipses?!!'

That's where I was pausing to gather my thoughts...

and words! 😅😘

Dear Lucy,

In one sense, you're not here

and in that sense its true

But somehow I still feel you near

in every thought of you

in every want to hear

more than echoes to trace

in every peony my dear 

I press against my face

In every memory

That pray, Time will not steal

In every aching void of 'we'

That Time can never heal

In every hope renewed

Because God loves us so

In every prayer of gratitude

In spite of tears that flow

In spite of sight bereft

For God bid we should part

There is a sense of you still left

To hold within my heart

To comfort sorrow's tear

To remind me again

That in one sense you are not here

But in one you remain

...and here you'll always be

 In ever younger years

You slipped beyond the reach of me

Save in my smiles and tears 

Janet💔🙏💝

  

The Older That We Grow...

Yesterday we celebrated my turning 60!

I was young...

 but now I am old(er); 

...yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken. 

Ps.37:25

***

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, 

until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, 

Your might to all who are to come.

Ps.71:18

***

Sometimes we may be tempted to lament the grunt and groan

That Time is bound to introduce if given time enough

But age is not all doom and gloom, for all we may bemoan

The older that we grow the more we cherish those we love

The older that we grow the more we find to thank God for

Aware that life at best, is like a flower; it will fade

That days are laid like steppingstone we traverse to a Door

All will pass through, and none knows when death's Farewells will invade

Thus, each day is a gift from God, filled with loving commands

With beauty and duty's sacred accountability

Because what matters most is not what we hold in our hands

But in our hearts, with reverence and kind humility 

Growing older grants far more than what meets the eye, my dears

Where steps may slow and any resemblance to youth is spent 

But loss has deepened love for those still privy to our tears

And prayers. Joy is refined through grief and laughter through lament

...and even if given the chance to turn back time somehow 

Not many would choose to re-weather life's lessons once more

Far better this, to find happiness in the gift of Now

For happiness is found in what we find to thank God for

The scenery of looking back, the older that we grow

Becomes a panoramic view of things we cannot change

And things that never will; though generations come and go

God's love and promises, no passage of Time can estrange 

Janet Martin

Amos Raber - The Older I Get - (LYRIC VIDEO)

 

The Joy of June (makes glad the heart)

Nature's fingers are threaded through with petal-floss...

and gossamer scarves, trailing skylines, misty-blue...

Ps.150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

 Praise the Lord!

May swept by in a busy blur without opportunity

to grapple its gladness for spring-things to page!

Finally a rainy June morning allows time for the Poet

to purge Her soul of pleasures to share

and hopefully bring joy to fellow June-lovers! 

Nature’s Artist breathes upon

Earth’s stage, with leaf-refurbished isles

And coral light of early dawn

God...gilds fronds with jewels of rain...

The joy of June makes glad the heart

And stirs a soul-sweet psalm of praise

Where bliss time cannot change imparts

The happiness of summer days

This is the Time of singing birds

Of cheery chime of flower-bell

Of hundred hues of green that girds

The sunny hill and bowered dell

Of gardens reaching for the moon

Of days that linger gloriously

Beneath awnings, where azure noon

Kindles dusk’s drawn-out panoply

Nature's fingers are threaded through

With petal-floss and gossamer

Scarves, trailing skylines, misty-blue

And woven with hymn-tinctured shirr  

A universal childhood smiles

As Nature’s Artist breathes upon

Earth’s stage, with leaf-refurbished isles

And coral light of early dawn

Winter-weary spirits once more

Soar with hope, burgeoning and hale

Where, like each joyous June before

God tips a lily-laden grail

…and gilds fronds with jewels of rain

And fuels blossom-to-fruit boon

And makes hearts humbly glad again

With summer’s sweet, sweet joys of June

Janet Martin

Of gardens reaching for the moon...

(With this rain the garden grew overnight!!)

This is the Time of singing birds...

Dawn's/Worship's Alabaster Flask, Refilled!!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us...1 John 3:1

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. Lam.3:22-23

Today, Lord let me recognize the alabaster flask I hold

Lowered from extravagant skies of purple mist and blushing gold

Wherein like precious ointment of great value, moments will reveal

The nature of my deepest love by at whose feet I come to kneel

And at what cost I prove the part that words alone do not disclose;

The sacred throne-room of the heart, and whose reign my devotion shows 

Lord, pray Thee when today is spent; the alabaster flask of dawn

Broken, and its utter content of priceless love lavished upon

The feet of my Lord/lord  You will say with kind and tender sympathy

'she has done all she could today to show her heart of love to me'

Or else, as too oft the case, Lord (and here ashamed, I bow my head)

Forgive me, where I dumbly poured love's perfume on myself instead 

Today, Lord, grant me eyes to see Dawn's Alabaster Flask refilled

With mercy for humanity, before Worship's Spikenard is spilled 

And lavished on the head and feet of that which I most dearly love 

Where rationale of talk is cheap, as I my lord/lord and Master/master prove

By how the moments of today are perceived, measured and outpoured

Either to howls/jowls of dust and clay or with grateful praise to Thee, Lord 

What love you lavish on us Lord; whether we love you in return

Or turn our backs upon your Word, grace shatters dusk's dust and ash Urn

And brushes eternity's brink with virgin hues beyond compare

The perfume of mercy runs pink-blue-gold through daybreak's supine air

Lord, before we start today's tasks and face the foes that vex faith's guard

Tune us to alabaster flasks where worship waits to spill its Nard 

Janet Martin  

Great Is Thy Faithfulness with Lyrics | Lydia Walker

Mark 14:1-9

Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away,

 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 

2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, 

a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard.

 She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, 

“Why this waste of perfume? 

5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages[a] 

and the money given to the poor.”

 And they rebuked her harshly.

6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? 

She has done a beautiful thing to me. 

7 The poor you will always have with you,[b] 

and you can help them any time you want. 

But you will not always have me. 

8 She did what she could. 

She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 

9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, 

what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Where Marriage Is Concerned or Day-by-Day 'I Do'

 

Celebrating 38 years of marriage today,

by the grace of God!

As far as marriage is concerned

Love’s law is nothing new

And anniversaries are earned

By day-to-day ‘I do”

Marriage has much to teach, it seems

As ‘I’ is turned to ‘we’

As imagination and dreams

Meets plain Reality

For love, in all its loveliness

Is wrought at a great price

Its prosperity and success

The prize of sacrifice

As love learns about unity

(for love’s vows never cease)

As love agrees to disagree

For simple sake of peace

As love learns how to stand on guard

Where ‘little foxes’ lurk

Where their play ruins love’s vineyard

Without love’s lifetime work

…and its holy, unglamourous

Crash-course in how to pray

As love discovers faithfulness

Is ‘I do’ every day

‘I do’ through life’s laughter and tears

‘I do’ through gray and gold

‘I do’ until days become years

And youth has lost its hold

(And we have come to sacred terms

About each other’s quirks

His hat will land where’re it lands

In Her head, Poem lurks)

Thank God for Three Strands in love’s Cord

To aid when we go wrong

He helps wounded love be restored

To keep it going/growing strong

Because, where marriage is concerned

Love’s law is nothing new

And anniversaries are earned

By day-to-day ‘I do”

Janet Martin

1 Cor.13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,

 it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails

Love never fails but we do!!

thank-you Lord, for your mercies new each morning,

For your forgiveness that makes possible ours!

Care-cure

Matt.11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” ~Jesus

1 Pet.5:6-7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,

 that He may exalt you in due time, 

7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Matt.6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about its own things. 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ~Jesus

Today's devotion was a timely command and reminder for me!

Maybe it will be for you as well...

Whether personally, 

or in our immediate families, 

or extended family,

or friend-'family' or church-family, 

or community-'family'

there are immense cares and needs, aren't there?!

There is a cure for care

In a world trouble-torn

There is a steadfast solace where

Courage can be reborn

There is a cure for care

(for care is bound to be)

And we all need a refuge where

Fear and dread’s shadows flee

When disappointments sting

When pain and loss oppress

When body and soul suffering

Afflict hope’s happiness

There is a cure for care

Where faith and mercy meet

God bids us come to Him in prayer

And lay them at his feet

His feet, scarred with prints of

The cross of Calvary

He beckons with unfailing/undying love

‘Come, cast your cares on Me

My all-sufficient grace

Will prove faithful and true

Through every creature-care you face

Because I care for you

Pour out your humble plea

Each burden that you bear

Until, with joy you taste and see

There is a cure for care

Janet Martin

Oh Lord, how we need Your guidance,

Your provision and Your perfect will to work in us;

in every resisting, erring, selfish, doubtful, impatient part

work your wonder in our hearts!

Near to the Heart of God

JIM REEVES HAVE THINE OWN WAY LORD 

A Birthday Poem for The More 'Seasoned' Stage of Surprises!

Happy 62nd Birthday, Jim 

God bless you, guide you and protect you 

as you roll and chug/plug down and up life's highway!

(literally and metaphorically)

 My dear, the years keep hasting by

Where once upon green youth

We thought we had a lot of time

To learn life's changeless truth

And once upon far younger Thought

We dared Time's sleight of hand

By thinking somehow it would not

Heed Father Time's command 

And in spite of what 'Old Folk' said

About how years unfold

With gathered speed, we tossed our heads

And winked, youth-and dream-bold 

But now, with much more 'seasoned' stance

And sass and strut subdued 

We take each new day that God grants

With humbler gratitude

...where, as spent sun-up and sun-down 

Weathers youth's girl or boy

Pray we find in time's wizened crown

Sweet surprises of joy

Trading the fast-fading façade

Of face and form, my dear

For truer, purer love/awe for God

With every passing year

Counting, not loss, but gain, dear friend

And blessings beyond score

So that we cannot find the end

Of things we're thankful for 

Love always, from your wife

Janet Martin 

A blast from the past!!

Time-Don Williams

Yesterday's Sunday morning message passage

is the perfect prayer for today and every day of the year!

Phil.1:9-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more

 in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best 

and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—

to the glory and praise of God.

From Here to Him

Whether we live a day or a hundred years

(like my friend's grandma who lives in Switzerland

and  traveled to Brazil recently!!)

our final breath dissolves Time in eternity!

What was, whether a day or a hundred years, 

then, forever turned to what is!!

Oh, pray somewhere along The Way from Here to Him 

we prepare to meet God who loves us so much

He paid the debt/fare we owed to purchase

The Way to be saved from

the consequence and penalty of sin! John 3:16

And we are all sinners in need of a Saviour!

Josh Turner ~ I Serve a Savior

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, 

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

 No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. 

The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

The Way of the Cross Leads Home - Hymn with Lyrics

 

Life's way varied in its topography brings everyone, ultimately,

back to the Giver of life...

no matter who, where, how old or young we are

when we leave this world

by one way or another, from the four corners of the earth,

we all come from Here to Him!

Oh, that we would 'know' Him before

we meet Him face to face!

How brutal often, seems the way that draws us dearer and nearer to Him!

By passageways through vale and mount that forge, from faith's leap, hope renewed

And stirs in souls, a hallowed fount of deeper, purer gratitude

By struggles on a way called 'straight/Strait', as self-will and surrender spar

As love weathers lessons of 'wait', while we learn who we really are

By secret prayers in private rooms where God alone can enter in

To cup confession's tear-stained bloom, to forgive and cleanse us from sin

By way of Ebenezer's stone, where worship erects monuments

Of praise; 'Thus far the Lord has shown His help, and His deliverance

By the way of the cross, we find, past Golgotha and Calvary

Faith's birthplace where once we were blind, but by the grace of God, we see

By the way to Damascus, where, bent on some mission, boldly braved

For worldly laud, God met us there, and by his mercy we were saved 

By the way of faith undeterred, by the way of love's battles grim

By the way of His faithful Word, God gathers us, from Here to Him 

Janet Martin

1 Sa.7:12

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, 

and called its name [a]Ebenezer, saying,

 “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing (lyrics & chord) Chris Rice