I will be away for a while...

No Middle Way

 

... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...Joshua 24:15

C. S. Lewis said this in a 1939 essay, “Learning in War-Time.” Here’s how he explained it:
[Religion] must occupy the whole of life. There is no question of a compromise between the claims of God and the claims of culture, or politics, or anything else. God’s claim is infinite and inexorable. You can refuse it: or you can begin to try to grant it. There is no middle way.
Yet in spite of this it is clear that Christianity does not exclude any of the ordinary human activities. St. Paul tells people to get on with their jobs

Excerpt found here 

As we don the duties
Of another new day
We press toward Heaven,
There is no middle way

On the path of Living
We go, side by side
But at Gates of Heaven
This road will divide

Faith is the substance
Of hope and belief
Life is the highway
To its last relief

We labor together
But choose deep within
The God we will worship
Jehovah or sin

We cannot escape it
Try though we may
When we get to Heaven
There is no middle way...

Janet Martin

Wishing you each a blessed week-end!



 

Power-source

I could not bear

Life’s weight of care

But for the fellowship

Of prayer

I could not face

Life’s grueling race

But for the mercy

Of God’s grace

I could not hope

For Heaven above

But for the goodness

Of God’s love

© Janet Martin

Sacred Sieve

Dark solitude of midnight fills the space

Where dawn has slipped to join all yesterdays

Another day of labor, love and grace

Becomes a picture in thought’s tender gaze

The unknowns of the morn have been unveiled

As hours of daylight flare to fade again

The willingness of Time pours from Love’s grail

In colors mixed according to God’s plan

Heartache and hope in half-breaths synchronize

Faith yearns to touch a Hand we cannot see

But from earth-altars Heaven hears our cries

And comforts those who seek Him earnestly

…and soon the dawn will sweep the dark awry

Another cup of unknowns in Time’s glass

We need not fear; the Painter of the sky

Cradles the sieve through which all colors pass

© Janet Martin

I'm so thankful we cannot see the day's 'colors' in advance...

Of Shorelines...

Here we are once more, once more

Our faces pointed to a shore

We cannot see until That Day

We put mortality away

Life is not futile squandering

Or little bitty wandering

To fall away like petal bloom

And die forever in a tomb

Here a twenty-four hour span

Is called a day in jars of man

But when we pass that Final Shore

No hours chart forevermore

…for then will be eternity

This thought should stir us soberly

How sad to wake beyond that shore

Somehow to have missed Heaven’s door…

© Janet Martin

 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,Do not harden your hearts...Ps. 57:6-8

Of Found Treasure

I found it there beneath the air

All sweet and summer-autumn-tossed

I didn’t think that I could spare

This thing that I thought I had lost

The innocence of sun-beam dance

First lured me to its hiding place

And I was sure midst circumstance

It disappeared without a trace

But out beneath the sighing tree

I found it there and I am glad

Life showed me unexpectedly

The Time I didn’t think I had

© Janet Martin

I have not really stopped to enjoy the out-of-doors lately. I dash through it and try to snatch beauty-glimpses on my way, but sometimes we need to STOP and find the beauty! Today felt busy, but when the hydro went out I took  time to stop, feel, listen... When I returned to the house I found myself thinking ‘I need to make up for lost time’ and suddenly I realized I felt so nourished, not by the time I lost, but by the time I found!

 “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”
― C.S. Lewis

 “How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss

 “There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
― Bill Watterson

Best Room in the 'House'

Its dome is blue, the carpet green

Or bronze or frosted silver sheen

There are no walls to fence us in

No dusting and no vacuuming

A theater where, from front-row

We marvel at each season-show

Sunrise, sunset, the view is free

From doorways vaulting to the sea

No ‘don’t touch this and don’t sit there’

No sticky fingerprinted air

Its welcome mat rolls to the sky

Beneath soft vesper-lullaby

Here, with our tea we linger long

And listen to Time’s perfect song

Intoned by zephyr, bird and bloom

In nature’s grandiose living-room

© Janet Martin

Guilt-free Indulgence

It is not wrong to pause a-while

And leave undone the menial task

To drink gold sun from blue-sky flask

And bask in summer’s waning smile

It is not vain to snub the clock

To lie beneath the sprawling tree

And study its anatomy

Of green to gold to scarlet frock

…and it is not slothful or sin

To indulge in a mid-day stroll

To touch the skin of nature’s soul

And feel the hand of God therein

© Janet Martin

Our brief and sudden power-outage was a blessing in disguise... I was in the middle of canning tomatoes among a few other 'electricity chores', so I stopped everything and headed outdoors. It is a perfect day and my to-do list is endless right now:)...I'll work double-quick now to make up for 'found time':)

Sweet Hour

Sweet hour of dawn, how swift you spawn

The noon-day growing dim

A melody of reverie

Anoints the twilight hymn

Sweet hour of youth, how swift the truth

Of summer slips afar

The madrigal, keen, autumnal

Gleams in the evening star

Sweet hour of life, how swift its strife

Is sealed beneath the sod

As mortal trust returns to dust

The soul returns to God

© Janet Martin

Last night we had a 50^th wedding anniversary celebration for my parents. The parents of all my cousins attended. I say that because I don’t see them very often but I remember them when they were younger than I am now, as we went to their houses to play with beloved cousins!

They are all long past their ‘summers’ of life. But so very dear in my childhood memories!

I caught a picture of the sunrise a few hours ago and already the sun is high over golden soy-bean fields…

Of Replenishments

The sky is replenished with whispers of dawn

Soft from the heavens in coral embrace

God breathes the darkness from hill, street and lawn

Filling the morning with mercy and grace

Hearts are replenished with hope to press on

We cannot see what His will may appoint

As new casts of Unknown tremble in the dawn

Yet, there are no unknowns from God’s vantage-point

Thus faith is replenished; in weariness faint

But oh, the glad morning awakes a new song

Of replenished fervor to seal our complaint

Trusting the Hand that replenishes dawn

© Janet Martin

 O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving-kindness. Ps. 56:17

Above All

Of Flip-sides...

 

To dream is a beautiful thing

But sweeter is the view

When looking back, to realize

How many dreams came true

To hope is pure thought-gold

By it we plant and toil

But, what a lovely thing to see

It’s bloom among life’s spoil

To love; ah, this is God

Its grief, life’s utter best

For nothing can compare in life

To love that stood time’s test

© Janet Martin

Of Glimpses and God

When I see dawn dissolve night’s shore

Rolling glad light across earth’s slope

Filling the morning with new hope

I think there must be something more

The awe of God as we look deep

Into the wonder of a flow’r

Assures me of a Higher Pow’r

Above this thorn and thistle sweep

The perfect course of sun and moon

The galaxies beyond our reach

The creatures that no man can teach

And yet they know just what to do

…or as I see earth’s season yield

To its successor year on year

And flowers fall to reappear

From seed to fill ten-thousand fields…

Then I perceive a Higher Love

It leaves imagination mute

Controlling laws none can dispute

And we see merely glimpses of…

© Janet Martin

 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" Job 26:14

Beautiful Bride-to-be

Today I’m a bit of a wreck (an excited wreck but a wreck none-the-less;) Emily and I spent the morning fine-tuning/‘walking’ over every detail of the wedding day to get a feel for what still needs to be done. She chuckled when I stopped suddenly in the middle of a sentence to clear my throat and steady my voice as she talked about where I would be while she waits with dad to walk down the aisle. I’m gonna miss her!

Beautiful Bride-to-be

Her skin and the hours imprison her dreams

Restless, the sparkle of youth in its prime

Dances on syllables imbibed, it seems

With nothing but carefree impatience of time

As she counts the hours until the Big Day

Wishing these moments would hurry away

Mother smiles softly; how, how can it be?

The baby that stunned her with innocent charms…

…the cheek she kissed fondly and so tenderly

As brand-new-from-heaven-child trusted her arms

How can it be that this thing they call ‘years’

Feels more like a flicker of laughter and tears?

Beautiful bride-to-be, woman-child-girl

You are a bud just beginning to bloom

Try on your wedding gown dear, twirl and swirl

Let your excitement fill every room

Soon, you’ll be a wife, but forever you’ll be

My daughter; and no one can take that from me

Never will your dreams be sweeter, my dear

Never will you feel quite like this again

Beautiful bride-to-be; I’ll shed my tear

For joy can be such a sweet-tormenting pain

And I pray that you will be a happy wife

Here on the threshold of ‘the rest your life’

© Love, mom aka, Janet

A Beautiful Thing...50th Wedding Anniversary Poem

Somewhere between morning and night

And toil and sleep, shadow and sun

Between the give and take of life

A thing of beauty is begun

Love’s vows, pledged in the green of life

Are spoken on a dreamer’s strength

Til death do us part; husband and wife

Only God knows its breadth or length

Somewhere between laughter and song

The trial and tear, the calm, the storm

Somewhere, as year folds over year

A thing of beauty starts to form

Between midnight, breakfast toast crumbs

And suppertime and evening prayers

Love’s vows spoken, untried and young

Are being tempered by life’s cares

As bud slowly exposes bloom

A miracle above man’s power

Ah, so is love; the bride and groom

Must wait to see its fullest flower

But oh, as green gives way to gold

And gold to silver-haloed truth

As vows are more than words extolled

In fanciful day-dreams of youth…

…then we begin to see first-hand

This thing that faithfulness imparts

Of beauty unsurpassed, rare, grand

Not of the flesh, but of the heart

Somewhere within life’s highs and lows

Where two are one in God above

Youth’s bud reveals a perfect rose

The proven beauty of true love

© Janet Martin

Tomorrow my parents celebrate 50 years of marriage. Thank-you Mom and Dad and may God bless you with many more wonderful years!

Gone, Gone...

Gone, gone; the gold of summer’s morn

The green in half-grown fields of corn

Summer bows to Time’s common cost

Like brittle corn-stalk kissed by frost

Gone, gone; the hazy, lazy noon

Of cricket-song and locust croon

Ah, none can hide from the discourse

Of smooth and subtle moment-force

Gone, gone; the longer light of day

Before the dark tucks it away

The autumn wick gleams, short and sweet

In scattered sheaves beneath our feet

Gone, gone; sanguine sea-melodies

Where children weave dear memories

And mothers linger at the door

To hear it echoing once more

Gone, gone; the warm and winsome hour

No one usurps mute moment-pow’r

Soundless, autumn leaf-song is spilt

Where summer folds its floral quilt

© Janet Martin

Heavy frost this morning!

Moment-meekness

Lord, take this moment in my hand

Shape it to Your will

And when I do not understand

Yet whisper, peace, be still

Lord, take away my doubt and fear

And fix my thought on You

In spite of what I cannot see

Lord, gently walk me through

Help me to seek, not man's applause

But with humility

To give You glory; you are God

Immortal Deity 

Success; Lord, let it ever be

Not by the things I own

But by surrendering my all

To You and You alone

You ARE; Lord, there is none like You

Forgive my stubbornness

Teach me to meekly bow my will

Beneath Your holiness

© Janet Martin

Only Trust Him

I'm reading through Acts right now and these words struck me immensely...

 Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and died. Acts 12:23

Autumn is Here

Autumn is here; its leaf-song tear

Will soon adorn the meadowland

As Time employs double-edge joys

Of seasons scattered on the sand

Autumn is here; earth’s belvedere

Unveils rare canvasses of sod

As we behold, fold over fold

The awesome handiwork of God

Autumn is here; its hemisphere

A scarlet, bronze and umber tent

On frosted morn; the heart is torn

Twixt pleasure and farewell’s lament

Autumn is here; how swift a year

Is caught up in Time's tender rush

We turn our gaze to nature’s blaze

And praise the One who holds the brush

© Janet Martin

Of Midnight Tiptoes...

 

It struck me as I heard Emily tiptoe in last night, that in three weeks I will never hear that sound again...those sounds I have never given a second thought; 

and her belongings won't be draped on railings etc... ;)

Sometimes you come to me

Soft like a whisper

Hovering between hello and good-bye

Sometimes you clench the air

Raw and rebellious

Shaping the anguish that nurtures a sigh

Sometimes you comfort,

My thought like a pillow

Easing the void twixt what is and has been

But sometimes you torment

In debut renditions

The bittersweet sorrows of ‘never again’

Sometimes a tear holds

An ocean of longing

Though love has poured out its fathoms ten-fold

Darling, perhaps

This is simply life’s fortune

Of having and holding and growing old…

© Janet Martin

Remembering...

Sometimes we forget

That He who lights the day

Beholds each footstep that we take

And every word we say

Sometimes we forget

Before Time tuned earth’s sod

God WAS, IS and will ever be

In the beginning, God

Sometimes we forget

As doubt's vile demons roar

That God forgives our sin and then

Remembers it no more

Sometimes we forget

That disobedience

In spite of Love’s forgiveness yields

A bitter consequence

Sometimes we forget

That this is not the end

And soon this life will disappear

A vapor in the wind

Sometimes we forget

That God is God alone

And though the flesh is doomed to die

The soul lives on and on

© Janet Martin

 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring

 and the wheel broken at the well, 

 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Eccles. 12: 6-7

Without God

I could not face the day

Its sunshine or the rain

Without God’s love to lead the way

And bring me home again

I could not face the night

The darkness or its deep

Without God’s peace to whisper, child

I’ll keep thee while you sleep

I could not face this life

Its mountain or its sea

Without God’s grace to fill my want  

And gently comfort me

I could not face death's vale

But when that hour comes

I know that God will walk me through

And kindly lead me home

© Janet Martin

 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 

 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you; 

 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’ Num. 6:24-26

Of Cleansed Cups

The wind gathers mute moments spent

And it is foolish to lament

A season that has passed away

Or pine again for yesterday

Look! Look! Upon night’s waning main

God paints His patience once again

                                

The cup that claimed our innocence

And cradles action’s recompense

Would be our loathsome fear, but then

Because of grace does not condemn

The Hand that holds the universe

Cleanses this cup of Satan’s curse

Beyond this journey, moment-cast

The Prize we seek bids us hold fast

Though yesterdays accumulate

And pinnacles evaporate

Hope fills this chalice with fresh grains

The timeless grace of God remains

The winds gather mute moments spent

And we would drown in time’s lament

But for the grace of Calvary

And Faith in what we cannot see

Look! Look! God’s heaven fills with dawn

And kindly bids us journey on

© Janet Martin

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Isa. 43:25

Countdown

 

The countdown to wedding is now three weeks! Busy today making treats for their stag and doe tonight...

We touch life’s moments often without thought

Elusive countdown from unknown to known

This Intangible by which Time is wrought

Trickles to earth from Love’s merciful throne

Ethereal portions of grief and delight

Waking and sleeping they slip out of sight

Cosmic inception, its miniscule glance

Grazes our skin and dissolves in a sigh

Measureless moment, how blithely you dance

From fantasy to eternity’s sky

Flesh and blood fortune we never can see

Giving and taking in soft symmetry

Comfort and sorrow, how close they align

The course of moments cannot be reversed

By the same measure of laughter’s design

Blows the ill-wind oft lamented and cursed

Countdown of obscure velocity

Over Time’s landscape to eternity

© Janet Martin

The ‘hour-glass’ reminds me with each sparkle and lilt

How softly and gently a lifetime is spilt

  

Of Things I'd Like to Keep...

Love, I should never want to lose

The strength to hold, but then let go

Or never feel the breathless rush

Of awe for One who loves me so

And I would hate to realize

There is no pleasure ‘neath your touch

Or laughter in a paradise

Of home, where once we laughed so much

Oh darling, may I never lose

The wonder in a bud uncurled

Or plunder without second thought

The shadow-Edens of this world

I want to keep the war-like hurt

Of anguish as I see a child

Hungry, unloved and clothed in dirt

While others drool with wealth and pride

Love, may I never lose the sense

Of things eternal as years pass

And may I never lose the awe

Of moments trickling through Time’s glass

© Janet Martin

Cloud-shadows

It is too much to paint in word

This death of gentian, larkspur, rose

As summer’s azure shutters close

Above earth’s mesa, tangled, blurred

Spring’s garden of dirt-dreams renewed

And bare feet dancing on its path

 Boasts a bedraggled aftermath

Of fantasies tarnished, subdued

Soon, soon this faithful soil will sleep

Pitied by Mother Nature, she

Blankets its girth, soft, lavishly

With leaf-song drifting to its deep

Ah, we have gleaned her moments bare

Morning-midnight-kaleidoscope

Fine mingling of despair and hope

Flings thought-endearments to the air

It is too much for scripted rhyme

Remembrance wields a two-edged blade

As all these precious hours are laid

Beneath the cloud-shadows of Time

© Janet Martin

Of Imminent Interlacing

My love, the imminence of Past aches mutely on the air

The eloquence of word cannot appease its certainty

And though joy wings its flight it interlocks with sorrow where

Love’s labyrinth of living folds Time’s moments tenderly

Planting, tending and gathering; sweet hours coalesce

In retrospect we cannot rearrange its aftermath

How is it there appears a tear amidst this happiness?

As childhood’s fleeting heaven soon is strewn on living’s path

My love, the blush of morning fills the dark and stricken deep

And only by God’s grace can we embrace its mystic must

The fulcrum of existence joins Past’s everlasting sleep

Yet Hope attunes the heart in passages from dust to dust

My love, we cannot linger long to trace Time’s filigree

The imminence of Past makes precious every gifted breath

For soon a choir of echoes claims this present melody

In its fair, finest interlace of birth and life and death

© Janet Martin 

The other evening at my daughter's bridal shower we all agreed that our own showers did not seem so very distantly past and twenty-some years can disappear exceedingly fast!