Now...Before Eternity

Yesterday's Brush

Today's art!

A compilation of Now does not

drift and heap visibly like flakes of snow...

yet leaves lifetimes in its wake...

Now is the test of time

Now is the day of grace

Now is a rung on scales we climb

A universal race

Now is all that we have

Twixt past and future fixed

Now is the dirt above the grave

The stomping ground betwixt

All that has passed away

All that is yet to be

Now is the mercy of Today

Before eternity

Now is the test of time

Now grace is full and free

Now is a ladder that we climb 

Into eternity

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.6:2 NASB

for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,

 AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." 

Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," 

behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION "--

Where Hope Is...Not

Happy Leap-day!
Especially to those celebrating their birthdays today!

 "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD.

 "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 

though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isa.1:18

Pink flares and fades beyond plush grades of freshly fallen snow

Soon the whole sky is like a sigh of pastel overflow

The heath above earth’s pristine glove rouses a tender rhyme

Before the air becomes the stair the sun begins to climb

Where hope is not some routine jot tendered to to-do's chase

But God's abiding rod and staff; the autograph of grace

See how dawn’s glow ignites the snow; gold gilds white through and through

As mercy wields, o'er hills and fields, morn's olden orb anew

The showcase of faith, hope and love beams with Time’s practiced grin

The crepuscule of neb’lous wool withdrawn; Dawn wins again

Where hope is not Positive Thought derived by mortal breath

Hope is redemption; the exemption from eternal death

Then with the voice of earth rejoice and praise mankind’s Best Friend

No matter what, the love of God is faithful without end

The beauty we behold unfolds a glimpse of what hope grants

If we believe and then receive Mercy’s inheritance

Where hope is not circumstance-wrought, but purchased at great cost

For God so loved the world He gave His Son to save the lost

Pink flares and fades; care's escapades fuel what prayers become

For none of us can know the Thus ensconced in moment-sum

But we are clean as the pure sheen of freshly fallen snow

If we confess our sinfulness (for God’s word tells us so)

Where hope is not karma’s mascot that lucky stars achieve

Hope is the love that secures us the moment we believe

© Janet Martin

The Onions Are Sprouting!

The onions are sprouting

Thus hope usurps doubting

Where we feared perhaps spring would lose her fair way

Where landscapes are pillowed

With white-capes soft billowed

Like waves made of marshmallow crème and star-fray

High-ho merry maiden

With pots and pans laden

With fresh-chopped ingredients ready for soup

Soon fresh garden salad

Will tickle the palate

Soon all this white mayhem will melt underfoot

Then sing without sorrow

In some soon tomorrow

The field’s frozen furrow will turn like a page

The seed in the packet

Will spill from its jacket

The bloom in the bud will break free of its cage

The onions are sprouting

This humble gourd shouting

From dark cellar corners of bright sunny hours

Then grin at this hinter

Teasing Old Man Winter

With tender green tendrils; the prelude to flowers

© Janet Martin

Thursday-what's-for-Supper was loosely based on this recipe...

(I added black beans, fresh veggies, soy sauce and omitted one can of soup) 

 Last night's supper left-overs are perfect for today's savoury snow-day soup!

While We Feel Oh, So Little (in the Grand Scheme of Today)

How and what ,wherever-in-the-world-you-are, are you doing today? 

Snow-lovers are getting their cups of happiness filled to overflowing the past few days!

Due to all this 'happiness' no kiddos today...

 My head wanted a poem about snow but

 another Whisper usurped...

 Are we in God's Word?

If not, how much  ALL we miss!

 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. 

And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence 

 and the hope of which we boast.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..."

Heb.3:6-8

While we feel oh, so little in the Grand Scheme of Today

Our Father up in Heaven hears each earnest prayer we pray

Then, as we entrust heart’s desires to Hope’s Advocate

What seemed so small becomes a Powerhouse of humble faith

Love’s divine intervention we oft do not recognize

As He draws strayed attention to the grave-ness of The Prize

Our Father up in Heaven, pray we do not disregard

Your Voice until our hearts become indifferent and hard

The death of a believer sometimes precedes the cold grave

When the Deceiver succeeds in making someone sight’s slave

But sight is the opponent to the fight that faith empowers

Our Father up in Heaven’s ways do not cater to ours

The God of love bids us believe; the devil bids us doubt

The God of love bids us receive what none dare die without

How pitiful is the perception of the naked eye

I AM can never be contained in cups thought could descry

The ellipses that gather day by day then year by year

Final exhale eclipses then the Unseen will appear

Then all that fueled argument and hope will be made plain

In the Beginning IS the Word that will forever reign

© Janet Martin 

 Acts 28:23-27

  They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, 

and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. 

He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, 

and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.  

 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.  

 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement:

 “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” 

 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’^[a]