Birth Beckons Celebration

Birth beckons celebration; whether babe, a bloom, a pup

New day that spills o’er yonder hills from Mercy’s brimming cup

Hope, like a hearty handshake, refreshes happiness

As beauty, God’s stayed signature anoints life’s ugliness

Where we, a host of beggars by the grace of Holy God

Are treated, free of charge to awesome art of sky and sod

Over the ash of ages and the bones of silenced cries

Birth frees from fettered cages the proof of God’s kind replies

Where death spills blood and stills the pulse (sometimes ‘neath human hands)

But breath that ushers birth only Life’s Bestower commands

For once life has departed no one can its voice revive

And only birth can keep the earth rejoicing and alive

Birth beckons celebration; like a poem penned by He

The author of salvation, to His beloved family

Where, midst the groaning turmoil beneath man, death would be chief

But hark; a puppy barks, a baby cries, dawn breaks, buds leaf

We lift our heads, a melody woos above brutal wars

And from Time’s teardrop riddled trench the human spirit soars

© Janet Martin

 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

Psalm 36:9 

The whole glorious psalm here,

as fitting for these days

as in days of old!

I have a message from God in my heart
    concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:^[b]
There is no fear of God
    before their eyes.

² In their own eyes they flatter themselves
    too much to detect or hate their sin.
³ The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
    they fail to act wisely or do good.
⁴ Even on their beds they plot evil;
    they commit themselves to a sinful course
    and do not reject what is wrong.

⁵ Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,
    your righteousness to the upright in heart.
¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me,
    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen—
    thrown down, not able to rise!