To Live/Love Without Reserve...

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.

Samuel Johnson~

May we be a Son-flower/sunflower in the garden of life!

Happy last-day-of-July

 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.

1 Cor.13:4-8

The best we have to live

Exists right now, right here

All we may keep is what we give

It is enough my dear

To love without reserve

To brush insult aside

For we have more than we deserve

Hope lives because He died

Then daily death of pride

Should be our wholesome quest

To live a life of self-denied

To give our humble best

With kind and utter thanks

For all that He has won

And trust Him to fill in the blanks

Still gaping with undone

The sting of verbal slights

Of love misunderstood

Cannot distract He who delights

To work for our good

Love, long-suff’ring and meek

Does not ‘settle the score’

But rather turns the other cheek

To author peace, not war

…to honour He who gave

Himself to manifest

The way true love ought to behave

When it is put to test

Love is more walk than talk

It speaks evil of none

But turns a would-be stumbling block

Into a stepping stone

© Janet Martin

A Very Big Event (and prep preceding it)

I know a person doesn't need to paint weathered, peeling surfaces
or wash mil-dewy soffits or snip-trim-edge-scrub-a-dub-dub,
 but when preparing to host A Big Event it does give one the motivation
 to blow the dust off an ever-growing should-do list and git-er-done! 

What is the Big Event, you wonder? Jim's mom's 89th birthday!

(So the families I do childcare for were gracious and found alternative childcare this week )

We gladly go a lot of extra miles and pay attention to details 

we otherwise would not when prepping for An Event. 

Then amidst merry chatter and laughter and "long-time-no-see!" 

(many not since Christmas because of Covid-19) the event passes.

There is a Very Big Event of Great Importance impending...which will never pass!!

How are we preparing for That Day?!

  

Blow the trumpet in Zion;

    sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—

Joel 2:1

"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. 

And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn 

when they see the Son of Man coming 

on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.

Matt.24:30

An oldie but as relevant as ever!!!

 

 

Nearer and ever nearer draws that great and glorious day

When then at last the burdens of love’s laws are borne away

In power and great glory on the clouds He will appear

And the whole world will mourn in awe and holy, holy fear

Nearer and ever nearer draws that dark and dreadful Day

When all who have not yet believed behold too late, too late

In horror and repentance they will call on rock and mount

To hide them from the One to whom we all will give account

Nearer and ever nearer draws that Day; then watch and pray

Lest by the lure of 'litter' we are blindly drawn away

In prayer and supplication let us make our calling sure

So on that great and dreadful Day God's grace keeps us secure

© Janet Martin

Luke 21:36
Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man.

 (preparation instructions)

2 Peter 1:3-21

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life 

through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

  ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, 

so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, 

having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; 

and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; 

and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  

⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

 ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, 

they will keep you from being ineffective 

and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, 

forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. 

For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 

¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom 

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prophecy of Scripture

¹² So I will always remind you of these things, 

even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

  ¹³ I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 

¹⁴ because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  

¹⁵ And I will make every effort to see that after my departure 

you will always be able to remember these things.

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you 

about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 

 ¹⁷ He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^[b] 

¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven 

when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

¹⁹ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, 

and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, 

until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture 

came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 

²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, 

spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Changeless As Ever, Forever

 The previous post talked about the constancy of change.

Juxtaposed to Change is the Constancy of what/Who cannot change...

The sky this morning was GORGEOUS, but something that never seems to change is

my habit of setting sunglasses and camera anywhere, 

so therefore it seems I spend half my summer hunting for one or the other.

I didn't get a picture of the dawn-sky (or last night's stunner of a sunset)

 but found my camera in the pantry a bit ago while making lunches.

I think I set it there after dashing out to

take these shots yesterday while making supper...

...another thing that doesn't change is the pile of work that won't wait,

waiting after a week away!

 But SO satisfying afterwards!

Changeless above all is the Word that IS God...

As changing as the surface of the sea

That ebbs and surges, is the toll of time

Colour and texture shift; humanity

As it adapts to each precarious clime

Is apt to drift on swells of idle talk

If not secured upon the Solid Rock

Ah, changeless as the ticking of the clock

This life is lashed by season’s shifting tides

Where clash of wills and warped logic may balk

Unshakeable, the Word of God abides

Then cling with faith, not sight, lest quest for proof

Cast dark shadows of doubt on timeless Truth

Beneath, above, beyond thought’s leaky roof

Unchanging is the One Time cannot thwart

Authority and love works for our good

While prophecy unfolds foretold report

While pleasure-pirates loot but cannot find

Enough of stuff to satisfy the mind

Unchanging is the plight of humankind

…we are all creatures full of utter need

Dependent on a pattern God designed

For we rebel, just like Adam and Eve

And we would all be sailors lost at sea

Without the Rock, secured at Calvary

This Rock is Jesus; He who sets us free

Anchors the Soul, lest dreadfully we drift

Toward the shoreline of eternity

Each breath we take diminishes the rift

Where change estranges much with shifting tides

But still the love and Word of One abides

We cannot overthrow what God decides

Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End

Will soon unveil the proof the Fool derides

And faith alone is called on to defend

Nearer and nearer draws the Awesome Hour

When Christ will reappear in glorious pow’r

© Janet Martin

the hymn below is especially meaningful in times like these!!

 Here is a sky-shot from two evenings ago!

Metamorphosis of Now...

 We have returned from a week away at the cottage...

a different sort of week as people came and went

as jobs required and released

(the cottage is close enough to home to make this possible)

Gone are the years when everyone could

take the same week off and stay.

so instead of looking back and mourning the past

we open our hearts and embrace

the ever-changing present

 precious time with Grandchildren...

 a bit of reading time...

listening to lake counsel, mesmerized by its varying tones...

 front row seat to the heavens declaring the glory of God!

among some of the week's pleasures

Change does not happen overnight

But oh, it always does

The Thing that is slips out of sight

Into the Way it Was

Wrapped in the rush of when and how

The metamorphosis of now

For what it’s worth ‘this too shall pass’

Nothing can hold its own

Against the trickle in a glass

That is not overthrown

But shapes time’s grains with subtle ease

Into a chain of memories

Time teaches us to cherish now

We have no more…or less

With which to learn, teach, reach and bow

Beneath farewell’s address

Where no one knows how near or far

To that Gateway called death we are

These numbered days, a gift from God

Ought to tune us with awe

Only a fool ignores his prod

Or sets a stubborn jaw

Where Time is like a wave that rolls

Toward the shoreline of our souls

Take heed, and treat with tender care

What none can own or keep

And fold that fist into a prayer

Lest you die in your sleep

Where now is always on the verge

Of where what is to Was will merge

So guard with wary gravity

Thought’s self-indulgent thirst

For by our very natures we

Are want and longing cursed

But He who does not change or shift

Helps us to find joy in His gift

© Janet Martin

OH!!! and last but not least
Jim playing scrabble on a rainy day
(doesn't he look like he's having the time of his life?!😂😂😂)

sharing a verse I've shared many times...

 Teach us to number our days, 

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12