Saturday, October 30, 2021

Ink-Smiths

 


Yesterday's chores included reorganizing and tidying book nooks!


Oh joy! Why?
I made room for more😅

The ink-memento below was forged from the poet's perspective

With ink they praise
With ink they weep
With ink they groan and grin
And purge with phrase
What cannot sleep
Beneath a shroud of skin

With ink they love
With ink they thrill
With ink they try and try
To snare glints of
An escadrille
That marches through a sigh

With ink they pray
And beg and brood
Where heartache’s millstones press
The gold and gray
Of gratitude
Into scarred happiness

With ink they cry
With ink they smile
While forging cons with prose
To pacify
And reconcile
The thorns beneath the rose

With ink they wield
Thoughts tools of trade
Where parchment anvils bear
 Whispers soft-steeled
Against the blade
That fells fields of thin air 
  
© Janet Martin



Friday, October 29, 2021

Morning Prayer

 

Jesus answered,
“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Oh, that the joy of the Lord would ever be
the 'background to our consciousness'!
The excerpt below from the book

(I esp. love the prayers in this book)


This morning's prayer-poem started before I was out of bed,
as I prayed the third stanza,
(for how can I/we have a closer walk with Him
if there is an area of unrepentance still unaddressed?!)
I kept switching this from a personal I/me format
to a general us/we settling on the latter
because we are all in this faith-fight together
and it is the prayers of God's people that
keep His army strong!


Father of earth and Heav’n
We praise Thee for Thy grace
In this new day that Thou hast giv’n
Let nothing take Thy place

Be Thou our strength and stay
Over each thought preside
For thought shapes what we do and say
Then let Thy goodness guide

By the lamp of Thy Word
Convict the rebel-heart
Because without conviction, Lord
Repentance cannot start

Lord give us eyes to see
The fringes of Thy Hand
The thunder of Thy majesty
Ah, who can understand

But let it be enough
Whether in gain or loss
To know Thy everlasting love
Was proven on the cross

Help us fight the good fight
As warriors of peace
Fit us with Thy armor of Light
Where doom’s dark threats increase

Where pitfalls plague and test
Where enemies press hard
Lord, bid our souls to be at rest
Yet ever on Thy guard

Help us hunger and thirst
After Thy righteousness
Let truth keep us from being cursed
By vain covetousness

Father of earth and heav’n
Instill in us the joy
That at faith’s birthplace first was giv’n
And man cannot destroy

As we face the unknown
Let Thy Presence portray
One Hand beneath each stepping stone
And one to show the way

© Janet Martin





Thursday, October 28, 2021

Ode to October Almost Over

 


From morning's frost-gilt, mist-kissed filigree


To dusk's brusque, rusk-crisp tableau in what feels like no time at all!




Summer’s sanguine sparkle slumbers beneath autumn’s umber lull
Earth is steeped in muted murmurs siphoned from October’s hull

Hearts are always gently humbled when the world is full of fall
As the height of bloom is tumbled from its garden-pedestal

Jack Frost tweaks cheeks, ears and noses sparking poem-wanderlust
Canvas of daybreak exposes vistas etched in diamond-dust

Where a carousel of hours twirls the morning round and round
Like a sky full of leaf-flowers, moments flutter to the ground

While Duty tries to amaze us by granting backdrops of fall
And beauty drives us half-crazy by the wonder of it all

Camera lens never quite captures the majestic magnitude
Or the aura that enraptures as autumn dusk is subdued

Where, framed by the fading tincture on a page of history
We try to preserve its picture to relive in poetry

© Janet Martin







Ode to A Sunny October Day


After Monday and Tuesday's tempestuous weather
Wednesday was a dream!





The sky is like a sapphire bowl
 Tipped way up, upside down
The maple, like a parasol
Or queen with golden crown
The zinnia, like a lucent brooch
On azure collar pinned
The afternoon, a gleaming coach
Drawn by a sassy wind
The shadows like a tattered quilt
As holes begin to show
Where overhead autumnal gilt
Drifts earthward like leaf-snow
Where just to be alive is like
A gift twilight soon steals
The hour like a shiny bike
About to lose its wheels
The orchard filled with trees picked bare
Like ghost-towns lost to time
Save for a ladder here and there
Left for dreamers to climb

© Janet Martin

(this photo not taken yesterday
hence the gray backdrop)


this morning looks like another gem in autumn's crown!




This is the day the Lord hath made. 
We will rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isa.55:12





Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Agape With Joy (or Faith's Sojourn)

 

I thought this was going to be a roughly 3-stanza poem, maybe 4.
 But each stanza seemed to pour out another
until the Hallelujah climax! 🎵🙏

Nature keeps eyes agape with wonder!
God keeps faith agape with Truth!
And lest we forget, it is God in nature too!

John 1:3
Through him all things were made; 
without him nothing was made that has been made.







Agape with wonder, faith reveres
God’s dominion, scorned by a foe
Fraught with opinion’s pomp and show
Distorting the order of fears
That dash the piers where mercies flow

How false the gods of carnal man
Perched on a fickle pedestal
That death assuredly will fell
What then, without the cross to span
The gap between Heaven and hell

How can we hear if none will preach
The power of the Living Word
Able to train, correct and teach
To bridge the intangible breach
Between the sinner and his Lord

Wonder is but faith’s shadow cast
Beneath the Gates of Paradise
What waits when death opens our eyes
And today’s Day of grace is past
Man’s noblest thought can but surmise

Timeless, the duty God demands
Of we prone to be puffed with pride
The Bridegroom still charges His Bride
‘To fear God and keep His commands’
To test grand boasts with Self denied

Pray, we remember in our youth
The Creator, before we say
We find no pleasure in God’s Way
And disregard life-saving truth
As to sin’s death-traps we fall prey

Since Jesus walked upon this earth
Centuries rise and fall like waves
Across a world stubbled with graves
Yet held in Hope’s Womb of rebirth
Because the name of Jesus saves

Agape with wonder, we profess
God’s faithfulness, steadfast and true
As we cling to His promises
‘I will not leave you comfortless
For I will come to you’

This is the day the Lord has made
The praise of mortal to employ
The foundation that has been laid
Is Jesus Christ. the debt He paid
Leaves faith's sojourn agape with joy


© Janet Martin


Inspired in part by the poem below...

The Over-Heart
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

“For of Him, and through Him
 and to Him are all things, 
to whom be glory forever.”
PAUL.

ABOVE, below, in sky and sod,
In leaf and spar, in star and man,
Well might the wise Athenian scan
The geometric signs of God,
The measured order of His plan. 

And India’s mystics sang aright
Of the One Life pervading all,—
One Being’s tidal rise and fall
In soul and form, in sound and sight,—
Eternal outflow and recall. 

God is: and man in guilt and fear
The central fact of Nature owns;
Kneels, trembling, by his altar-stones,
And darkly dreams the ghastly smear
Of blood appeases and atones. 

Guilt shapes the Terror: deep within
The human heart the secret lies
Of all the hideous deities;
And, painted on a ground of sin,
The fabled gods of torment rise! 

And what is He? The ripe grain nods,
The sweet dews fall, the sweet flowers blow;
But darker signs His presence show:
The earthquake and the storm are God’s,
And good and evil interflow. 

O hearts of love! O souls that turn
Like sunflowers to the pure and best!
To you the truth is manifest:
For they the mind of Christ discern
Who lean like John upon His breast! 

In him of whom the sibyl told,
For whom the prophet’s harp was toned,
Whose need the sage and magian owned,
The loving heart of God behold,
The hope for which the ages groaned! 

Fade, pomp of dreadful imagery
Wherewith mankind have deified
Their hate, and selfishness, and pride!
Let the scared dreamer wake to see
The Christ of Nazareth at his side! 

What doth that holy Guide require?
No rite of pain, nor gift of blood,
But man a kindly brotherhood,
Looking, where duty is desire,
To Him, the beautiful and good. 

Gone be the faithlessness of fear,
And let the pitying heaven’s sweet rain
Wash out the altar’s bloody stain;
The law of Hatred disappear,
The law of Love alone remain. 

How fall the idols false and grim!
And lo! their hideous wreck above
The emblems of the Lamb and Dove!
Man turns from God, not God from him;
And guilt, in suffering, whispers Love! 

The world sits at the feet of Christ,
Unknowing, blind, and unconsoled;
It yet shall touch His garment’s fold,
And feel the heavenly Alchemist
Transform its very dust to gold. 

The theme befitting angel tongues
Beyond a mortal’s scope has grown.
O heart of mine! with reverence own
The fulness which to it belongs,
And trust the unknown for the known.

1859. 



Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Something More Precious than Time...

(playing a song from the era of many fond memories
of a friend's mother, who has passed on)
And praise God, she believed and taught her children to believe too!)


At today's visitation the phrase 'precious time'
stood out to me as they fondly recalled
the last days/year and a half with Mother
after they were initially told maybe three months...
Time/life is precious 
but to the believer there is something more precious than Time...

Precious in the sight of the LORD
 Is the death of His saints.
Psalm 116:15

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
Rom.10:9

Oh, have you received the free gift?
Have you believed so you will not perish
with that final breath
but have everlasting life?
John 3:16

We don't need to find and provide the atonement offering!
God provided the Lamb...
For just as through the disobedience
of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners,
so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus)
the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:19

What is our part?
To believe, receive and then,
'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, 
in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
 holy and pleasing to God—
this is your true and proper worship.'
Romans 12:1
(this not to secure our salvation, 
but to say thank-you, thank-you, Jesus
with a life of worship!)


He did not leave it up to us sin’s penance to procure
But gave His only Son, Jesus, our pardon to insure
If we believe we will receive the Gift purchased by He
Who suffered for us to achieve redemption’s legacy

He suffered for us to achieve redemption’s legacy
The evil one tries to deceive us with uncertainty
But God is faithful; He supplied atonement’s sacrifice
Once and for all Perfection died to pay salvation’s price

Once and for all Perfection died to pay salvation’s price
He does not ask us to provide what could never suffice
But simply beckons us to trust His forgiveness by grace

If we confess our sins His justice will our guilt erase
Oh God forgive us if some lesser god should take Your place
You lead us, not into temptation, You are our Shield
You repeal condemnation as by Your stripes we are healed

You repeal condemnation as by Your stripes we are healed
Hope’s open invitation rolls across earth’s Harvest Field
While Death is like a reaper’s blade a-swinging to and fro
And joy is knowing Jesus paid the debt we should yet owe

© Janet Martin

One more fav hymn by George Jones



Above The Call of Duty...


Today's visitation is the fourth one I am attending this month
some of the deceased young, some old.
...reminding us that we are all mortal
and Death is no respecter of age!
However, though Death is sometimes called The Grim Reaper
our prospects for eternity are not grim unless we have
rejected He who hung upon the tree to set us free
from the curse that damns the immortal soul...
The soul transcends dust and ash,
and whether we gaze at a body in a coffin
or a photo on a table the Immortal Soul
is the unthwartable, invisible imprint
of our Creator in us!

Our message this past Sunday
challenged all of us, if true believers 
to share the gospel, the Good News of Salvation,
our Living Hope, at every opportunity!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.



 


 




Above the call of duty that demands our diligence
Beneath the ever-ebbing surge of season’s recompense
No matter what exacts the task whereby toil takes its toll
Above the call of duty is the Call that saves the soul

Like flesh-and-blood-tsunamis generations rise and fall
God, who is man’s Creator knows the hearts of one and all
And loves us so He gave His Son to pay sin’s awful price
The Author of Salvation provided the sacrifice

…so that we need not perish; there is power in the blood
Where I AM’s flawless crucible poured out redemption’s flood
Where pray, the faith that makes us whole ignites the Living Word
So we proclaim the living hope of Jesus Christ our Lord

His righteousness within us is the power of the cross
For there is no one righteous without Him; all gain is loss
Where some still count as foolishness, the message we applaud
But to those who are being saved it is the pow’r of God

Above the call of occupation’s menial decree
Beneath the ever-waning gap before eternity
The faith that saves the soul and sets us free becomes the cord
That binds us to the urgent call of Jesus Christ, our Lord

© Janet Martin

Monday, October 25, 2021

Faithful Unto Death

Good deeds alone cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
We are not saved by works lest anyone should boast;
Eph.2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
so,
James 2:17-
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

one of the most riveting accounts of faith in the Bible

Our battles are not invisible to God,
nor is the altar of the heart.
He sees the full sacrifice
and whether it is love
1 Cor.13:3
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned,
but have not love,
it profits me nothing.

So, as the altar of Today
unfolds 'neath hands and feet
oh, may love's offering we lay
rise in aromas sweet




Pray naught would be too dear
To sacrifice for Thee
Who gave, to save us from death’s fear
Thy Son on Calvary

No angel Hand to stay
The hand that drove the nails
Obedience did not cry ‘nay’
In suffering’s darkest vales

But, faithful unto death
Love did love’s calling brave
Beyond the realm of mortal breath
Sin’s ransom trounced the grave

Then bid, with awed regard
And love’s humility
Oh God, nothing would be too hard
To sacrifice for Thee

Pray faith supersedes sight
As Abraham of old
When tested to surrender’s height
Still, nothing would withhold

But, faithful unto death
Let love’s sweet fragrance rise
Until the knife of final breath
Rends what yet veils faith’s prize

© Janet Martin







Saturday, October 23, 2021

Of Blue on Blue


One of the moms I do childcare for lost both her grandparents within two weeks. 
Her Grandma's funeral is today.
Lloyd and Shirley were married for 63 years 
and raised their large family in this community
They were well known and loved and will be missed by many!.
Death has a way of kindling the flame of awareness within us!
Awareness of the brevity of life even if lived to a ripe old age!
Awareness of the preciousness 
of what may appear commonplace
until it is no more!

So let's linger longer


... over supper,


on garden benches

lets dance in the rain,

delight in the sunrise,

...and such, 
Before what may seem commonplace
slips from our touch

Where yester-twilight’s countryside
Was veiled with deeper blue on blue
Soft pink, the ink of morning-tide
Seeps through the heavens far and wide
To melt the mantle twixt the view
And toll the bell of life-to-do

How faithfully new morning breaks
Through bars to hold the stars at bay
While we tend to soon-morrow’s wakes
Of toil and trust’s relentless stakes
While seasons subtly ebb away
The gap twixt grace and Judgement Day

A sense of something more endears
Us to the precious peal of grace
For with life’s gathered, dwindling years
That like a little mist appears
And soon no fingertip can trace
We cherish more, the commonplace

Of smiles to wear and help to lend
Of gratitude for mercies new
While moments fall and seasons wend
Their way from beginning to end
Where, who knows who will next pass through
The veil that deepens, blue on blue

Each day on earth, a gift of grace
Time like an easel, splashed with pleas
Lord, teach us to treasure each face
Of loved ones still in our embrace
Before A Final Brushstroke frees
A Masterpiece of memories

We tread the sacred breadth of Now
Absorbed by little life-to-do
As breath-by-breath winnows the bough
Of blooms we often miss somehow
Until Death lowers blue on blue
And draws another face from view

© Janet Martin


James 4:14-15
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life?
You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Instead, you ought to say,
“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”









Friday, October 22, 2021

For What His Grace Allots...(and update on my niece)


Life is beautiful (even in the broken)
Is it not the broken that enhances the beauty?!
(see end of post for update on my niece)
Life is not perfect.
Love is far from perfect
we are broken people each in our own personal situations of
'try, try again' to make the best with what we have.
Life's road is full of ruts
It can be easy to get stuck in one without realizing it;
attitudes, habits, etc.
But with each morning comes God's mercies renewed
and fresh grace and opportunity to do the best with what we have.
Futile to look to the neighbors garden wishing for their lot/plot...

(the above is the part I wrote this morning 
before Duty took over and turned it into an evening post)

this little tot is simply peering through the fence to enjoy the view!
So I decided to join her and just enjoy it too💖


futile to peer over the fence to pine for greener lot/plot
and overlook due diligence wishing for what is not
nor is there any common sense on looking back too long
today becomes the recompense tomorrow hinges on

what does it profit you or I to wallow in dismay
what matters now is how we tie up loose ends of Today
before it is too late to make the most of what will be
The Past when twilight bars the gates where today used to be 

the same sun sets and rises on a world of fellowmen 
the whetting stone of life's surprises vexes our ken
where some will bless and some will curse and some will just stand by
for better or for worse each circumstance waits our reply 

sometimes a little stumble jolts us to reality
and helps to keep us humble in the opportunity
where, pray we honor Providence with what His grace allots
rather than peer over the fence and pine for greener plots

Janet Martin

1 Pet. 4:10-11

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, 
as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 
 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. 
If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,
 so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 
To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. 
Amen.

Update on my niece who suffered
multiple injuries in an accident almost 2 weeks ago...
The doctors are amazed at her progress!
Yesterday she was released from Sick Kids
and granted permission to go home for a few days 
before starting rehab next week!
She still tires very easily.
She turns 15 tomorrow!
We are so happy for her to be able to celebrate this
milestone at home with her family!
No visitors allowed (due to Covid-risks)
and prayers for continued healing appreciated! 

We are very thankful for the healing
God's grace has allotted so far!




Thursday, October 21, 2021

October (and a foodie finish!)

 Blushing hydrangea where autumn frosts flirt...


Shiny red apple for dinner dessert...



Blushing hydrangea where autumn frosts flirt
Shiny red apple for dinner dessert
Sassy wind sashaying through grand ballrooms
Scattered with tatters from lofty-tree looms
Landscapes, rain-glossy run slightly awry
With watercolors unfurled from the sky

Summer’s orange embers twixt plowed furrows glow
Warming our spirits on hearths primed for snow
One day soft kitten-like purrs kiss our cheeks
The next day mittens where b-r-r-risker breeze tweaks
Bronze burnished ambience startled with white
Maple-tree halos soft-doffed overnight

Hunger is teased and appeased thoroughly
Fresh from the oven or garden or tree
Gathered with humble and thankful hurrah
For autumn’s opulent cornucopia
Cooks in a quandary of pure delight
At endless options for dinner tonight

Cattails like sentry in russet wool coats
Puddles like miniature lakes full of boats
Wishes like milkweed-silk bursting from seams
Flashes of silver on backdrop of dreams
South-facing backyards like sudden sun-spas
Woodlands like grandstands of fading applause

October blazes with glory of fall
Capturing gazes where vistas enthrall
Making hearts ever so happy and sad
World full of wonder driving poets mad
Reasoning ruffled by fading veneers
Leaf-song turned into a trickle of tears

October offers a bount’ous buffet
So much to sample from its ample tray
So much to savour with eyes-ears-nose-mouth
Flavors and colors, east, west, north and south
October shimmers and glimmers until
Each candle is snuffed on Autumn's windowsill

© Janet Martin

Cooks in a quandary of pure delight
At endless options for dinner tonight...
I love this kind of quandary!😊 

I was torn between homemade pizza to use some of the last
of fresh garden peppers, onions etc.
I am also craving cabbage rolls
and squash apple bake, but as I rooted through the fridge
to make sure there wasn't some forgotten vittles, sure enough,
I found some pulled pork which needed to be used
so I made a
Pulled Pork Calzone.
The dough was a wad I had frozen from a previous pizza dough batch 
so ended up being not quite as puffy as fresh dough would be.
Spread dough on baking stone or pan
Layer filling down the center;
pulled pork, chopped onion, peppers, parsley and shredded mozz. cheese.

bring ends together in the middle and pinch
then flip over so seam is on the bottom 
Score top if desired


Bake at 375 or 400 for approx. 30 min.
Let cool slightly and serve.


Perfect with a side of coleslaw!😋
This coleslaw consisted of chopped green cabbage, red onion,
chopped green peppers, toasted flax and sunflower seeds with soy dressing
Soy Dressing
shake soy sauce, your choice of vinegar, (white, apple-cider, balsamic etc.)
black pepper, desired amount of sweetness
in honey or white sugar, after well blended add oil. 
Shake, shake, shake, pour YUM!
all amounts eye-balled😐


Dessert if needed will be an apple!
no room right now😛




Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Enough

 

 "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, 
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God the Father through him." 

I started this post at daybreak
(first four lines)
Tonight I tried to get the rusty gears in my head to turn
and pick it up where it left off...
wow! cr-e-e-a-k! 
Great outdoor day!
And wow-some skies all day long!







Under those great skies a lot of flower bulbs got dug,
but muddy hands most of the day so no pictures.


I did stop for a cup of black-currant and mint-leaf tea.
The currant bush had freshly budded leaves.
Those leaves make a fantastic tea when brewed.


Dawn breaks the bud to unveil pastel petals of a Bloom
Today spills from the impalpable shuttle of yon loom
In strands that run through hearts and hands with stark yet subtle ease
To strew behind the art that hangs in mist-kissed galleries

Seasons tumble through treetops while we watch, always spellbound
By nature’s show that never stops, on time’s merry-go-round
Beauty takes no vacation; winter, spring, summer and fall
Exalts without cessation, the Creator of it all

When twilight draws dusk’s curtain blush then blue then black as coal
When all we know for certain is that God is in control
It is enough. To bid us join with nature’s symphony
To exalt He who did and does so much for you and me

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Autumn Awe-frames

 






autumn keeps swiveling our heads
and slowing our feet
and snuffing want-lists 'neath the tread
of beauty, bittersweet

autumn mellows landscapes and pleas
as woodland bows/boughs untwist
a color-burst of symphonies
that melt like morning mist

autumn is like a painter's gift
each tree a pedestal
showcasing works of art that drift
down petal by petal

autumn enhances ways we trod
with backdrops blue and gold
*where duty serves its honoured squad
with wonders to behold

autumn unravels foliage-fronds
and from its lisle weaves
with tatters from a loom of wands
a counterpane of leaves

© Janet Martin


* my brother and his wife must leave the joys of farming and home-making duties
to other hands as they spend all the time they can with their daughter who is hospitalized
after being injured in an accident last weekend.
She is progressing well but healing simply takes time/patience!
We are excited to see what this week brings in this journey.
but it makes we who are blessed to be able to perform our duties feel
like part of an honoured squad, does it not?!!



With a morning like this my head feels like its on a swivel,
photo-opps everywhere!