A Celebration of Thankfulness (in both the bitter and sweet)

Happy Thanksgiving!

(I apologize in advance for the long post,

a few days in the 'making')

This Canada Thanksgiving weekend groans 

with love's bitterest and sweetest tokens...

On Friday morning I visited my sister 

recovering from a surgery ...sweet sister-fellowship💗 

On Friday afternoon I watched grandchildren 

while my daughter and son-in-law went to a visitation 

for a young man who drowned in a boating accident ...bitter😢

When they returned home we tossed all to-do lists to the wind

and made a campfire supper to enjoy the gorgeous autumn evening 

and each other's company...life is precious! ... sweet💖

(the idea came from a pretend fire earlier)

This pretend-fire idea came after delighting in the 'magic beans'/ pole beans

plucked from the vine on the arbor and deciding to make 'bean-soup'...

Saturday was a flurry of food-prep/cleaning 

for Saturday night Thanksgiving dinner ...sweet😘😋

Sunday morning Jim took some of our family to the airport 

only to discover some MUCH needed document was missed.

The decision was made that he would try to get home and back before the flight leaves

or someone would be left behind and need to fly out today.

While he was driving back and every precious minute mattered

he got a text saying the flight was delayed and all turned out well ...sweet!! 🙏

Yesterday, Sunday afternoon my 14 yr. old niece (my brother Lewis's daughter)

was involved in an accident

and she is in a medically induced coma at Sick Kids in TO.

to reduce stress from internal injuries. ...bitter!

Please pray!

But during bitter or sweet God is the same; always good and

we thank Him for His faithfulness.

The song at the end of this post

 was shared at our Church service yesterday morning;

part of  an amazing testimony as a couple shared a recent 

heart-rending, miraculous account

 of God's faithfulness in their lives

You can listen to it here;

click on Sunday Service October 10. 

 the testimony starts at 19:05 mins. in the recording...

It is Autumn and the earth is full of God's glory!

Isa.6:3

... “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; 

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Autumn’s aria escalates in treetop-orchestras

A melody sweeps through landscapes beneath breathless applause

Where humankind is smitten by glimmers of majesty

Who authored earth and heavens at creation's ‘let there be’

Whose divine providence instills the crux of buds and seeds

A wondrous fount that spills to fulfill mortal’s basic needs

The earth and its fullness thereof belongs to He who bends

The land’s four-season treasure-trove with bounty’s dividends

Where, as we contemplate the ways of God’s mercies renewed

This day that He has made overwhelms us with gratitude

For granted humble honour to partake of heaped buffets

Not with indulgent manner but with thankfulness and praise

Creation thunders with the evidence that grace bestows

Where wonder upon wonder’s undercurrent overflows

And steals the show with Master-pieces on public display

Then, leap for joy for none can keep God’s handiwork at bay

And let the colors of the season soothe and percolate

To bind the wounds where mind and reason cannot mediate

The world is full of ways to worry or to trust and pray

Time is in such a hurry to turn into yesterday

Then linger in the bowers where beauty bares nature’s soul

Where autumn’s garden flowers overhead while petals toll

To waft, breath-soft beneath our feet to thrill us once again

Enchanted by the bittersweetness of autumn’s amen

Let’s vow to love each other even if we disagree

Let’s cherish words like sister, brother, mom, dad, family

Let’s count the ways of happiness rather than what we lack

Be filled with praise and thankfulness, not vile, verbal attack

Let’s bow our heads and thank the Lord, who made Heaven and earth

For love and forgiveness outpoured; for salvation’s rebirth

Let’s live a life of gratefulness for God is in control

His everlasting faithfulness to strengthen and console

Then come what may, upon Time’s ever surging-ebbing tide

God is our advocate each day; His mercies will provide

And though our thankfulness may flow from hearts by sorrow torn

God’s loving kindness will bestow hope’s flower to the thorn

Autumn aria crescendos, then dwindles leaf by leaf

Scattering summer’s mementos like tears of joy and grief

Capturing the attentions of we, who identify

With the shifting dimensions of beauty that meets the eye

Aware that we behold but glimpses of God’s mighty ways

We raise our hearts and voices with glad thankfulness and praise

© Janet Martin

Goodness of God

Grand-sonny on a stump-and-tin-pail drum set...sweet💕😘