Monday, January 31, 2022

Let It Be...Winter!



And just like that, January 2022 is a memory!
Wow! Winter months really do seem to pass far
too swiftly to be fretted over!
(My truck-driver husband definitely begs to differ😅)

The distance between dawn and dusk 
dissolving ever-so swiftly...





We will soon be warmed with wonder
Where the orchard stark and still
Will burst with pale chiffon plunder
Of first blossom’s pastel frill
Where the creek, now sleek as satin
Will lure bare feet to its brink
And the children will laughin’
And the calf learnin’ to drink
And the mother will be singin’
In a world of blush and jade
And the garden will be ringin’
With the peal of hoe and spade
And the meadow will be gleamin’
With the aftermath of white
Where the whole world will be beamin’
With a poet’s sheer delight

Then, let winter be the willow
Bronze brush-stroked on brooding blue
Let it be a sequined pillow
The landscape of spartan hue
The midday third round of scrabble
While a vault of stars is spilled
While the birds twitter and squabble
Over feeders freshly filled
Let it be the woodstove’s glory
Days; the height of home-sweet-home
The vicarious life through story
-books; frost-fretwork of a poem
Let it be the bluff and bluster
Of Old Man Winter’s ‘hell-o-o-o ‘
Let it be the joy we muster
As he flusters plans with snow

Let it be the love of lamplight
Cup of tea and fireside chair
Knee-deep trek through rose-swept twilight
Autumn melted on the air
Let it be the wind berating
Dusk's unruffled shadow-piers
Poised between seasons in waiting
And the waft of yesteryears
Let it be the love of knowing
Every day is gone too soon
Reduced to a pale fringe glowing
Crisp dark singed with crescent moon
Let it be the rush of oceans
Tossed, white-glossed across the lea
Where Time’s salty spray is frozen
In a fray/frame of memory

© Janet Martin



Perfect For Love



The evils of this world cannot keep kindnesses at bay
Then give utmost attention to its Beauty every day
And live as if this life was heaven-lent for love alone
To be part of a mission that cannot be overthrown
To bite our tongue when stinging words could slip and hit their mark
To never mind if no one sees but God (He sees the heart)
And to do unto others as we would they do to us
To be gentle and patient; rather than shake fists and cuss
Because kindness is something that this world could use more of
No matter where we are, today is just perfect for love

© Janet Martin



Wouldn't it be wonderful if when God opens our
ledger of deeds on That Day it would reveal
one recorded kindness after another?!

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; 
that every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

I have been the recipient of a few kindnesses already today!
My sister and daughter texted to ask how I am feeling 
after a few days being 'under the weather.'


Though not completely recovered 
I am thankful to be feeling a bit better today.


Two of my sisters and I went on a walk on Friday afternoon.
It was very cold but beautiful.
I got a bit chilled as we sat in this gorge(ous)spot and chatted for a bit.
Maybe, if I was vulnerable that was the final nudge.



Eph.4:32
And be kind to one another, 
tenderhearted, 
forgiving one another, 
even as God in Christ forgave you.



Saturday, January 29, 2022

Contemplating the Incomprehensible...Love of God

 

To love You enough, God, to forget about 'me'
May this my daily desire be.
Amen




The Love of God- Mercy Me

1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 
that we should be called children of [a]God! 
Therefore the world does not know [b]us,
 because it did not know Him.




The love of God,
Oh, cherished thought
Enough to satisfy
To turn our gaze
From lesser ways
That deceive and defy

Love without end
Oh, what a friend
Is more faithful than He
Who bids us come
And depart from
Profitless vanity

God, rich in love
Enough, enough
Ah, may our witness prove
The joy and peace
Of want’s release
Perfected though His love

How dear and sweet
Where fears compete
With faith’s meek confidence
To trust in He
Whose love sets free
An army of defense

The love of God
Oh, wondrous thought
While endless ages roll
Our melody
Of joy will be
The love that saved the soul

The love of God
Ah, thought cannot
Such vastness comprehend
The fullness of
The kind of love
That doth sinners befriend

That doth forgive
So we may live
Each day, devoutly awed
As we embrace
His gift of grace
The boundless love of God

Such love, proven
When through His Son 
Redemption crushed the foe
Enough, enough
This God of  love 
None but his loved ones know

The pleasure of
The lesser love
Of leisure's thirsting laud
Cannot console
Or fill the hole/whole
Shaped for the love of God  

© Janet Martin

Rom.8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] 
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 
 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, 
will be able to separate us from the love of God 
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.



Friday, January 28, 2022

Of Footfall Frames

Each day is a 'footfall frame'! (no! not a football game. that's in a few weeks)😅
May we pay careful attention to the echoes we are composing
that will fill its frame tonight and eventually the frame of a lifetime!

Today a man I worked for, for eight years in days gone by, Merlen Kropf is being laid to rest.
Due to ongoing covid-restriction making traditional funerals impossible,
many will pay tribute to him by lining the streets of his hometown as the funeral procession passes.
We all have our own set of precious memories to accompany our tears...
And even though he lived to a ripe old age, 
Numbered Days is such a brief stage!

While I was employed by him
Merlen honoured me by taking a genuine interest in my love for writing poetry.
(a very busy businessman! Can you believe it?!)

Below is one from the archives that they put in their Christmas grocery flyer.


He often invited me to write something at Christmas for the flyer 
or the L&M Christmas Banquet 
one of those poems being In Search of Christmas Day,
many years later recorded by Scott Woods Band

I loved taking great pride in the instore bakery showcases and shelves
Below, photos of a few old photo-album pages


(And as I met Merlen occasionally throughout the following years
he took such a kind interest in my life/family
 and paid many beautiful compliments!)

Death makes us ponder more somberly
 the footfalls we are leaving behind
(doesn't it?!!) 
on this common ground of today!

This, while a Freedom Convoy rolls toward Ottawa
and passions are running at all-time highs in many Canadian breasts...

'God keep our land glorious and free'

as we are all part of a Convoy rolling toward eternity!
What/Who is fueling our cause?!!


The footfalls of a cast soon Past are rolling through the land
Where choice becomes the voice that draws its pictures in time’s sand
Where recompense of consequence always follows the act
No matter how we try to thwart the matters of this fact
Then pray as we step onto dawn’s fresh stage beneath our feet
For love, more kind and tender love for everyone we meet

How easily we prove by choice, what whets our appetites
As we move toward finish lines where we have set our sights
Desire is a fire that burns in each one of us
While morning unto morning turns into The Day That Was
Then pray desire’s flames are fueled not by spite or greed
But by love, kind and tender love for we of common need

The rise and fall of reason rolls with the call of the cause
Where carriages of Deathless Soul are like frail wisps of gauze
That appear for a little while and then we are no more
The echo of footfalls soon muffled by Now’s crowds that roar
Then pray, as each today is soon snuffed by a starry sea
For love, more kind and tender love to be our legacy

How long the Aftermath of Moment holds its frozen sway
How ever-so-important is the toll of day-to-day
Where, God, not time, is on our side and works for our good
If we love Him; then pray we love each other like we should
Before this life God grants becomes ‘their’ flood of tears that brim
Where how we love each other proves the love we have for Him

© Janet Martin

This verse is included at the end of Merlen's obituary

For God so loved the world
that He gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life
John 3:16

Oh pray our lives may mirror His love in us
to our fellowman!

Matt.5:43-48
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor i and hate your enemy.’
 44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
 45that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 
46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 
Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
 47And if you greet only your own people,
what are you doing more than others? 
Do not even pagans do that? 
48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.



Thursday, January 27, 2022

Aren't you Glad Too?


Yahoo! I just had another baby!
Kidding😂
but sometimes that's kinda what it feel like 
when another poem is born;
Oh, the joy after the labor and the delivery💖💖💖

And no matter what composes picture-shows of 'life we’ve had'
On dawn’s skyline beams Beginning of a new day, aren’t you glad?


Sometimes Jim (husband) teases me over the plethora of sunrise pictures shared here,
but in my defense, 
I never want to get so jaded that I am no longer awed by The Utterly Awesome!
(and Jim agrees)




Aren’t you glad today is never replayed from dusk’s low’ring door?
That each bud of bloom delivers beauty not beheld before
That the glorious hope of Heaven waits at death if we believe
Not the cradle to be given one more lifetime to achieve

Aren’t you glad we start as babies; not yet set in our ways
That God’s mercy new each morning never His goodness betrays
That His Word is everlasting, not keeping pace with the times
Not like shifting cast of shadows, but steadfast as mountain climes

Aren’t you glad that we are never too old to learn something new
That the seasons keep their order, spring-summer-fall-winter through
That sunrise and set are always out of reach of fingertips
Set before our gaze to author praise from amazed hearts and lips

Aren’t you glad for cuppa something steaming, books and cozy nooks
For chatter and laughter brimming from sparkling children and brooks
That as we are growing older God surprises us with joy
Impossible to discover as a younger girl or boy

Aren’t you glad for socks and mittens, kitten-puppy happiness
For delight when the response to our ‘please’ replies with ‘yes’
For tap-dancers made of raindrops, shoeless freedom of bare feet
For the fervor of the vision and thrill of mission complete

For a table set for dinner for two, or for company
For redemption for the sinner; aren’t you glad God sets us free
For the poetry of wonder making ordinary Grand
For the feeling of belonging when we traverse hand in hand

Aren’t you glad today is never replayed; yesterday unbound
Even best days wouldn’t be as sweet the second time around
And no matter what composes picture-shows of 'life we’ve had'
On dawn’s skyline beams Beginning of a New Day, aren’t you glad?

© Janet Martin

And below
a glorious Glad Song

Psalm 113

Hallelujah!
Give praise, O servants of the LORD;
praise the name of the LORD.

Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forevermore.

From where the sun rises to where it sets,
the name of the LORD is praised.

The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God,
the One enthroned on high?

He humbles Himself to behold
the heavens and the earth.

He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the dump
to seat them with nobles,
with the princes of His people.

He settles the barren woman in her home
as a joyful mother to her children.

Hallelujah!

Aren't you glad too,
That sunrise and set are always out of reach of fingertips
Set before our gaze to author praise from amazed hearts and lips


Notice how the sun no longer rises across the field
like it did a month ago?!
A sure sign that winter is trundling toward spring!


And last but not least,
did you know you are one of the rare people who pauses on this porch?
I would like to tell you thank-you!
I am so glad you do because as George MacDonald once penned...

A poet is a man (or woman) who is glad of something
and tries to make other people glad of it too!
George MacDonald~

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

A-a-ah! Awe-Aura or Tribute to Twilight


When the eastern skyline looks like this at dusk
then I know something pretty spectacular is going on in the west!



I ran upstairs and sure enough...


so I dashed downstairs, grabbed a coat, 
jumped into boots and hurried behind the house...


and even in that mere minute 
some of Farewell's flare was beginning to fade...

(Yes! I'll take the teaser!
although I confess there are times I wish I could snap my fingers,
say abracadabra,
and make the buildings disappear for a little,
then snap them again and put them back😅)

Time’s aura of farewell 
fills up 
the stillness of the sky
an artist spills 
to hill and dell 
a pastel lullaby
the aftermath of day 
composes poetry 
sublime
yet without parchment page 
or merge of syllable 
and rhyme
on a canvas 
devoid of substance 
flaming strokes 
release
to awe onlookers 
with the gift
 of 
One More 
Masterpiece

© Janet Martin



Wonder-Full

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
 so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

A glimpse at what has overflowed my cup of  hope (aka wonder and joy)
in the past few days...

Winner of the American Express Golf Tournament...
with his son who kept saying 'daddy, let's go see the ducks and geese' (swimming nearby)
completely oblivious to the interview/er about his daddy's shining hour💖




Guess which part of the pumpkin-raisin muffin tot preferred😂



These pics but surface skimmings!!
A few more below!
How does one choose a few from thousands?!!
(h-m-m, is that what God says as He chooses our mercies new each morning?!)
('how does one choose a few from trillions?')

The wonder of the Giver’s love is up to us to find
His promises bring happiness to heart and soul and mind
To we who seek, God’s goodness leaps to cheer the common-place
To sweeten life amidst the toil and strife of truth and grace

To wonder is faith’s sacred bliss; a diamond in the dirt
Of learning how to find the ‘wow’ in hope’s heartache and hurt
How to be awed by Holy God where His kind mercies brim
Our burden but the needful ‘what’ to keep us tuned to Him

The wonder of the Giver’s love bids us to be content
To marvel where the very air we breathe is Heaven-lent
To take the time to be sublimely surprised by the ‘small’
And to begin to barely skim the wonder of it all

The wonder of God is enough to combat wonder’s foe
Where sin would be an enemy we could not overthrow
But, by God’s grace He helps us trace the shadow of His pow’r
As to love’s grief He pins a leaf, bird-symphony, a flow’r

© Janet Martin


(this passage is entitled The God Given Task)
Eccles.3:9-14
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 
10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. 
Also He has put eternity in their hearts, 
except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 
13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—
it is the gift of God.
14 I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.

and the conclusion is entitled:
The Whole Duty of Man
9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; 
yes, he pondered and sought out and set[c] in order many proverbs. 
10 The Preacher sought to find [d]acceptable words; 
and what was written was upright—words of truth. 
11 The words of the wise are like goads, 
and the words of [e]scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 
12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. 
Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.








Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Relentless Gladness or For The Sake of Souls Still Lost

Psalm 51:7

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; 
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

(whiter than snow?!! Can you imagine it?)
We are in a snow-white world today in Ontario!
Well, on closer scrutiny, white that dons hues of blues and golds!
Gorgeous!




“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

This world is so full of madness, evil scheme and rebel pride
Yet, through grace, relentless gladness of faith, hope and love abide
For greater is He within us than the meanness of the age
We have victory in Jesus even while vile battles rage

Come, let us reason together whether young, old, rich or poor
Take the yoke that mercy tethers to the Hand, scarred and secure
He who walked in Eden’s Garden where guilt sought to hide away
Will still sorry sinner pardon; harden not your heart today

Though our stains of sin are scarlet he will wash us white as snow
Break the chain that binds the harlot to the chamber of the foe
This is no trite invitation when Christ calls, ‘come unto Me’
The seal of the soul's salvation drenched the cross of Calvary

Yet with grace-empowered patience God restrains the trumpet sound
And the face-to-face acquaintance of His own gathered around
For this world so full of madness, suffering and trouble-tossed
He delays That Day of Gladness, for the sake of souls still lost

Faith is fitted for the hour, not by the power of man
But by He who did not cower when confronted with Love's Plan/hate's clan
He did not claim the advantage of equality with God
But beheld beyond death's vantage, its defeat and triumph's laud


© Janet Martin



Monday, January 24, 2022

Womanly Unique


 Two lovely ladies from our church have created
The Mosaic Podcast (beauty created from brokenness)
Every single guest leaves me with a feeling of woman-to-woman kinship, 
not in everything but in something, 
because as women, in spite of all our differences
we have so much uniquely in common!
Right?


So, woman to woman,

Let’s not let our differences 
destroy our common ground
We may not all be kindred spirits, 
but still we are bound
By something womanly unique 
that leaves a man perplexed
Because they never know for sure 
what we will think of next
😅
Janet~  




I'm kinda glad Jim didn't see me climb a tree in boots with heels
with a coffee in my hand
to have a little dusk-soak a few dusks ago....
(the tree climbing was not preplanned 
or I would have chosen more practical footwear)😊

Cheers!






Window-wonder...


When we got our dumping of snow last week
I asked my daughter who lives in the city rather than the countryside
what her street looks like and she sent me a few pictures from her window...
her window has kept her bedroom/slash office
from feeling like a jail-cell during lockdowns!


So let's celebrate windows today!
A few days ago when I visited my husband's mother I admired her geraniums plants,
reminding me of children with eager faces pressed to the window! (no photo though!)
My mother-in-law, frail with age spends each day in her chair by the window
watching the birds and activity of farm-life...
birds are busy but farm-life is rather more relaxed/quiet this time of year.

Last month I took a few pictures of my friend's windows...

 
Something about the sparseness of this window and surroundings was so enchanting...
an old rocking chair and a lamp on the sill in a room of an apartment 
they were about to get ready for her son to move into...

I also enjoy a Facebook group called Out My Window...

Our front Livingroom window...

back Livingroom window...


Laundry-room window...(below)
By the way, let me know if you live close to me
if you would like an aloe-vera plant.
the momma-plants keep having babies!!😅


one of our Kitchen windows...

A window frames the seasons as they slip across the land
The morning ushered in by He who is first in command
Where beauty of the earth and sky rouses ageless delight
To keen and satisfy desire’s deepest appetite

A window is the gateway for sunlight to fill the room
To keep indoors from feeling like a dungeon or a tomb
Where city street or countryside unfurls before our gaze
Where sills invite a flowerpot or freshly picked bouquets

...an altar where we pause to pray or sit to read a bit
A place to admire the way that birds twitter and flit
Where smudge and kiss of children's hands and faces warm the heart  
As mother smiles while others might be prone to miss the 'art'   

A window makes the poor man rich as thankfulness beholds
The landscape like a counterpane that Break of Day unfolds
As heavens overflow and frameworks that were black before
Are filled with pictures of the world outside our door once more

© Janet Martin

Where smudge and kiss of children's hands and faces warm the heart  
As mother (or gramma or childcare-giver) smiles 
while others might be prone to miss the 'art'   

(hard to believe that a month ago we had no snow!!)

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; 
and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, 
he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, 
and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.



I'm adding a few more photos taken a few hours after 
I first posted this...captured through the window
 while I chatted with my mother on the phone...