Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Supremely Blessed or Of Fond Farewells


Tonight I bid farewell to August as well as
another summer-season routine of childcare.
Others are bidding farewell this time of year to
students leaving for far-away schools.
Some are suffering the pain of permanent earthly farewells!
What a blessing to love enough to
suffer the pangs of fond farewells!


"I don't want to be rude" said Little girl
"but I feel like I just need to run!"
...and I looked at her and said,
"oh, by all means, run to your hearts content!"πŸ’–πŸ˜ŠπŸ˜


...and run they do taking after Father Time with dust flying at their heels!
Draining every last drop from the joy of the moment!


....leaving so many smiling traces in our faces...
(they named one of these peaches Jim!)πŸ˜‚
(and yes, we will be peeling some of our fruit before we eat it!)πŸ˜…


...planting and plucking a sense of flowers
in/from the gardens of our hearts...




May we all be blessed, as to bear
Love’s tenderest contests of care
The aching, raking throb that tugs
As words give way to wordless hugs
As bitter-sweetest hunger swells
In heart-tempests of fond farewells

May we all be blessed, as to know
The wresting pangs of letting go
Of searing heartstrings stretched and stretched
Until there is no heartstring left
As love and longing toll soul-bells
In clanging, twanging fond farewells

May we all be blessed, as to feel
The raw essence of silk and steel
Entwined about the inmost crux
Of joy and sorrow’s sacred flux
Between shorelines no ocean quells
As we endure love’s fond farewells

May we all be blessed, as to learn
The best and worst of no return
Where time never replays a day
And all that is can never stay
As arms and hearts weather the swells
Of parting’s precious, fond farewells

We thank love’s Giver for the gifts
That try us with life’s dearest rifts
Reminding us within its test
That we have been Supremely Blessed
Both king and beggar as Time fells
Castles of touch with fond farewells

© Janet Martin



To all the students the world over heading out...





These Are August Days...(part 3)

These Are August Days (part 1) was composed at the beginning of August

These are August Days (part 2) was composed in the middle

Now here at the close of this most enchanting month of all, Part 3!



 

 

  




 





 




These are the days when summer plays a love song on heart-strings
When time is blurred like the whirred motion of humming-bird wings
When garden wealth thrills healthy appetites with vegetables
When fruit of toil spills from the soil in rainbow-miracles

When zinnias grin, so dapper in sun hats, cheery and bright
When the shrill trill of crickets will permeate day and night
When bounty jarred and clouds unbarred inspire thankful prayers
When children play the livelong day unbothered by life’s cares

And morning waits to part dawn’s gates and rouse the rosy sun
When eventide hastens its stride before work-day is done
When canning pots are always hot; tomatoes in their prime
Are plucked and peeled and cooked and sealed for winter’s summer-time

When blooms and butterflies and skies lure eyes to feast and feast
Because today will soon fall prey to Bygone’s hungry beast
When we, with senses charged enlarge the spectrum of delight
To scale joy’s stem, inhale its gem with awe-struck appetite

These are the days easy to praise He from Whom blessings flow
Where bronzed and purpled fronds and shadow steeples steal the show
Where we cannot bear to look far beyond the now and here
In case we miss the present bliss of August’s atmosphere

…of kitchen sauna days upon us that we dare not waste
Of glean and measure garden treasure, simmer, stir and taste
Vinegar, sugar and pickling spice aromas waft
While flower bowers shower earth with tears, tattered and soft

The culmination of elation before autumn’s toll
Reverberates through weathered grates to spark in summer’s soul
An endless happiness because of what was and will be
As a key change starts to arrange next August’s symphony

Where there could be no harvest without first the planted seed
Where winter’s wise hiatus replenishes nature’s need
Where, while the isle to August-next, seems lost on some far shore
Aha, soon we will be perplexed to find it near once more

…futile to yell, fret or rebel against time’s resolved pace
Better to taste the holy haste of life’s momentous grace
And linger longer, in our younger morrow’s yesterdays
Where on a blur of blue larkspur petals, FΓΌr Elise plays

These are the days when mint-tint haze drapes daybreak’s slow entrance
When here and there a scarlet flare spikes green-leaf dominance
When something in the air akin to weeping, bids us fight
To savor the full flavor of each moment-morsel bite

To drink in the crescendo of love before letting go
Before we empathize with good-byes strewn in petal-snow
To labor for far more than temporal four-season surge
To remember the Ember that no human hand can purge

Ah, these are summer’s glory-days, ablaze with golden rod
With gladiola-hallelujah handiwork by God
With stubbled sweep of grain-field reaped, slopes steeped in hopes of corn
Beauty and duty tangle in spangles of morn to morn

These are the days that constantly amaze and edify
Reminding us, amidst the fuss, of lifetimes slipping by
For our days are likened to the flower of the field
We fade and fall and all but the soul, to dust’s Must will yield

These are the day we cherish as they perish, wonder-blithe
A living prayer of life aware of death’s encroaching scythe
While wild grass strums That which becomes what vanishes away
Where dust and ash soon snuff the splash of summer’s workaday

These are the days highlighting ways that steal childhood and youth
Time’s evidence climbs fences; graces faces with its truth
A dusky deep of tides that sweep and ebb with sweet delight
Leaving behind a bowl of rinds stripped of each juicy bite

© Janet Martin


Happy Last day of August 2022! 
What a stunning debut!



Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Heb.13:8

Monday, August 29, 2022

Not at Trouble's Mercy

Often my prayers for my family (esp. truck-driver husband) include prayers 
for safety and that they may reach their destinations without any trouble, 
but if they do have trouble that God would grant help.

We are all on a journey to a final destination 
and we know we will have trouble but Jesus reminds us to be of good cheer; 
He has overcome the world. 
Our Heavenly Father is with us every step of the way 
and it is such sweet comfort to know He will never leave or forsake us!

John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.
 In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”




The designer of every flower's intricate detail
knows even more dearly every detail of usπŸ™πŸ’—



We are not at the harsh mercy of this world’s trouble and care
What a friend we have in Jesus, as we lean on Him in prayer
What a comfort in our sorrow, what an anchor in the gale
Yesterday, today, tomorrow, His compassion will not fail

Transcending man’s comprehension is God’s goodness undeterred
Where we should pay more attention to the power of His Word
Because on our way to meet Him we must fight the Tempter’s play
Without God’s word to defeat him we are weak and easy prey

In this world we will have trouble that no logic can amend
Where today wafts like a bubble laden with love without end
Thus, pray we, not at the mercy of this world’s trouble and care
Lift up more than clanging cymbals in an unrepentant prayer


© Janet Martin

Prayer is the believer's sacred solace!
But in coming to Him does it not make sense
if we want Him to listen to us, that first
we ought to listen to Him? 
Does it not make sense we first plead for Christ to reveal
the sin we are unwilling to surrender and confess?

Some of life's trouble is out of our control!
some trouble comes of our willful way when we disobey...

Here, in this first day of a new week I pray for each of you reading this,
that we may be encouraged and convicted to run with endurance
To find fresh joy and zeal in laying up treasure in Heaven!

a few more marvelous intricate details...






Sunday, August 28, 2022

Dare To Dream But Bear In Mind...


I sat in the garden for a little while this afternoon soaking in the
sights, sounds and smells of fading August...

No longer restless with a dream, but reveling in the bloom!





Dare to dream but bear in mind Dream’s vulnerability
For, it seems life is inclined to vex blind fantasy
Where what we composed in forums with youth still intact
Soon begins to weather foibles and fumbles of fact

Dare to take a leap of faith but be aware of this
Sometimes you will hit the mark! Sometimes you will miss
Sometimes the sweet landing you envision when you jump
Will take you by rude surprise with an uncourtly bump

Dare to hold, hug and embrace but always with this thought
Letting go is juxtaposed with everything we’ve got
Taste today’s sweet laughter; rejoice and be glad because
Everything that is, soon after, becomes what once was

Then the dreamer starts to see what starry eyes once missed
Fantasy will step aside for moments slowly kissed
Where what want composes as youth dons a weathered brow
Becomes about smelling roses blooming here and now

© Janet Martin

 


 

 

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Remind Us (Before It Is Too Late)

The law of love is not for the faint of heart, is it?!
It is intrinsically, inevitably attached to a whole bucket-load of care
because love cares!
But we never need to bear its cross of cares alone!
What a tiding of comfort and joy!

Not all love is baby-sweet and child-innocent...



With love comes huge responsibility/accountability...
We have a Heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension!
1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!

So take heart! esp. those in leadership positions;
daddies, mothers, pastors and elders, Sunday School leaders and teachers,
and so many other unseen second-milersπŸ’•πŸ™

Heb.6:10
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love 
which you have shown toward His name,
 in that you have ministered to the saints, 
and do minister...

Thou God, who dost not fail
To we, prone to forget
Remind us where care’s legions hail
You cradle every ‘yet’

Between Known and Unknown
The present hour peals
Before Thy everlasting throne
The humble seeker kneels

…to find strength for the day
To listen for Thy voice
Where this world offers a buffet
And we reply with choice

Oh, may it never be
As step by step, we go
That we rely on what we see
Rather than what we know

No one exceeds Thy might
Thy love will never fail
To those who in Thy law delight
Perfect peace will prevail

Then, in the thick of love
Lest we forget to heed
Remind us, Thy grace is enough
To satisfy our need

And though life’s weight of care
May seem but to increase
Remind us, tis but to prepare
Our hearts for perfect peace

Where faith and sight compete
Unravel doubt’s dark veil
Remind us of Thy joy complete
Thy love that will not fail

As we trust and obey
(in spite of slight and sneer)
Remind us of the Judgment Day
Drawing so very near

Lest Thy Spirit departs
Averse to vain debate
Lord, open the eyes of our hearts
Before it is too late

© Janet Martin

Eph.1:18
I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, 
so that you may know the hope of His calling, 
the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,...

John 15:9-11
As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. 
Remain in My love.
10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love,
just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you
and your joy may be complete.

Therefore You are great, O Lord God. 
For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, 
according to all that we have heard with our ears.
2 Samuel 7:22



Thursday, August 25, 2022

From This Time Forth, Forevermore

The Psalm I keep on our refrigerator door
was this mornings Bible Reading in Our Daily Bread Devotion.
Though I have read this Psalm many times this morning
the last line confounded my comprehension!




From this time forth, forevermore
What joy and peace to know
Our loving God behind, before
Above us and below
Greater is He within us than
He that is in the world
No evil can frustrate the span
Of hope’s banner unfurled
Above, beneath and all around
Goodness and mercy pour
Where nothing can God’s plan confound
Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore
Compassion without end
A kind Advocate to restore
What sin alone would rend
But God’s atoning sacrifice
His pardon once for all
By faith’s confession will suffice
To save us from The Fall
And by His all-sufficient grace
Where doubt’s dark demons roar
Naught can love’s finished work erase
Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore
Oh Lord, renew our minds
Through humble eyes of faith restore
Our sight, where this world blinds
Where unbelieving scads applaud
Sin’s godless diocese
Yet none can thwart the love of God
Who grants faith perfect peace
Whose will it is that none die, lost
Spurning the cross He bore
To pay sin’s overwhelming cost
Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore
Thought cannot comprehend
The vastness of love’s reservoir
Abounding without end
Who sits enthroned above the earth
And stretches out the sky
Like grasshoppers filled with His worth
We wait on his reply
As the perfected love of God
Commands us to obey
His Truth established on a Rock
That does not shift or sway

From this time forth forevermore
Oh pray, in Him we trust
Earth’s nations like a droplet's score
Or like a speck of dust
But our God is not like these
He holds earth’s basket-land
He cups the waters of the seas
In hollows of His Hand
He tends His flock with staff and rod
Of comfort; come, adore
Him, our everlasting God
Both now and evermore

© Janet Martin

1 John 2:1-6 (BSB)
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin.
 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—
Christ, the Righteous One. Himself is the atoning sacrificea for our sins, 
and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments,
he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 
5But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. 
By this we know that we are in Him:
6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.

Who is our God?!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

This Masterpiece of Joy

 Wearying? Yes!


Wonderful? Oh. Yes.πŸ’–


It rhymes with miss and kiss; this, masterpiece of joy
That can wear patience paper thin as we train girl and boy
This grin of have and hold always love’s primed prelude
To letting go, as seasons flow through prayers of gratitude

This visioning ahead soon turned to looking back
Time’s hand unraveling a thread that no hand can retract
This thrumming of bare feet and laughter-tickled soul
As innocence tries childhood’s skies until it finds a hole

This best of busyness; this test of push and pull
Of messy Mostly Happiness and Weary Wonderful
This yearning to preserve, from precious girl and boy
A remnant of the days that wove This Masterpiece of Joy

© Janet Martin