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!"💖😊😍

...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!)😂

(and yes, we will be peeling some of our fruit before we eat it!)😅

...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...

an Irish Blessing

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, Für 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

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 us🙏💗

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

and to give more earnest heed to what we have heard.

To find fresh joy and zeal in laying up treasure in Heaven!

a few more marvelous intricate details...

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

 

 

 

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-milers💕🙏

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

Every Step...

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?!!

Isa. 40!

This Masterpiece of Joy

 Wearying? Yes!

Wonderful? Oh. Yes.💖

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