Reason to Rejoice

Today's poem was inspired in part by joy and in part by sorrow...

Joy because God is compassionate and full of mercy

Ps.145:8-9

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9The Lord is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.

..and sorrow, because its easy to forget

and live self-indulgently, rather than with 

sacred urgency for all who do not know or believe 

Today's Scripture reading began with this verse;

 Heb.4:1

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us 

of entering into his rest, 

any of you should seem to come short of it.

(Read the whole solemn and comforting chapter HERE)

A new day!

What a gift of grace

Every day overflows with a 

fresh feast of highs and lows/thorn and rose

with no two days alike,

inviting us, each morning to the sweet anticipation of

moment buds unfolding reasons to rejoice!

One sweet reason for me today 

is my Cherry-Chocolate Latte Hibiscus, blooming profusely!

A birthday gift from a fellow flower-loving friend a few years ago.

(isn't its name deliciously fitting?!!)

For my debt of unuttered praise for grace and mercy, new again

For lack of awe for He whose ways transcend, yet tends Want’s pride-prone ken

For my oft apathetic love to He whose love none can descry

To the all-wise Creator of galaxies cupping earth and sky

For my debt of devotion paid to deities of carnal claim

Rather than to the One who made this day to glorify His name

For a balance, when weighed, that tips in favor of this world, not He

Who pours the sand of time that slips through frames filled with eternity

For ambition and noble thought, not ordered by sweet hour of prayer

For good intentions, oft forgot in the furnace where passions flare

For turning blind eyes and deaf ears to my Saviour’s unfettered grief

For every precious soul that sneers at Calvary in unbelief

For my debt of sin, unconfessed, for treasure held without a nod

In Your direction, richly blessed, yet thankless/trustless oft, forgive me, God

For my debt of worship I owe, to God who forgives and forgets

I pray, may glad praise overflow; grace rends shackles forged from regrets

Where faith and fantasy compete, Today, Lord, help me hear your Voice

As I lay my debt at Your feet, and rise with Reason to rejoice

© Janet Martin

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

The Wayside Cross