Of Painful Joy or Of Boundless Love

 

Ps. 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley

 of the shadow of death,

 I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

1 Pet.1:6

In this you greatly rejoice, 

though now for a little while, 

if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,..

Whether on faith's mountaintop

or in the dark, lonely valley

the incomprehensible, steadfast love of God abides

to minister to body and soul's need 

Tell Me the Old, Old Story

This is a poem I am still in the process of learning...

through deep disappointments

and divine epiphanies 🙏

There is no limit to the love of God

Its height and depth thought cannot comprehend

Whether beneath the guerdon of its rod

Or in a garden where soft breezes wend

His love cannot be measured or contained

Nor with ingenious eloquence explained

The love of God is beyond reckoning

He knows the heart of man is vile indeed

The hub of prideful Fancy’s beckoning

Left unbroken, would choke faith’s mustard seed

So, lest we covet what we cannot keep

Faith’s Great Perfecter runs love’s plowshares deep

…with piercing love, He works for our good

Ah, pray for faith to see beyond the part

That is often sadly misunderstood

While He prepares the test-plots of the heart

Until faith’s finely-tilled furrows are sown

With seed that grows for His glory alone

We are the sheep of His pasture. He tends

The welfare of His flock with rod and staff

He rescues, rebukes, comforts and defends

No cost too great to work on our behalf

Because the love of the Good Shepherd knows

The dire danger of wolves in sheep’s clothes

The love of God produces painful joys

For He too faced the Tempter’s crafty charms

A shrewd maneuverer of deadly ploys

To blind us to love’s everlasting arms

To draw us from His word that girds and feeds

Thus, with both rod and staff, love intercedes

Then, for a season, if need be, love grieves

The proving of faith’s shield to quench sin’s darts

Until at last with patience, God achieves

His joy complete, only His love imparts

As the heart yields He overflows its sod

With bounty from the boundless love of God

© Janet Martin

Of Divine Architecture

Trusting our faithful God is sometimes easier said than done, isn't it?!

Trusting Him in all our hard unknowns!

Yesterday my friend whose family is searching for a new home to move to 

as the deadline in their current rental approaches (Feb.), 

said this as they continuously entrust to God this desperate need;

'we know that something will work out, 

even if it isn't necessarily our dream.'

I have been pondering her words  'even if it isn't necessarily our dream.'

No one's dream includes the stress of home-seeking,

 sudden loss of a loved one,

or debilitating injuries or sickness of body or mind,

or broken marriages and friendships.

Trouble and tragedy are part of this sin-cursed world.

And how would we ever learn true and full surrender to

our all-sufficient Heavenly Father's love and grace

without sorrow and suffering;

Our Heavenly Father, who left His throne

knowing what lay before Him!

He was homeless, hated, rejected, spat upon, beaten,

misjudged, mistreated and crucified,

though he was guiltless of any sin!

He did not send a substitute to pardon humanity

but gave Himself to suffer redemption's brutal cost!

He alone brings true comfort and joy.

Through him alone sorrow and sickness are healed

whether on earth or in Heaven.

Ah, holy Christmas season as we

celebrate, marvel and meditate

on the glad tidings of great joy 

which was, will be and ever IS

to all people!

Luke 2:1-11

Then the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid, for behold,

I bring you good tidings of great joy 

which will be to all people.

11For there is born to you this day in the city of David

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

***

When our castle of dreams tumbles

God is there to catch the pieces

if we let Him and to help us forward

as we learn to humbly yield and trust

 the Divine Architect with what appears broken

***

Sorrow makes us so much more thankful for/aware of joy!

Today's joy included 

an early morning visit from my sister-in-law

who came bearing a beautiful poinsettia-gift 

...cookie-baking with my neighbours

because school buses were canceled,

Delighting in the snowy scenes through their windows

and mine...

There is no path to What Once Was of former 'days of glory'

Futile to rue the day because of a twist in life's/love's story

Where oft on tender plots of joy, grief's bitter battle wages

As death crumples, like crushed decoys, love's hope and dream-filled pages

Ah, who of us is wise enough to know God's kind intentions 

Or understand the blueprint of His love's Divine Dimensions  

The Builder and Maker of earth and Heaven, who can measure

Or know the height and depth and girth of Mercy's architecture 

It is not ours to mastermind the means of our Creator

Enough to know that He is kind, love's reckoning far greater

Than panoramic dust-to-dust's volatile stance of seasons

Enough to know that we can trust His all-wise perfect Reasons 

Janet Martin

Gladness Beyond Comprehension

Happy November 2nd from a

misty, gold-leaf-drippy, frost-filigree morning in Ontario!

My oh my!! What an awesome loving Creator we have!

Below, a few frames of the first day of November's farewell...

and, my, oh my, how our loving, awesome Creator hates sin.

But my, how He loves us, sinners,

born with the curse of sin,

since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden.

But, He so loved us that

 He gave His only begotten Son

so whoever believes in Him will not perish

but have everlasting life 

John 3:16

God hates sin, but His love forgives every

sin we repent of and confess.

If we confess our sins, 

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

He loved us so much that

God made him who had no sin 

to be sin for us, 

so that in him we might become 

the righteousness of God. 

2 Cor.5:21

God loves us so much He knew that He alone 

was the only perfect, eternal sin offering, 

so He offered, not some noble substitute, but Himself/His son

 to pay the grueling price of pardon

because without the shedding of blood

there is no remission;

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,

 and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Heb.9:22

So God shed His blood and gave his life

 on a cruel cross for all to see

Therefore I (God) will allot Him a portion with the great, 

and He will divide the spoils with the strong,

 because He has poured out His life unto death, 

and He was numbered with the transgressors. 

Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isa.53:12

and to this very day, for all eternity

God's faithfulness repeats

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jer.31:3

God's sacrifice would have been impossible

unless He truly loved us!

Is it not then in turn the same for us?

It is impossible for us to truly follow/serve Him/sacrifice Self

until we truly love Him?

Let's ask God to help us remember

never to hate Him because of

how 'sinners' may hurt or disappoint us because

we are all sinners

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom.3:23

 God loves us so much He gave us His Word

so we may know Him and love Him all the more...

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

John 1:1

The more we seek Him the more we find Him

“Ask and it will be given to you; 

seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matt.7:7

***

Hark, what hails time's spark of trouble?

What gladdens guerdons of grief?

What makes most precious, life's bubble 

Bobbing like a wafting leaf ?

What compels hope for tomorrow?

What can no rival destroy?

Even in the thick of sorrow

What anoints the tear with joy?

What anchors the transient staircase

That body, heart and soul brave?

What satisfies Yearning's embrace?

What transcends the lifeless grave?

What, 'midst mayhem, grants peace, glorious?

What sweetens the bitter rod ?  

This; the unfailing, victorious

Everlasting love of God

© Janet Martin

Emotions seem to run especially high 

during impending elections, don't they?!!

Pray we remember what/Who matters most

and Whose loving and perfect purposes none can thwart

Deut.4:7

For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them 

as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

  8And what nation is great enough to have 

righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law

 I set before you today?

The Everlasting Love of God (Lyric Video) - Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

Unlike Bridal Shower Gifts

It pained me to crop off all the smiling faces in the photos below

but for respect of privacy I must!

Photo credit; Bridal shower hosts-my sister and niece

Last night I attended a bridal shower for my nephew's fiancée.

Each gift she opened was different but all were thoughtfully

chosen and wrapped for the bride-to-be to open,

and she did with smiles of delight, excitement and thankfulness!

It reminded me of a tidbit of conversation with my mother-in-law yesterday

as we talked of the day when we are 'presented'

back to God, all in our different wrappings,

but unlike bridal shower gifts, 

when God tugs at/opens the diverse wrappings

what remains will be the same in every 'gift';

The Living Soul returned to God,

who so thoughtfully and lovingly 'chose' us,

designed/created us so differently 

and, just as we carefully choose gifts for those we love

He too chose a gift for those He so loves!!

Knowing we are born sinners God provided an

eternal and universal gift/pardon for all who believe in Him.

For God so loved the world that

He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in Him will not perish

but have everlasting life

John 3:16

Whatever shapes our share of trials, disappointments and griefs,

God loves us with an unfailing love and justice!

How His face will beam as He welcomes His Bride in the

Greatest Wedding of all Time;

all honor and glory and praise will be for Him

who, through His Redeeming gift purchased Soul's salvation!!

To try and grasp the fulness of his love is mind-blowing!! 

No matter what befalls, God knows

Beneath the Wrapping that we see

His gift of boundless love bestows

More than enough for you and me

God's love no thought can comprehend

He weaves time's ephemeral gauze 

 That drapes The Day when all will bend

Before WHO IS, WILL BE and WAS 

How carefully He fashioned us

Beneath the fleeting part we see

God instilled the mysterious, 

Profound pulse of eternity

The pride and ignorance of fools

Blasphemes/rejects the Name, mighty to save

They do not fear the One who rules

Beyond the tissue of the grave 

God is not mocked; His love is just

Where mercy sparkles from morn's flask 

He grants, to humble faith-hope-trust

Beyond what we can think to ask

No matter what befalls, God knows

Beneath the Wrapping that we see

Each gifted moment overflows

With shimmers of eternity

© Janet Martin

What Gift of Grace is Jesus My Redeemer

Eph.2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 

 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world 

and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,

 the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 

All of us also lived among them at one time,

 gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts.

 Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 

 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ

 even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, 

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

 not by works, so that no one can boast. 

 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

By Love Constrained/Compelled

Wishing you countless opportunity today, to

be constrained/compelled by love 

through Christ to love one another!

Come, Gracious Spirit

By love constrained; oh, what a way to live

To give the best we have for He who gave

Himself; ‘neath driven nails He cried ‘forgive’

Then overthrew the power of the grave

By love constrained; oh, what a way to find

The depth of riches God grants, by His grace

Wisdom and knowledge, divinely designed

Through unsearchable paths man cannot trace

By love constrained; oh, what a way to see

The beauty of the glory of the Lord

When patience, kindness and humility

Revere the recompense of the reward

By love constrained; oh, what a way to lay

Up treasure where no worldliness defiles

Where thief can not break in nor rust decay

The righteousness redemption reconciles

By love constrained; oh, what a way to walk

Love's 'second miles' none but love's Author knows

The Treasurer of life's most priceless stock

No Wall Street-Dow Jones-Nasdaq record shows 

By love constrained; oh, what a way to die

Daily to self-pleasing futility

In order so that we may glorify

No longer ‘I’, but Christ in you and me

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.5:14-21

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, 

therefore all died.

  15And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, 

but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

16So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. 

Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

  17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

 The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

18All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ 

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

  19that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, 

not counting men’s trespasses against them. 

And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, 

as though God were making His appeal through us. 

We implore you on behalf of Christ: 

Be reconciled to God. 

21God made Him who knew no sin to be sinb on our behalf, 

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

All My Boast is in Jesus

Because God Is Love

 

Today's poem topic prompt from Robert Lee Brewer @ Writer's Digest

For today's Two-for-Tuesday prompt:

Write a love poem, and/or...

Write an anti-love poem.

Rom.12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, 

but overcome evil with good.

Completely Known, Completely Loved

Love encounters no burned bridges

For, love keeps no count of wrong

It does not harbor old grudges

Love forgives and carries on

Love, not overcome by evil

Overcomes evil with good

God is love’s perfect example

Though often misunderstood

Love is God’s eternal promise

Therefore love can never fail

Because God is love and God is

Everlasting, love prevails

Love; what miracles are made of

Love, incomprehensible

Because God is love, thus, with love

Nothing is impossible

Simple as a cup of water

Given in the Father’s name

Awful as a cross that flaunted

Hate and death; Love overcame

Love leaps, limps, kneels, never falters

Love, always fit for the task

Love’s Author is our Helper

All we need to do is ask

Love inspires mercy's missions

Visions of Heaven reply

Self-serving turns to contrition

Answers humbly, 'here am I' 

Love can never be defeated

No matter how hate may try

Love is always greater, rooted

In a Vine that cannot die   

Love is our perfect power

Love is our perfect peace

God is love, thus He is our

Confidence that cannot cease

Love is more than mere acquiescence

And adherence to cold law

Love, Indescribable Essence/Presence 

Fills us with hope, joy and awe

© Janet Martin

This poem gathered steam with every stanza...it could truly go on FORVER

and it does! Because our one true everlasting God, is love!

I am the vine and you are the branches. 

The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. 

For apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

No Minimalist (When It Comes to Love)

 Today's poem-a-day prompt from Robert Lee Brewer @ Writer's Digest

For today's prompt, write a minimum poem. 

I cringed to write today's poem, drawing from

'Love's Room For Improvement'

Help me Lord, to be more than

a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal!!

1 Cor.13:1-8

If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love,

 I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 

and if I have a faith that can move mountains,

 but do not have love, I am nothing. 

3 If I give all I possess to the poor 

and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,

[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, 

love is kind. 

It does not envy, 

it does not boast, 

it is not proud. 

5 It does not dishonor others, 

it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

7 It always protects, 

always trusts, 

always hopes, 

always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

Imagine if God gave only the minimum

of goodness and mercy?!

Instead He left Heaven to the sinner's debt

And break the curse of death and hell...

By speaking uplifting words??

No, by dying a brutal death on a cross!

Love held nothing back but gave His all!

Jesus Paid It All

To give the minimum will always be the giver's loss

A deed performed for duty's sake, a thankless albatross

The key to happiness is not a complicated plan

But is, and has always been love; God first, then fellow man

Love is no thankless joy; the more we give the more we gain

Though its reward is not like the treasure misers maintain

Love startles us with happiness that leaves hearts humbly awed

And filled with incomparable, fathomless peace of God

It is more blessed to give than to receive; can it be

This world groans because of Love's lacking generosity?

Have we become erring experts, defending greed's excuse

Twisting love's tender ties that bind mankind, into a noose?

To give love's minimum will always be the giver's rue

To love only those who love us, even the pagans do

Oh, God, make our happiness and heart's desire burn

With love's invested maximum of Eternal Return

Janet Martin

May the song below  be our life-prayer🙏💕

More Love To Thee

How Deep The Father's Love For Us...

Of Steadfast Cheer

 

Happy February!

 The month famous for the day that celebrates 

what we hopefully celebrate every day;

Love!

Morning By Morning-Pat Barret (feat, Mack Brock)

Then do not worry ‘bout today

God is a ‘help me’ prayer away

In every circumstance of need

He will our helpless heart-cry heed

Should sorrow try our happiness

He does not leave us comfortless

Should fear threaten courage to steal

Should faith fall prey to sight’s appeal

Should temptation’s enticing stance

Lure us from promises God grants

Should idle words and prideful thoughts

Turn stepping stones to stumbling blocks

Should hope be inclined to despair

Beneath love’s pressing weight of care

Should Want be wont to disobey

Turning alas, to our own way

Should trust grow weary in the fight

To cling to what is good and right

Or, as we face the enemy

Forget ‘not I, but Christ in me’

Or should confusion author doubt

As to Who life is from, about

Or worship bow to lesser gods

That human natured dust/lust applauds

Should trouble its dark shadow cast

The love of God remains steadfast

In whatever we face today

He is a ‘help me’ prayer away

He is a faithful Friend indeed

A Helper in our time of need

A Father to the fatherless

A God who keeps His promises

Hope’s anchor in the storms of life

Joy’s strength amidst opposing strife

Contentment’s gladness undeterred

In all who delight in His word

Where, though we are the Tempter’s prey

God is a ‘help me’ prayer away

What comfort, kindness, peace to cheer

For God is always 'help me' near  

© Janet Martin

Heb.13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money 

and be content with what you have, 

because God has said,

 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Rom.8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, 

nor angels nor principalities nor powers, 

nor things present nor things to come, 

nor height nor depth, 

nor any other created thing, 

shall be able to separate us from the love of God 

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

No matter who or where we are,

 what we shoulder or what we face...

What a Friend We Have in Jesus!

Psalm 59:16

But I will sing of Your strength 

and proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning.

 For You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,

 an ever-present help in times of trouble.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

I love you Lord, my Help, the One in whom I put my trust

I love you Lord, my Hope until I shed this garb of dust

I love you Lord, my Joy in grief, my Comforter and Friend

I love Your Word to cheer and keep Faith faithful to the end

I love You for You understand each wordless groan of prayer

I love You, as You walk with me through valleys of despair

I love Your Hand to hold me as life doles its ups and downs

I love You. You console me when anguish my gladness crowns/drowns

I love You, Lord; You are my strength; through You I will endure

I love You, Lord, for I am rich when my spirit is poor

I love You Lord; your grace and mercy pour as I beseech

I love You, for You minister where no one else can reach

I love You Lord; You are my song in the night and the day

I love You. You forgive my sin and wash my guilt away

I love You, Lord; You are my anchor when storms test and toss

I love You; death defeated through the power of the cross

I love You; Lord, You are my peace when fear seeks to prevail

I love You with the love You give; Your love will never fail

© Janet Martin

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

More Than Enough For Me...

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

(beautiful scripture at the end of the above video)

This morning's poem is inspired in part after visiting my cousin yesterday,

in a long-term care facility. He has been afflicted for many years with MS.

 His family bears a very hard cross!

Please, if you remember, keep them in your prayers...

More info here...

We cannot comprehend God's higher ways but 

plead for an unshakeable knowledge of his perfect love

for all of us!

***

Give me knowledge of Jesus Christ that naught can shake or move

Of He who humbly sacrificed Himself, His love to prove

Fill me with wonder every day, that He who made all things

Surrendered to death’s crude display and cruelest sufferings

To bring salvation once for all to all who call his name

And to redeem us from the Fall that brought Adam to shame

He gave us access to His promises, to satisfy

Hunger and thirst with righteousness only He can supply

Then, may the joy and peace He gives thus transcend everything

With the knowledge that Jesus lives and death has lost its sting

And nothing in this sin-cursed place can ever dearer be

Than the knowledge that by His grace Jesus has ransomed me

Then give me no knowledge but this; He loves me without end

No matter what may be amiss, He is a faithful Friend

On Him I lean, to Him I cry, He, trustworthy and true

Tries my reason with His reply, yet what more can I do

But yield my mortal will to He who paid sin’s penalty

This knowledge of His love will be more than enough for me

© Janet Martin

Isa.55:6-9

6Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

7Let the wicked man forsake his own way

and the unrighteous man his own thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon.

8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways My ways,”

declares the LORD.

9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts...

Rock of Ages...

Earnest Entreaty...

Today's poem inspired in part by the messages below,

Esp. this line; nothing is worse than men who think that they see

when they are in reality, blind.

and when, in their delusion they make bold, to act as leaders

and guides for others.

Pictures That Tell a Story (Part 1 of 2) - 08/03/23

 Pictures That Tell a Story (Part 2 of 2) - 08/04/23

We love You, Lord, Because You first loved us, then pray that we

Live to be like vessels out-poured in glad humility

Not wise in our own eyes, with truth, imagination-blurred

But a people that dearly prize the statutes of your Word

Oh, may the love that we confess be more than verbal spew

Convicted by Your holiness to live holy lives too

And as we meditate upon our Saviour we adore

May Want be narrowed down to One/one; to love You more and more

Lest false teachers tease truth with lies that lull heart’s eyes to sleep

Until we do not recognize the wolves among the sheep

Lest deceived, believing we see, are like blind leading blind

Lord, help us seek You earnestly, with heart and soul and mind

Lest love becomes a clanging gong, sanctify, by Thy Word

True love, to enkindle a song of worship, undeterred

A hymn, so very precious, because we are subjects of

The love of He who loves us with an everlasting love

© Janet Martin

John 17:17

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Endless Good aka Everlasting Love

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jer.31:3

Everlasting; adj. 

infinite, never-ending, eternal, immortal, abiding, perpetual, timeless, unending, enduring

How heartbreaking to  never move beyond the point of seeing God

simply as a kill-joy and rule giver, though we all want and need love

His greatest command!

How pitiful/terrible is the belief in the existence of Him

without the joy of the love from and for Him!!

The Love of God

(I've shared this song many times because I love it so much)

Ah, every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

From He who does not shift or change His everlasting love

Then cast your care on Him and trust in Him with all your heart

Receive the endless good in which unbelief has no part

…and pray the Lord, for love’s increase, the greatest gift He grants

Is like a glorious masterpiece in every circumstance

To anchor faith and hope, so doubt does not cause us to be

Like double-minded men, unstable as waves of the sea

Oh, what a precious family is the family of God

Whose trust is not in what we see but in His faithful word

His promises more dear than anything this world can boast

Like a wellspring of endless good unto the uttermost

For every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

And nothing can deplete the measure of love’s treasure trove

Where, as the love of God becomes alive in you and I

His joy is like a fountain that no sorrow can run dry

…no matter what befalls, love bears us up to bear all things

Christ in us makes love able to suffer all that life brings

Then, though we do not know what waits, Love none can comprehend

Through He who WAS, IS and WILL BE is faithful without end

Janet Martin  

everlasting adj.

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

timeless

unending

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

We Cannot Make Love

Today I am making garden-planting plans!

Other things made this week?

Order from chaos!

Birthday cake and dinner memories...

...and of course, coffee!!😊

We are always making, aren't we?!!

Making plans, meals, order, things, memories, 

coffee...

But, we cannot make love...

And say, 'see, here it is', to set in front of someone

like a trophy to display upon a shelf

We cannot make it like a Thing and say,

'This is a Love'

So, where does love come from;

This 'Thing' everyone needs and can

never get too much of...?

Where is this Fount 

from whence all Goodness flows?

This 'Thing' that never fails,

Only the lack of it...

We cannot make love

Can’t bake it like a cake

Can’t steep it like a cup of tea

To soothe a bellyache

Can’t mold it out of clay

Can't forge it out of steel

To build a bridge to span the gap

Twixt heart-to-heart appeal

Can't cut it from a page

Or order it online

Can't woo it from whispering leaves

Or pluck it from a vine

Or buy it from a shop

Or shake it from a bough

Like red apples in autumn-time

Can't milk it from a cow

Or hatch it from an egg

Or catch it like a fish

Or carve it out of balsam wood

Or mix it in a dish

Or pull it from a box

Or paint it, like fine art

Or compose it with pen and ink

To lure/coax it from a heart

Can't wish it from a star

Or press it from a grape

Or force it from bud into bloom 

Can't knit it like a cape

Or weave it like a mat

Can't earn it by hard toil

Or pour and smooth it like concrete 

Or dig it from the soil

Ah, where can we find love?

High on a dusty shelf?

Or, do we start to find it when

We stop living for Self

Love is life's greatest joy

Love is life's greatest grief

Love is the evidence of God

That triumphs unbelief 

No, we cannot make love

The way we make a pie

Love is the heart/part of God in us

That only fools deny

Nobody has seen God

Only His majesty

Made manifest among us through

The likes of you and me 

Love; oft misunderstood

Love, ink of poet's laud 

The Great Equalizer of boast

Because love is from God

Janet Martin

1 John 4:7-12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, 

that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us 

and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; 

if we love one another, 

God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.