The Hand That Gently Draws Night's Veil...

Happy first day of the final week of November 2025!!

(can you believe it?!!)

Ps.145:17-18

The LORD is righteous in all His ways

and kind in all His deeds.

The LORD is near to all who call on Him,

to all who call out to Him in truth.

The Hand that gently draws night’s veil from welkin windows dimmed at dusk

Sustains redemption’s gleaming grail; shadows recede and morning breaks

Where what is done none can undo and what yet waits is beyond us

But what Today grants me and you are mercies renewed for our sakes

The Hand that none can circumvent delivers us from night’s dark hues

Where today’s laughter and lament are waiting to cheer and dismay

This is the day the Lord has made; we give account for how we use

Its fleeting moment-promenade falling like stars soon swept away

The Hand that none can see sustains preordained grants of joy and grief

Beyond reason Logic explains, God orchestrates love’s perfect will

Where what we see and understand are not enough to gauge belief

Behold! God’s goodness sweeps the land in grand persuasion to Be Still

The Hand that leads us if we ask and calms the tempest if we trust

Will help us in each humble task, will keep us in His faithful care

Will hold us in faith’s holy fight, will shepherd stray-prone wanderlust

Will shield us from pitfalls of sight and guard us from the Tempter’s snare

The Hand that gently draws night’s veil from nocturne-nestled countryside

Presides with love that does not fail regardless of perception’s wreath

Where what we want He will appraise and what we need He will provide

As morning breaks and Mercy lays His Hand above, beside, beneath

Janet Martin

Heb.13:20-21

Now may the God of peace, 

who through the blood 

of the eternal covenant 

brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, 

that great Shepherd of the sheep,

 21equip you with every good thingc 

to do His will. 

And may He accomplish in usd 

what is pleasing in His sight 

through Jesus Christ, 

to whom be glory forever and ever. 

Amen.

The Best That Boast Can Laud (begins and ends with God)

Happy...Friday?!! Already😅🙏💗

So many sweet photo-op skies this week...

Below, just a few!

Col.1:15-17

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

  16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

 All things were created through Him and for Him.

17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

All beauty we behold is divinely founded!

without God's mercy and might to hold it in place

it would all fall!

Artists, since the beginning mimic His creation,

all inspiration of God-breathed origin!

My poetic endeavors have been challenged this week

it seems. It flew by in a blink of blessing!

Mon.-Food safety and management course, 

Tues.-grand-sonny visit, appointment, small group gettogether,

Wed. finishing food prep and delivery for event mentioned here 

Thursday-Help my mom with spring-cleaning (forgot camera!!)😭

...and just like that!!! It's Friday!

Today I am prepping food and house 

for our youngest daughter's birthday celebration

on the weekend!

A whole bunch of friends staying over while 

Jim and I stay out😅💝

I began this poem yesterday morning!

The first line fell from Heaven as I stood admiring the sky

while rubbing sleep from my eyes...

Time’s fountain brims with life; it peals from belfries gold and gray

Its showstoppers run rife; God never takes a holiday

The Hand that tunes the tide that ebbs and flows with season-sweeps

Regales the countryside with color, crowned with boundless deeps

The best that boast can laud as brush and pen rush awe’s grandstands

Begins and ends with God; each work of art drawn from His hands

He grants the breathless dance of worship’s unrehearsed requiem

And cheers hope’s countenance with refreshment where mercies stream

In wonders of creation, from the wellspring of his Word

Reasons for celebration overflow and undergird

To kindle exaltation that is incomparable

Salvation’s invitation still extends to one and all

God’s goodness never ceases to thrill the soul that believes

Unrivaled masterpieces humble all mankind achieves

Thus, the best boast can muster as we meditate on This

Are endeavors to trust Him more because of Who He IS

His faultless Influence imparts the best that boast can laud

All art we woo from hands and hearts begins and ends with God

© Janet Martin

Every artist who ever has dipped pen or brush

 into inkwells and paint palettes

draws from scenes cupped and cradled in God's Hands!

Thus every work of art ought to be signed-

By His grace

For His glory!

He Sees the Little Sparrows Fall

Of Mortal and Divine

When every blade-leaf-petal is

dazzled with silver drops

we who behold would be amiss

not to pause, and praise God

The Hand of Time is, in essence the Hand of God!

So in troubled times like these,

we take heart for we are in Good Hands...

The Hand of Time unfolds flowers...

The lifespan of a flower is brief!

(see the transformation of a week in the photos below)

The Hand of God holds eternity!!

It bids us consider well whose Hand

we choose to trust!

***

Eccles.12:6-7

Remember your Creator

 before the silver cord is [b]loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
7Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

***

Outstretched, across the land and sea

Without form to define

This indelible unity

Where mortal and divine

...cradles the earth and tips yon purse

With dawn’s momentous lure

Once more life's for better or worse

Runs rife, to rich and poor

To test the sacred symmetry

That binds body and soul

And balances humanity

Against the holy Whole

Of love’s sovereign authority

Above sky, sea, and sod

Mist mingles with eternity

The Hand of Time and God

A flower cannot keep its prime

As dust's due decks the sod

The Soul slips through the hand of Time

Into the hand of God

© Janet Martin

Job 14:1-2

Man, who is born of woman,

is short of days and full of trouble.

2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away;

like a fleeting shadow,

 he does not endure.

The Certainty of Uncertainty

One thing is certain; uncertainty!!

The uncertainty of North America

feels more ominous than ever before

as leaders,

once seeking to be led by God

have been replaced

by leaders who disregard the Christian faith

these countries where founded on!

I was touched by this phrase, 

'the good hand of God'

repeated through the book of Ezra

in the Old Testament, as he viewed 

the ruinous results of rebellion and disobedience, 

when he came to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple...

Oh God, are there yet men of understanding that your good hand will

bring to the high places of our fallen countries, 

Canada and the United States of America?!!

Oh God, for all who seek You and obey your commands Your

good hand is faithful in its guiding and keeping!

Your rod and staff comfort us! (Ps.23)

***

The certainty of uncertainty could cause us to fear

Could rob us of joy’s sweet delight because of dread’s veneer

Could blind us to the blessings where mercy’s fount overflows

Could keep our eyes fixed on the thorns rather than on the Rose

Could oppress us with ominous impressions of despair

Could shackle us beneath anxiety’s burdens of air

Could distract us from promises that anchor hope and trust

Could steal the perfect peace that ought to cheer faith’s frames of dust

The certainty of uncertainty should cause us to pray

And reach for God’s good hand outstretched to lead us day by day

Should make us more aware of He who is Faithful and True

Where come what may, nothing can His perfect purpose undo

© Janet Martin

Rev.19:11

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True...

There Is a Hand...

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 Savior, Lead Me Lest I Stray

 

There is a Hand to which faith clings with confidence secure

A hand that fits us with armor that fits us for the fight

And helps us in thick of opposition to endure

As we trust His command and make His love our chief delight

As we rely on He who tries and tests our hearts and minds

To see if there be any wicked way that persists still

To mar His perfect peace because of pride that blindly binds

Us to the pattern of this world rather than to His will

There is a Hand that draws us to the comfort of His Word

He leads in paths of righteousness through valleys of despair

And fills us with fresh wonder for His mercies, undeterred

To we, often forgetful of His faithful, loving care

He guides and keeps, while calling sheep still wandering and lost

His arms always wide open to welcome prodigals back

To kiss His hands, scarred with reminders of redemption’s cost

Hands still outstretched to all who still reject love without lack

© Janet Martin

Psalm 34:8-14

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

9Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

10The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

11Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

13keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from telling lies.

14Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

 

Love's Kind Command

PAD Challenge 19: Today is our third Two-for-Tuesday prompt day. 

Pick one prompt for your poem today, or write a poem for each prompt, 

or write one poem that works with both. Today’s prompts are:

1. Write a protagonist poem, and/or…
2. Write an antagonist poem.

 We are wired to like to know...

God's love commands us to trust.

How can we learn to trust?

First we need to learn to listen to the still small voice,

then we need to learn to surrender our will/obey

only then will we be able to trust.

We could not but for mercy’s Hand

Face what not one of us can see

Lord, help us trust love's kind command

To all disciples, ‘follow me’

There is an enemy that lurks

And seeks to thwart and lead astray

He distracts us from righteous works

With what at first glance seems okay

Lust rules with want and taunts with fear

Unlike the Love that sets us free

And guides our step, comforts our tear

And whispers gently ‘follow me’

Then like the twelve, teach us to trust

And heed love’s call to ‘follow me’

For we can do all things we must

Through Christ who strengthens faithfully

© Janet Martin

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

  Phil.4:13

  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Matt 4:19

If We But Ask

No matter how much we brace ourselves for what we might face we are fitted only as we need it!

Sometimes it's comforting to visualize His nail-scarred Hand 

reaching down to hold our so-small hand as we reach up...

It's also comforting to visualize those same hands 

enfolding the rebel/prodigal/atheist as we pray!

(For we still live in the day of grace)

The Hand that lowers twilight’s bars

Then fades yon fathoms filled with stars

As daybreak like a weightless tide

Unfolds the muffled countryside

That tells the season by the shell

That cloaks the woodland, field and dell

And steals the wand’ring, wond’ring gaze

With nature’s invincible ways

That Hand that grants the benison

Whereby plant and harvest is done

That guides the earth’s orbit of teal

That spins upon The Potter’s wheel

That shapes with rise and set of sun

The legacy where said-and-done

When we are stripped down to bare clod

Are too small to shake fists at God

The Hand that weathers mortal glove

By the sheer joy and grief of love

That lends all that He gives and takes

In this go-round of sacred stakes

And instills shoal of dust-to-dust

With soul’s indelible Must

Where none, with rebel set of heart

Can shuck That which sets us apart

This Hand that does not slip or fail

That tunes the wind that fills the sail

That vexes vanity’s intent

And perplexes want’s prideful bent

Has scars left there by hate fulfilled

As He made Heaven possible

This Hand that fits us for trust’s task

Will hold our hand, if we but ask

© Janet Martin

For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,

 Do not fear; I will help you.

Isa.41:13