Fulfilling Love's Holy Call

1 Peter 2:21

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you,

leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

2 Timothy 1:9

He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our own works, 

but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us 

in Christ Jesus before time eternal.

Celebrating the Wonder of Love

Here is a song from Charlie Pride who 

stepped from this world to the next last week!

He is gone from us, but not his music!

The First Christmas Morn

 

Because of the hope brought to this world on that first Christmas morn

we are able to experience true and lasting joy!

(oh boy, sometimes when I return to re-proof-read it's quite evident

that these are posted midst much interruption!

 thank-you for your understanding)

Ah, we could hang our heads where waves of dread and sorrow roll 

We could be beaten down by cruel words that take their toll 

We could be crushed when pressed by those who wore clothes ‘of the least’ 

Before the knife of strife severed the sheep’s wool from the beast 

We would crumble in dark despair, but the True light abides 

We would be overcome with care, but His True Word provides 

We would be prisoners of fear but True Faith sets us free 

As love’s True Hope, True Peace, True Joy defeats the enemy 

Then we should be tender and kinder, meeker as we trust 

We should not be downcast while prophecy fulfills its Must 

But we should rejoice and be glad, no matter what the price 

As love fulfills its calling through true, humble sacrifice 

We cannot do the things we ought to without Greater Love

We will have no desire, a higher calling to prove

If we do not love first the one who loved us first of all

Where only through true love can we fulfill Love's Holy Call

The more the world takes from us the more of Himself God gives

Nothing can separate us from the Truth whereby faith lives

Then sing a song of worship to He who sustains man's joy

And fills us with purpose that even death cannot destroy

© Janet Martin

We Are All a Little Candle

 

We are all a little like a candlestick 

Potential, dark and brittle until someone lights the wick 

No matter how pretty or polished, the taper or jar 

We are just a knick-knack till we shine right where we are 

God instilled in everyone a little candlestick 

Oh, won’t you hold it up to Him and let Him light the wick? 

Then whether it’s a song, a smile, a bit of poetry 

We can brighten someone’s mile by shining cheerfully 

© Janet Martin

Go Light Your World

World-menders

We gape at Autumn's candelabra! 

Here's to carrying our candles with like-fervour!

This broken world needs mending, more befriending of the weak 

A few more folk more willing just to turn the other cheek 

This world, so full of beauty groans with humankind’s appeal 

Rather than worship’s anthems that ought never lose their zeal 

This world so full of trouble needs the best that we can give 

In this very brief bubble of one single life we live 

As we bear pressing burdens; this is the price tag of love 

Where hearts and dreams oft broken are cupped in skin’s fragile glove 

And faith, hope’s firm foundation is considered obsolete 

As instant gratification seeks something soft and sweet 

While weeping at the woebegone condition of mankind 

Where we need reappraising of love’s state of heart and mind 

Lest the light of God’s mercy seems too feeble and too dim 

For He made us the lampstand to lift up love’s flame for Him 

Because this world needs mending, more befriending of the lost 

A few more folk more willing to love without counting cost 

To lean on God's sufficient grace rather than mortal strength

Where His love has no limit in its height, depth, breadth and length

© Janet Martin 

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, 

and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matt.5:16

He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,[a]
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Unfailing Light

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Matt.5:9

  

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet; the darkness of this world

Would overcome save for the light by Thy true Word unfurled

Greater is He within than this world’s total sum

Of armies; with Thy word oh Father, we will overcome

Save us, oh Lord our God with Thy unfailing love

Keep us from being partakers when push might turn to shove

Bless the peacemakers, Lord;  be our strength and stay

As we study Thy faithful Word Your lamp will light the way

Be merciful Oh, Lord and comfort our lament

The wicked will have their reward, the proud their punishment

Then, as we cling to Thee and the Lamp of Thy word

Let your face shine on us and fill us with Your love, oh Lord

© Janet Martin

 Psalm 31

²³ Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord.

Light of Eternity

 Gorgeous break of day...

May we proceed in the Light of eternity!

John 12:46
I am come a light into the world, 

that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

As we navigate nuances of what has never been

As we exchange what we bear witness to, for the Unseen

As we begin another day on life’s highway, pray we

Proceed with conscience keen in the light of eternity

As we face what is waiting let the grace of God instill

More than futile debating, but dependence on His will

The taper of today is like a candle on the sea

A sallow halo hinged to the light of eternity

As we draw closer to the shore where only souls dismount

And we approach the solemn bar where we will give account

Help us, oh God to trek this sod with awed solemnity

Until hope’s flame is snuffed by the Light of eternity

  

© Janet Martin

Everything We Need...

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139:9-12

Hope lights earth’s sky-wide wick

And woos the night away

Where dawn cuts darkness to the quick

And so begins Today

Today is always new

An ‘all together’ race

Of people privy only to

A moment-metered grace

Grace that does not withhold

Its vowed sufficiency

But overflows an ancient mold

With love's kind clemency

Clemency from a throne

Of command unsurpassed

Where nothing is new or Unknown

In time’s communal cast

…cast with uttermost care

To a most careless breed

Forgetful to the point of prayer

Too oft by fear and greed

Greed for what is not ours

Fear’s lack of gratitude

While heaven, like a garden, flow’rs

With God’s Mercy renewed

Renewed for mankind’s hope

He lights earth’s sky-wide wick

Where ev’rything we need to cope

Cuts Darkness to the quick

© Janet Martin

  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,  

“I am the light of the world. 

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, 

but will have the light of life.”

 John 8:12

Trouble's Shining Hour

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  

 He was with God in the beginning.  

 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴

 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  

 The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

The world groans beneath threats of doom and forecasts of despair

These days were written in God’s Word, we, beckoned to prepare

The Light that goes before us will not waver or grow dim

Lift up your voice in joyful chorus of worship to Him

The law of night to day steadfastly stays its ordained course

For none can sway the mind of God or move His Hand by force

Then lean on He who does not change like shifting shadows will

While all the words of prophecy unfold, pass and fulfill

Man’s deduction and rhetoric composed by what ‘they say’

Serves often to consume us when we ought to pray and pray

Dear Father, rich in mercy bearing witness to our plight

Make this the Shining Hour when some turn from dark to Light

For not in good but troubled times, we see our frailty

How without You, hope is a sad state of futility

So, Father up in heaven, let us hear your tender woo

And pray its Shining Hour draws our hearts and minds to You

© Janet Martin

 If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God.

 If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, 

so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,

 to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. 

Amen.

1 Pet.4:11