Thankful (to God For All Eternity)

Heb.13:15

Therefore by Him (Jesus) 

let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, 

that is, the fruit of our lips, [d]

giving thanks to His name.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day!

Above all I am thankful for the precious promises

from God for us!

Yesterday morning's Sunday School lesson included these verses

Also included in the links in the poem below

Num.23:19

God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill?

1 Cor.1:9

 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship 

with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 For chickens scratching in the yard...

For dawn, pretty as a postcard...

For fresh brewed cuppa joe or tea...

For autumn’s awe-evoking hues;...

For gardens, bent with granted spoil...

For health and strength to tend its Toil...

For gourd-shaped miracles we glean...

Then turn into supper cuisine...

For chickens scratching in the yard

For dawn, pretty as a postcard

Perched on earth’s eastward window ledge

Man's witness to God's honored pledge

For glimpses of God through a glass

Darkened (for now) by ‘days of grass’

For ways we are able to cope

Because of one little word, ‘Hope’

For seasons, as they grin and groan

Through carriages of skin and bone

For oceanic undertows

As joy and sorrow ebbs and flows

For fresh brewed cuppa joe or tea

For love of friends and family

For faith’s unrivaled happiness

Because God keeps His promises

For utter grief, because of love

For knowing God is strong enough

To bear a whole world’s weight of woe

He did! On a cross long ago

For truth, from His word that abides

To anchor Hope, lest shifting tides

Of Time should disillusion, oh

By what we see rather than know

For autumn’s awe-evoking hues;

Crimsons, yellows, bronze, greens and blues

Cheering the crooks where petals fell

In summer-long songs of farewell

For book-comrade’s fine company

Acquainting likes of you and me

With fellow-compadres, long gone

Yet, through ink-legacies, live on

For gardens, bent with granted spoil

For health and strength to tend its Toil

For gourd-shaped miracles we glean

And turn into supper cuisine

For so much beauty to behold

(God’s handiwork never grows old)

For wonder’s worship, bona fide

For tots who slow oft hurried stride

For bliss of heartthrob, humbly stirred

By gifts of butterfly-bloom-bird

By treetops tossing glossy manes

Not yet undone by autumn rains 

For heartfelt hugs as love's tears fall

For firm handshakes that say is all 

For peace beyond description's pow'r

God reserves for grief's rawest hour  

For comfort from handwritten art

Notes and verses to cheer the heart

And splash the sunshine of God's smiles

Through people to brighten dark miles 

 

For paths of righteousness to trod

While The Foolish, who deny God

Throng thoroughfares, in vain pursuit

Of this world’s unfulfilling fruit

For the kinship of Common Task

For Heaven’s Helper, if we ask

For food to eat and clothes to wear

And hands to hold/fold in thankful prayer

For blessings too profuse to count

For salvation’s unflagging fount

Over grace and truth’s Bedrock streams

The flood/blood that cleanses and redeems

For feasts, for both body and soul

To fit us where Fight’s billows roll

For the Good Shepherd, glorious

His rod and staff to comfort us

For Thoughts and Ways kindling man’s Why

For God’s extravagant reply

As we trust Him, faith's kind increase

Crowns brokenness with joy and peace

For mercies no mortal deserves

As wisdom weathers learning curves

For all the ‘laugh lines’ that we earn

In the classroom of live-and-learn

Oh Lord, the author of our days

Receive our sacrifice of praise

As faith’s cornucopia brims

With love’s ceaseless thanksgiving hymns

…because Your love, steadfast and sure

Holds Hope’s storm-battered bark secure

Until faith is eclipsed at last

By Sight, no longer darkly glassed

Then face to face we will adore

As all we wondered at before

Dissolves in thankful ecstasy

To God, for all eternity

Because He so loved you and me

© Janet Martin

For bliss of heartthrob, humbly stirred

By gifts of butterfly-bloom-bird...

For comfort from handwritten art

Notes and verses to cheer the heart

And splash the sunshine of God's smiles

Through people to brighten dark miles 

Just a few of a myriad of 'heart art' 💖🙏

(and to think that not so long ago I thought it was 'just a card'!!)

I'm so sorry for all the 'just a card's I never sent!

Promises (Official Music Video) - Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

Everlasting Thanksgiving Feast

Happy Thanksgiving to  my American Friends 🦃💖🙏

and to everyone because with so much to be thankful for,

every day is a good day for giving thanks

Ps.119:89-91

Your word, O LORD, is everlasting;

it is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Your faithfulness continues through all generations;

You established the earth, and it endures.

Your ordinances stand to this day,

for all things are servants to You.

Jer.31:3

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Ps.90:2

Before the mountains were brought forth, 

Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, 

Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Today is like a table lowered, lavished with a feast...

(Some feast-fragments' that helped inspire today's poem/hymn)

For laughter, glorious laughter to counter life’s lack with cheer

For friends, for cups of tea while mirth and miseries are shared...

(the tea was what I have dubbed Garden Tea, Dried mint, lavender, fennel and marigold)

For hues that tell the season without calendars and such...

Like a place to call home-sweet-home,

 ...like love of families

Today is like a table lowered, lavished with a feast

Into the fray of circumstance mercy’s buffet is borne/born

Once more God bares His loving heart, for greatest to the least

Faithful and true, His grace imparts the majesty of morn

For love’s un-stoppered boundlessness, thankfulness overflows

For promises unaltered by the course of centuries

For smorgasbords of blessing to brighten world-full-of- woes

Like a place to call home-sweet-home, like love of families

For seasons not yet cast in Past’s Big Book of Moments Spent

For hope and joy and peace, by God’s eternal Word, secured

For joy still set before us until time’s frail veil is rent

And we behold the everlasting glory of the Lord

For laughter, glorious laughter to counter life’s lack with cheer

For friends, for cups of tea while mirth and miseries are shared

For wonder’s sheer delight that only God can commandeer

For elixir of poetry as ink-inklings are snared

For flowerpots, for curious tots with lots of questions why

For Duty’s common ground crowned by heaven-wide masterpiece

For the rare afternoon that hangs a hammock from the sky

And bids us climb aboard before dusk snuffs its glorious lease

For nature’s tapestries that awe the soul and stun our gaze

For tranquil woodland wander-lands free from wordy demands

For tea kettles that sing as if this is the-good-ole-days

For humble testimonies uttered my work-calloused hands

For kitchens heady with aromas, we will soon destroy

As we smack lips and scrape and lick dinner platters and trays

For Christmas-time-a-coming and glad tidings of great joy

For heads that bow and hearts that still and spill in thankful praise

For hues that tell the season without calendars and such

For dues that mortal reason will never quite apprehend/comprehend

For more than we can name or tame with thought’s deficient touch

We gather into worship hymns we pray will never end

Where today, like a table is lowered from He who fed

Thousands, with five loaves and two fish, yet twelve baskets remained

Lord, remind us that it is You who grants our daily bread

Lest we forget, and live as if the feast was self-attained

Behold, today is like a table, love and kindness-graced 

Behold, goodness and mercy flows, for greatest to the least

A smorgasbord of favors and flavors for us to taste  

Like honored guests at an Everlasting, Thanksgiving Feast 

© Janet Martin

So Much To Be Thankful For...Josh Groban

Forever Thankful...

It is Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving 

Wherever in the world you are!

Because every day ought to be a 'give thanks' day!

With less people living at home I have (reluctantly)

scaled back the traditional Thanksgiving Weekend bake-blitz!

Like this and this and this!💖😋

But!!! not totally😅!

One of our dinner-guests today does not eat dessert/sweets.

I am going to do my best to make him wish he did!!

All in good grace and fun!

Col.3:15

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,

 since as members of one body you were called to peace. 

And be thankful. 

Isa.25:1

O LORD, You are my God. 

I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, 

For You have done wonderful things; 

Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

For seasons as they bloom then lie

Like fallen leaves beneath blue sky,,,

For seasons as they bloom then lie

Like fallen leaves beneath blue sky

For overflowing flower-smiles

And autumn’s gold and auburn isles

For little girl with little kitten

For mother-hearts so dearly smitten

By beauty’s wonders, duty-wild

That seem to haste to woo the child

From innocence, to dreams to cares

Beneath an umbrella of prayers

For privilege to bear the smart

Of pangs love’s fond farewells impart

For harvest’s air of urgency

Mingling with awed humility

For melodies that slip and sweep

In leaf-shaped notes that none can keep

For health and strength, though should both fail

For hope beyond this troubled vale

If we repent, trust and obey

He who will guide us through each day

For toil’s common ingredients

And spoil that authors reverence

To God, for earth’s fulness thereof

To we, below, from He above

As planted furrow overflows

With bounty His goodness bestows

Through every good and perfect gift

We pluck and thresh, chop, stir or sift

To awe us as we recognize

What mercy daily bread supplies

For comfy chairs and cozy nooks

For cups of tea and love of books

For hands to hold through life’s distress

To fine-tune fervent thankfulness

With joy, much sweeter than before

The test of trouble that we bore

For faith, established in God’s word

For His promises undeterred

May we never forget to raise

A hymn of holy, humble praise

For comfort to rush mortal frame

With truth no scorner’s tongue can maim

For Zion’s precious Cornerstone

That will never be overthrown

Where, though bold foes may boast and lure

Justice and righteousness endure

Through the salvation of the Lord

Therefore we rejoice in His Word

Forevermore; worship resounds

With gladness that transcends all bounds

For reason to review God’s grace

Until nothing is commonplace

Until the best we have to bring

Is love’s breath-by-breath offering

Of adoration and delight

Until desire’s appetite

Hungers and thirsts for things above

(Not cursed with lucre-kindled love)

Until that great and glorious day

When praise will never lose its way

© Janet Martin

From our House to Yours

Happy Thanksgiving...

Most Humbly Thankful

as we gather

orchards and gardens

into pots and pans

baskets and bowls

it woos a hymn

that overflows

most humbly-thankful 

hearts and souls

Janet~

Ps.100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, 

and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:

 be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;

 and his truth endureth to all generations.

Foretaste of Forever

Because this is the week leading up to Canada's Thanksgiving Weekend

I've been pondering various angles and expressions

of true thanks-living...

1 Tim.4:1-11

Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,

giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods

which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For every creature of God is good,

and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;

5 for it is [b]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6 If you instruct the brethren in these things,

you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,

nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine

which you have carefully followed.

7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.

8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things,

having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.

10 For to this end [c]we both labor and suffer reproach,

because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men,

especially of those who believe.

11 These things command and teach.

Here it is again!!

God's renewed mercy! 

Lam.3:22-23

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Thank-you, thank-you, Lord

May Thy renewed mercy 

kindle faith's renewed delight!

***

Not with begrudging acquiescence

Or forced generosity

May more than pious performance

Emulate sincerity

Not to soothe heart-parts still stony

By fulfilling duty's bid

Or to balance testimony

On an ‘invisible grid’

Nor for the sake of appearance

Earning holy brownie-points

Through meticulous adherence

To religious do's and don'ts   

But with unpretentious pleasure

And with unaffected praise

Storing treasure over treasure

Beyond mortal’s measured gaze

With devotion’s willing labor

May life's unfeigned gladness be

To love God first, then by neighbor

Because of God’s love for me

May Motive's earnest endeavor

With genuine fervor brim

In earth’s foretaste of forever

Bringing all glory to Him

© Janet Martin

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

A Little Lilt of Everlasting Praise

A little end-of-year reflection of thankfulness

and worship that pray, has barely begun!

Life is a collection of moment-pixels!

Give thanks! 

I confess its a bit of a Poem-blitz today...

a way to keep the wick of gladness trimmed and hope's flame lit, 

where so much sadness threatens to permanently snuff it, 

without reminders of why it never can! 

hallelujah!

Thank-you for sin’s redemption paid through the blood of Your Son

Thank-you for full forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done

Thank-you for Your sweet promise as confession’s sorrows pour

When You forgive our sins, God, You remember them no more

Thank-you for the Lamp of Your Word to light the path of life

Because the throughway to Your throne is full of grief and strife

Thank-you that we have access where the temple’s veil is rent

To come to You, not through a priest but through Your covenant

Thank-you that what this world can never give, You will supply

Your wellsprings of goodness and love will never drain or dry

Thank-you for more than we deserve because You love us so

And nothing here is greater than the grace that You bestow

Thank-you for the true beauty of hope’s unmerited worth

To crown the countless beauties lavishing heavens and earth

Thank-you for what creation spills before our wond’ring eyes

Thank-you for what salvation seals, revealed in paradise

Thank-you for holy purpose in what would be commonplace

But love turns into worship’s joyful gratitude for grace

Thank-you for the gift of Today; where no two are the same

Thank-you that You hear everyone who calls upon Your name

Thank-you that You abide and that You work for our good

And that what we confide in You is always understood

Thank-you for eyes to see and ears to hear, thought to recall

Your precious promises and bounty's blessings great and small

For feet to walk and hands to tend to tasks or fold in prayer

Thank-you that whatever we ask, we know you hear and care

Thank-you for friends and family, for home, sweet home and such

For faces in our memory, we can no longer touch

For Your faithful companionship as we take up our cross

For the gain of your comfort in the pain of our loss

Thank-you that You are with us thus we are never alone

Thank-you, for every stumbling block, there is a stepping stone

Thank-you for food to eat and clothes to wear and work to do

Thank-you that You are absolute, omnipotent and true

Thank-you for what we learn through the bitter rue of mistakes

To humble wisdom's crown we earn as pride’s countenance breaks

Thank-you for gardens out-of-doors or on a windowsill

Thank-you for pups and kittens, for the birds that flit and trill

Thank-you for the raincloud that pours Your answer to our plea

For the wee baby that restores joy in humanity

Thank-you for soft sunshine that warms away cold winter’s gloom

Thank-you for seeds instilled with miracles of bud and bloom

Thank-you for toil’s gracious reward of slumber, sound and deep

Thank-you for vital vim restored after a good night’s sleep

Thank-you for a pricked conscience to rebuke the erring mind

For the refuge of perfect peace that all who trust will find

For Your green pastures and still waters, when courage obeys

For Your goodness and mercy to follow us all our days

Thank-you God for your faithfulness transcending time and place

For hymns made possible because You love vile, human race

Thank-you, oh God, that nothing is impossible with You

No matter what, there is nothing too hard for You to do

Thank-you that You have proven by what death’s tomb could not stay

Your power and Your glory and Your Kingdom now for aye

No army you can defeat You and no evil overthrow

For You have overcome the world, in spite of trouble’s woe

And all who repent and believe, fight a most worthwhile fight

For You will be the One they/we see when faith is turned to sight

Thank-you that You are slow to anger, abounding in love

And for your patient kindness as You chasten and reprove

Thank-you for living hope to spur us onward until we

Together with You Lord, thank you through all eternity

© Janet Martin

Psalm 103:1-5

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thanks-living Lyric

Happy Thanksgiving to our American neighbors and friends!

For heavens that declare God’s glory age to age to age...

For children in the sweet, fleet sacredness of innocence...

For front porch lights 

and blazing hearths 

and fresh-steeped cups of tea...

For heavens that declare God’s glory age to age to age

Masterpiece after masterpiece ignites awe’s flawless wage

For nature’s law unruffled by the changes progress brings

Beauty’s bounteous coffers charged with Eden’s glimmerings

For children in the sweet, fleet sacredness of innocence

Before the tug twixt right and wrong begins its arguments

For home’s most cherished havens and the love of family

For front porch lights and blazing hearths and fresh-steeped cups of tea

For worth earth cannot grant, but He whose breath of life we breathe

For mirth to plant its laughter where our spirits often grieve

For hope to help us cope with ‘nope’ when we had prayed for ‘yes’

For ups and downs that humble and meeken our happiness

For all the ways we could have erred, but by God’s grace, did not

For mercy’s goodness undeterred though He is oft forgot

For God’s unfailing promises for better or for worse

For dawn, unveiling Today like a gift from heaven’s purse

For faces not yet kissed and wonder not yet tasted, oh

For sadness of farewells hinged to the gladness of hello

For doors waiting to fling ajar on shores beyond our reach

For knowing that right where we are has lessons left to teach

For friendships and for favors, free of charge and fit for kings

Like the trill of a songbird or the thrill new baby brings

For night’s rest from our labours and for neighbors, sweet and kind

For duty’s wealth to guard against snares of an idle mind

For farm fresh eggs and other fine culinary delights

For simple fare to satisfy heartiest appetites

For fresh-ground, fresh-brewed coffee, for the cup of life that brims

With still untasted melodies of still unfolding hymns

For seasons that we sail through, like the twinkle or a chime

Stunning new generations with the olden ways of time

For challenges that teach us to trust more and worry less

For flowerpots on windowsills and tot-anointed mess

For dreams that keep us on our toes/knees and drive impatience wild

For moms and dads committed to the welfare of the child

For unexpected moments that bestow a breathless ache

With bliss we miss when hurry’s flurry sets the pace we take

For faith to face the new year with our faces all aglow

Like children as they dash to play in fresh untrodden snow

For jar shelves laden with collections gleaned from garden fare

For cozy nooks and books when the weather growls like a bear

For flowers, and for bowers bright with fall foliage, for spring

After winter relinquishes its grip on earth’s awning

For treasuring the timelessness of life’s most simple joys

Shared with the cheerful company of little girls and boys

For poetry still wafting in whispers still unsubdued

For more than we can tally when it comes to gratitude

For love's lingering essence like a fragrant curlicue

After the flame is snuffed that flickered with life's me-and-you  

And, (last but never least), for salvation’s security

To make our joy complete despite what was, is and will be

© Janet Martin

For treasuring the timelessness of life’s most simple joys

Shared with the cheerful company of little girls and boys...

For love's lingering essence like a fragrant curlicue

After the flame is snuffed that flickered with life's me-and-you