A Celebration of Thankfulness (in both the bitter and sweet)

Happy Thanksgiving!

(I apologize in advance for the long post,

a few days in the 'making')

This Canada Thanksgiving weekend groans 

with love's bitterest and sweetest tokens...

On Friday morning I visited my sister 

recovering from a surgery ...sweet sister-fellowship💗 

On Friday afternoon I watched grandchildren 

while my daughter and son-in-law went to a visitation 

for a young man who drowned in a boating accident ...bitter😢

When they returned home we tossed all to-do lists to the wind

and made a campfire supper to enjoy the gorgeous autumn evening 

and each other's company...life is precious! ... sweet💖

(the idea came from a pretend fire earlier)

This pretend-fire idea came after delighting in the 'magic beans'/ pole beans

plucked from the vine on the arbor and deciding to make 'bean-soup'...

Saturday was a flurry of food-prep/cleaning 

for Saturday night Thanksgiving dinner ...sweet😘😋

Sunday morning Jim took some of our family to the airport 

only to discover some MUCH needed document was missed.

The decision was made that he would try to get home and back before the flight leaves

or someone would be left behind and need to fly out today.

While he was driving back and every precious minute mattered

he got a text saying the flight was delayed and all turned out well ...sweet!! 🙏

Yesterday, Sunday afternoon my 14 yr. old niece (my brother Lewis's daughter)

was involved in an accident

and she is in a medically induced coma at Sick Kids in TO.

to reduce stress from internal injuries. ...bitter!

Please pray!

But during bitter or sweet God is the same; always good and

we thank Him for His faithfulness.

The song at the end of this post

 was shared at our Church service yesterday morning;

part of  an amazing testimony as a couple shared a recent 

heart-rending, miraculous account

 of God's faithfulness in their lives

You can listen to it here;

click on Sunday Service October 10. 

 the testimony starts at 19:05 mins. in the recording...

It is Autumn and the earth is full of God's glory!

Isa.6:3

... “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; 

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Autumn’s aria escalates in treetop-orchestras

A melody sweeps through landscapes beneath breathless applause

Where humankind is smitten by glimmers of majesty

Who authored earth and heavens at creation's ‘let there be’

Whose divine providence instills the crux of buds and seeds

A wondrous fount that spills to fulfill mortal’s basic needs

The earth and its fullness thereof belongs to He who bends

The land’s four-season treasure-trove with bounty’s dividends

Where, as we contemplate the ways of God’s mercies renewed

This day that He has made overwhelms us with gratitude

For granted humble honour to partake of heaped buffets

Not with indulgent manner but with thankfulness and praise

Creation thunders with the evidence that grace bestows

Where wonder upon wonder’s undercurrent overflows

And steals the show with Master-pieces on public display

Then, leap for joy for none can keep God’s handiwork at bay

And let the colors of the season soothe and percolate

To bind the wounds where mind and reason cannot mediate

The world is full of ways to worry or to trust and pray

Time is in such a hurry to turn into yesterday

Then linger in the bowers where beauty bares nature’s soul

Where autumn’s garden flowers overhead while petals toll

To waft, breath-soft beneath our feet to thrill us once again

Enchanted by the bittersweetness of autumn’s amen

Let’s vow to love each other even if we disagree

Let’s cherish words like sister, brother, mom, dad, family

Let’s count the ways of happiness rather than what we lack

Be filled with praise and thankfulness, not vile, verbal attack

Let’s bow our heads and thank the Lord, who made Heaven and earth

For love and forgiveness outpoured; for salvation’s rebirth

Let’s live a life of gratefulness for God is in control

His everlasting faithfulness to strengthen and console

Then come what may, upon Time’s ever surging-ebbing tide

God is our advocate each day; His mercies will provide

And though our thankfulness may flow from hearts by sorrow torn

God’s loving kindness will bestow hope’s flower to the thorn

Autumn aria crescendos, then dwindles leaf by leaf

Scattering summer’s mementos like tears of joy and grief

Capturing the attentions of we, who identify

With the shifting dimensions of beauty that meets the eye

Aware that we behold but glimpses of God’s mighty ways

We raise our hearts and voices with glad thankfulness and praise

© Janet Martin

Goodness of God

Grand-sonny on a stump-and-tin-pail drum set...sweet💕😘

Of Gratitude Parades...

Short and sweet is what all time feels like

with those we love...

 

My camera kept dying and my phone camera stinks but you get the idea💓💕😍

picture below; Victoria reading Jack and the Beanstalk

"fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman"

Happy 7th Anniversary, Rob and Emily

I’m thankful for the days that always seem to fade too fast 

Where, when we are together dusk’s shadows seem swiftly cast 

The past is always hungry for the present I have learned 

The eagerness of hours leaves not one moment unturned 

I’m thankful for the memories after a day is spent 

To press soft on my reverie love’s bittersweet lament 

Where we are always hungry for more time with those we love 

And farewell always rushes in before we’ve had enough 

I’m thankful for the blessing of a place to hang our hats 

And call it home sweet home; a place to recharge and relax 

I’m thankful that the heart can hold, long after laughter fades 

The reel that plays its pictures back in gratitude-parades 

© Janet Martin

So Thankful

 

Jim declared to me as I was proof-reading this poem to him

that no one has time to read to the end of such a long thing...

My response; I suppose what I write is not for people in a hurry, 

so if you are in a hurry (as we all often are!!)

I hope one or two stanzas of this poem will bless and cheer you

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend!

(I might post some 'happiness moments' later.

Depending how the day goes!

So thankful that in spite of all the trouble living brings 

We have more to live for than this world’s present sufferings 

So thankful that hope is far more than a four-letter word 

It is a death-defying faith in Jesus Christ our Lord 

So thankful for the harvest that is almost gathered in 

For wonder working worship (not magic) beneath our skin 

So thankful Mercy knows how we are formed; that we are dust 

His loving kindness fills the gaps in mankind’s struggling trust 

So thankful to be hemmed in by a cloud of witnesses 

For Author and Perfecter of the faith that we profess 

So thankful to be in the sacred service love bestows 

Where each task serves a greater purpose than appearance shows 

So thankful for the blessings that we wear and taste and touch 

For ears to hear and eyes to see God’s handiwork and such 

So thankful that in spite of all we cannot understand 

The One who does not leave us comfortless is in command 

So thankful that when fear threatens to capsize faith’s frail barge 

No matter what the circumstance God is in perfect charge 

So thankful, like the storm-tossed sea of Galilee without 

The winds and waves within obey when we relinquish doubt 

So thankful for life's simple things (though nothing really is) 

When we consider the well-spring of blessing’s genesis 

So thankful for each season that leaves hearts speechlessly stirred 

At beauty’s myriad arrangements ever undeterred 

So thankful for a little plot to call our home, sweet home 

Where humble prayer covers each cot; so thankful for the poem 

That leaps and swirls, surges and rushes like a waterfall 

Until the poet sets it free in form of madrigal 

So thankful for tea kettles, fuzzy mittens, apple trees 

For leaves, tumbling like tawny kittens on the bonny breeze 

So thankful for love’s hugs and laughter to cheer Adam’s curse 

For God with us in health and sickness, for better or worse 

So thankful for the morning when the old is new and bright 

For mercy’s Living Proof adorning earth and sky with light 

So thankful for gardens and woodlands, ebb and flowing tide 

The undulating panorama of the countryside 

So thankful for so much where ink and time are not enough 

To tell of all the ways we taste the miracle of love 

So thankful for today to fill all it does not disclose 

With praise and praise and praise to God from whom all blessing flows 

© Janet Martin 

The Doxology Anthems of Light

  

Psalm 65

Praise awaits[b] you, our God, in Zion;
    to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer,
    to you all people will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
    you forgave[c] our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose
    and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
    of your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
    God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
    having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    and the turmoil of the nations.
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
    where morning dawns, where evening fades,
    you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it;
    you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
    to provide the people with grain,
    for so you have ordained it.[d]
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
    and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
    and the valleys are mantled with grain;
    they shout for joy and sing.

Grateful...(Happy American Thanksgiving Day!)

At 3:00 I was still trying to decide what I could make for supper
that could cook while I put a second coat of paint on the 'purple room'! 

When in menu limbo thaw ground beef.
so I did; 2 lbs.

 While it thawed in the microwave I scrubbed a few potatoes
 then tried to decide what next.
I chose meat-loaf, with baked potato-wedges and butternut squash
because this could bake at alike temps.
I put the meatloaf in for 45 min@325F before adding the pan of squash-potato.
I left it at 325F for an hour then reduced the heat around 6;00
because on Thursdays no one is home before 6:30.
Second coat of paint was done by 6:00
allowing time to make a spinach salad to complete the menu.

Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef thawed.

I small onion chopped

3 or 4 bread-crusts, crumbled

1 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper

2 eggs

squirt each of ketchup and mustard (according to taste)

2/3 cup milk

Mix and press in pan

Baking instructions above

 (if using a deep loaf pan bake covered for 11/2 hrs at 350 then uncover for the last 15 minutes.)

I topped this meatloaf with a BBQ sauce when I uncovered it

1/3 cup ketchup

1tbsp. br. sugar

1 tsp. chili powder

I tsp (heaping) honey mustard 

Cut clean, dry potatoes into wedges. 

Peel and slice squash into 1/2" rings

place in buttered casserole dish

 sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
as well as paprika and

parsley flakes or fresh chopped parsley

another drizzle of butter and enough water just to cover bottom of pan

Cover with foil and bake 1 hour at 325/350F

Remove foil for the last 15 min.

Spinach Salad

base of baby spinach

topped with thinly sliced red and green cabbage

celery, chopped

toasted sunflower seeds and sliced almonds

dried cranberries

Leave dressing on side

I used a soy-sauce dressing

the recipe for a full batch is;

Mississippi Salad dressing

put in blender 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

3 tbsp. soy sause

1 tbsp black pepper

blend then slowly add 3/4 cup oil

 (I use 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup canola or veg. oil)

put in glass bottle or jar.

Lightly drizzle salad

refrigerate unused dressing

Grateful for goodness that graces the table

Grateful for strength to do what I am able

Grateful for mercies renewed every morn

Fields that were laden with harvest, now shorn

Flicker of leaf-lanterns strewn ‘neath our feet

November’s embers where earth and sky meet

Grateful for love that gives heartstrings a tug

Wood fire warmth, like a welcome home hug

Seasons that stir us then startle us, oh

Swift gifted shimmer from first bud to snow

Teaching us tenderly as time goes by

To look the moment at hand in the eye

Grateful for touch, for hands still within reach

Grateful for much love’s demands seem to teach

Grateful for blessings too countless to name

(God, my forgetfulness puts me to shame)

Day made for labour and night deigned for rest

Purpose that bids us strive to give our best

Grateful that God always faithful and true

Never stops caring for me and for you

Grateful to know His ways are always good

Even when His grace is misunderstood

Grateful, when trouble and heartache assails

To know no matter what, love never fails

© Janet Martin

Colossians 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,

 do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Thankfulness...

Thankful...

 Thankfulness...

Leaves us breathless with sheer wonder

Grants us courage to proceed

Where God’s flawless displays thunder

Where nature’s pure pigments bleed

Wakes within us humble worship

Binds despair with hope’s kind gauze

Where an elemental courtship

Tugs us twixt will be and was

Hugs us with the arms of Jesus

Soothes the wounds of woe and dread

Gives us kind and tender reasons

To be filled with peace instead

Confounds us where explanation

Falls inept because of awe

Gratitude’s evaluation

Cannot perceive Mercy’s law

Makes us meeker, not self-seeking

Teaches us to hold, not clench

Makes us mind the words we’re speaking

Thirst for waters love can quench

Keeps us from becoming greedy

Thankfulness helps us admit

We are altogether needy

Recipients of grace; that’s it

© Janet Martin