Thursday Thoughts

 I'm reading the book Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

Each time I think I might not continue 

I come to a 'thought' that makes the rest of its laborious reading worthwhile!

Like these...

I haven't posted a Thursday Thoughts page in a long time 

but because this is a rare Thursday off I will;-)

Hope you read at least one 'thought' that made this porch-stop worth your while!

A Fishin’ an’ Wishin’ Fair Warnin’

Dawn drops into Time’s lake, life’s lure

It teases earth’s school of self- fish

With tantalizing  ‘sure to please’

Dangling before Want’s wide-eyed ‘wish’

And often contrary to ‘wish’

Is the consequence of a bite

That snares Dare’s easy target with

One moment that tasted just right

© Janet Martin

This Will Never Change…

From founts filled with the New of old

Dawn dips daybreak in ether gold

Then, soon its first bloom fades away

Leaving Time’s free-for-all; Today

This daily never-before spree

May seem common to you and me

Where nothing new under the sun

Cannot undo-unsay said-done

Then, lest we overlook the charge

That seems mundane but is quite large

It behooves us to keep in mind

This, which at dusk is left behind

© Janet Martin

Human Race To The Finish

Hither and yonder

Over and under

Into and out of

We come and we go

Giving and taking

Mending and breaking

Reaching and bowing

Farewell and hello

Laughing and crying

Smiling and sighing

Running and falling

All over the place

Beggars and choosers

Winners and losers

This is the plight, love

Of human race

© Janet Martin

Time Well Wasted Tasted

Let’s taste the day, not waste the day

Let’s lie beneath a sea

Of purest blue and peer into

God’s sky-wide poetry

Let’s just forget small words like ‘yet’

Let’s not suggest, let’s do

Until the pink of twilight’s ink

Obliterates the view

When toppled jars of silver stars

Pour out the Milky Way

We’ll fold our tent of Time well-spent

And call it Yesterday

© Janet Martin

Heart-ship

A mother’s heart

Is soft as silk

And strong as steel

Big as the sky

Yet fits completely

Into this;

A tear, a kiss,

A smile, a sigh

© Janet Martin

Sure Cure

How much less we would fight and fear

How much less we would dread

If we would spend more Time, my dear

On meadow-quilts outspread

If we would spend an afternoon

With little more to do

Than contemplate the perfect tune

Of green leaf etched on blue

© Janet Martin

For in him all things were created:

things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or powers

or rulers or authorities;

all things have been created

through him and for him.

Col.1:16

Sage Advice

Don’t stay up, darling

When it’s time to sleep

Don’t make a promise

That you cannot keep

Don’t season reason

With a bad excuse

And always leave room

For dessert and new shoes

© Janet Martin

This place of grace, soft traced with lace of frost and froth of flow’r

Is like a seed dropped in the dirt of one moment-ous hour

Where Time’s thin air is like a stair that we oft fail to mention

A wisp that fades in an abyss beyond all comprehension

© Janet Martin

Rock-a-bye ripple that runs to a sea

Full of people much older than we used to be

On that note, wishing you all a Happy Thursday!

© Janet Martin

Thursday Thoughts on A Wednesday

Thursday Thoughts (little verses)

 started when I had Thursdays off...

Now they happen more or less where ever they land:)

The ladies were teasing me that my mind is likely composing a poem

as we conversed etc. this morning but it just does not work like that...

I often sit down, not planning on the words that come!

They often take a direction all their own

even when the hunger was for a poem of an entirely other nature.

All said, it was a fun, far too fast few hours!

In time we begin to appreciate Appreciation

Valuing the simple celebration

Of what is

***

As the years go by we learn to re-learn

How, what we thought we knew

Was a stepping-stone

To what we think we know

For now

***

It is not enough

To spout love-poems

Love is a second-mile language

Often in plain, sometimes painful

Syllables

***

To know when to speak

And when to be quiet

Now, there is a woman!

***

It all goes by so fast

We should remember

Not to forget

To remember this

***

The will to be willing

Is a battle half-won

But the battle to be willing

Is never quite done

***

 We should give today all we can

No more

But no less

***

Let’s admit it

We should quit it

All this keeping score

*If we have each other

We have so much

To be thankful for

© Janet Martin

*This community is mourning the sudden loss of my niece's class-mate

whose dad is my nephew's gym teacher. 

A few hours away a community also mourns the loss of a youth

with family-ties to this community!

Let's commit to cherishing each other with gentle kindness while we may!

Thought Poem on a Thursday

 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Cor.10:5

(this is not a Thursday Thoughts post,
just a post about thought on a Thursday:)

This poem was ongoing all day...

I was constantly interrupted by over 300 photo ops!

 I wish I could share most of them...

all day long masterpiece moments made me wish for a head on a swivel!

How in a world of wishing want and taunt do we withstand

Those wily whispers working in the matrix of the mind

Where roster that we foster in secret, mentors the hand

As conception of thought gives birth to deed soon left behind

Then we are wise to scrutinize sly guests we entertain

They author what we do, run through with aftermath’s terrain

Mankind’s plan of attack soon veers off-track if we neglect

To consult Wisdom’s Handbook for infallible decrees

Oh Lord, my God, how awed we ought to be but we forget

And trust the vanity of thought lured by what the eye sees

Yet oh, the sights that often steal our rev'rent breath away

Were authored by the One who wrote the laws we disobey

His law is love; but love of Self is a fool’s syndicate

Me-myself-I aggrandizes boast’s painted devilries

And consorts to waved banners of excuse to vindicate

The pitiful pitfalls that prove Deception’s fallacies

Intent for all its gentlemanly attributes and such

Oftentimes gets distorted somewhere between thought and touch

And just because we meant well does not mean we will not fail

Fancy is quite a master-chef when cooking food for thought

It spreads before the wide-eyed mind buffets of grand regale

Where uninvited guests creep in to feast among the lot

They gorge on tasty morsels which seem innocent and sweet

Until they find their way into indulgent hands and feet

Ho, ho, we are in trouble when the lords of vanity

Exchange that which is Holy for sight-sanctioned substitute

Discretion like a marshal brings into captivity

Each argument and pretense that defies Godly statute

How in a world of want and taunt does Thought withstand defeat?

By scrutinizing every guest that tries to take a seat

© Janet Martin

Today's 'thought-guests' were treated to lots of laughter courtesy of two little three-ish year old girlies...

example 1: girl one reading to girl two (as she turned the pages and looked at the pictures) "Once upon a time there was"...and so forth until I caught the ending

 'then he said, well you know what? I am a dad so I can be the daddy 

and she said, well, I'm a mom so I can be the mommy,

 then they vewy, vewy fell in love and lived hapwy evew aftoh!" 

(then they very, very fell in love and lived happily ever after:)

Example 2: girl two, after realizing she talked to me in a very steady monotone 

crinkled up her face, looked up at me with big blue eyes and said,

 "oh deaw, I was talking like a wobot!"

(oh dear. I was talking like a robot!)

...after above hike I picked up a box of 20 timbits for their snack while we drove home.
 After we were driving for a bit they asked if they may have 'another one'.
"How many have you eaten so far?" I ask
Fwee, came the reply.
OK, says I, you may have another one.
When we got home I looked in the box. There were 4 left.
I guess their counting needs a little 'practice'!
But we gals all sometimes just have 'fwee', right;-)
(and never mind if we missed a few!!lol)

...and before I knew it dusk fell where morn mist, 

it seemed had swathed the vale but a bit ago!

Tuesday Tids and Bits

 What loveliness the rain unfurls

When nature's dress is decked in pearls

***

 Contentment...

If you have

 Work you love

 A home you love 

 Someone to love 

 Be glad

And thank the

Gracious Lord above

For what many wish

They had

© Janet Martin

The above poem was inspired as we watched the garbage collectors at the end of our driveway this morning.
Matt remarked, 'I don't think I would love that job.'

***

 Worth Whiles

(this little fellow's smile puts worth in every while:)

Nobody knows,

Without a doubt

How long our life

On earth

Therefore, we ought

With humble clout

To fill its while

With worth

For it is very

Worth our while

While ‘whiles’ winnow

The air

To take stock of

Who, what we love

And how we show

We care

Futile, these miles

And smiles and whiles

To which each day

Gives birth

If nothing more

Than was before

 Has filled its while

With worth

© Janet Martin

 ***

There is a little lord

That lives somewhere inside

The more we try to please his ply

The less he’s satisfied

The more he gets he wants

How much his hunger craves

Of such-and-such beyond the touch

For which his body slaves

Then he is prone to hoard

His pile of pilfered pelf

…this lofty little lord

That goes by name of Self

© Janet Martin

1 Tim.6:6-11

 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
For we brought nothing into this world, 

and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, 

and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 

which drown men in destruction and perdition.

 For the love of money is the root of all evil: 

which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, 

and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; 

and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

A Good Deal of Responsibility comes with A Good Deal

We all love 'a good deal'

But herein lies 'the pawn'

With the 'saved dollars' from our 'steal'

Who do we spend it on?

The test of who we serve

Is not our boast of tongue

But how we use the 'what we have'

And who we spend it on

Lord, make us more aware

Of the mercies we hold

And help us lay up treasure where

Wealth is not weighed in gold

© Janet Martin

A Thursday Thoughts style post on a Tuesday because 

Thursdays are generally long, busy-with-lots-of-tots days.