Making the Most of Life

Ps.5:11-12

Let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: 

let them ever shout for joy because Thou defendest them: 

Let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee.

For Thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous: 

with favour wilt thou compass Him as with a shield.

***

There are few things which make life as meaningless, as selfishness.

Small wonder then that the two greatest commandments

challenge and cheer every choice we make

every day.

***

Our gains and blessings are never given to pocket, but to share.

How prone human nature is to self-indulgence,

rather than recognizing where there is added blessing

there is added responsibility to bless and give...

***

When we are tempted to hide the 'talent' in the earth

whether of money or spiritual gifts

to protect it from failure and loss

let us pray to the Giver for help

to trust Him more.

***

When, with what we are given, we seek first the kingdom of God,

by honouring the Giver, then success is guaranteed,

far beyond what the naked eye can behold!

***

Recently I purchased a little book

(so I would qualify for free shipping from Amazon) 😀

It is a beautiful vault of godly wisdom and exhortation!

(and the above excerpts are just the first few paragraphs!!)

Our greatest understanding cannot comprehend God's ways

Lord, let it be enough for me to trust Thee all my days

How brief, accumulation's lease; the treasures we accrue

Where, how/how where, we concentrate life's wealth is up to me and you 

How holy is each breath we take; each choice we make, oh Lord

Help us to make the most of life by reck'ning the reward

~Janet Martin

For Each Today, Fresh Made...

'Put sprinkles on mine so I will be really happy'

ordered/requested an eager, innocent three-year-old recently

as he watched me scoop, wishing the ice-cream was blue, 

like the picture on the cone-box.

(is that how we sound to God sometimes??

Asking for sprinkles while he is scooping generous

helpings of ice-cream?!)

Stand in awe and sin not.

Ps.4:4

This morning I had all but the final two lines down in today's poem

before Duty prevailed...

Sausage to can...

Grand-kiddo helpers to pick peas...

Mercy, in tender splendor sets the wick of morn ablaze

For we, time's fortune-spenders in a sequence of todays...

Mercy, in tender splendor sets the wick of morn ablaze

For we, time's fortune-spenders in a sequence of todays

Where ups and downs, bound to perplex the architect of dreams

Wait, once again to test and vex and prove what love esteems

Creation's constant glory seals the evidence of God

Wonder, like holy thunders peals in each soul, humbly awed 

While laughter and tears ebb and flow, while sorrow-billows swell 

*Where holding turns to letting go and hello to farewell 

Let us reason together the Duty of you and me

To kind and humbly weather both beauty and misery

Not on our own but by the grace of God, who made all things

His steadfast Presence helps us face whatever today brings 

Mortal wish sometimes disagrees with purpose God-bestowed 

'An ice-cream cone with sprinkles please' is not a pleasure owed 

And all the 'sprinkles; in the world cannot compare, when weighed

With mercy's  faithfulness unfurled in each today fresh-made

Janet Martin

*Where holding turns to letting go and hello to farewell 

(the above lines inspired by the heart-wrenching tragedy of the Texas flood)

Tears and prayers flow...

Because Our Time on Earth is Brief...

Lest we 'fall into temptation and a trap because we want to be rich' 1 Tim.6:9

making it exceedingly difficult to

'love God first and our neighbour as ourselves, Luke 10:27

let us 'serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling'! Ps.2:11

Lest we label 'faithfulness in obedience' as legalistic

in an age of increasing nonchalance,

let us take heed, if we think we stand, lest we fall' 1 Cor.10:12

Lest we drown out God's voice with noise of worldly ploys,

oh Lord, remind us to be still and know that you are God. Ps.46:10

Let us delight in Your law and meditate on it day and night!

So we will be like a tree planted by rivers of water

bringing forth fruit in season,

and leaf that does not wither,

as whatever we do shall prosper. Ps.1:2-3

Our church family is invited to participate in reading through the Psalms during July and August!

Would you like to join us, and also be ministered to by these powerful chapters of Scripture?

Because our time on earth is brief

Not one single soul can afford

To live as if this world were chief

For soon we all will meet the Lord

The Lord is He who gives and takes

His breath instills each breath we draw

Then for Him and fellowman's sakes

Pray love to be our lifelong law

...because our time on earth is brief

Lord, make us more humble and kind

And help us live each day as if

Today we'll leave it all behind 

Janet 🙏💝

Altar Call or (Of Living, Sacrificed)

Because the dust we stir is far more than a splash of echo-ash...

as we dash through numbered days

Rom.12:1

Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, 

by the mercies of God, to present your bodies 

as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, 

which is your spiritual service of worship.

Rev.14:7

He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory,

 because the hour of his judgment has come. 

Worship him who made the heavens, 

the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Rom.2:6-8

 6God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”a

 7To those who by perseverance in doing good

 seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

 8But for those who are self-seeking 

and who reject the truth and follow wickedness,

 there will be wrath and anger.

The altar upon which we lay love’s living sacrifice

Blushes with hush of breaking day...

The altar upon which we lay love’s living sacrifice

Blushes with hush of breaking day and love’s impending price

Where it is easy to ignore its uncommanding pose

As we burst through dawn’s gaping door, laden with joys and woes

The altar upon which Choice proves who and what we love most

Because God loves us, pray, behooves us to examine boast

Where dust we stir with hopes and dreams and duty’s beck and call

Is far more than a sweep that gleams with season’s rise and fall

The altar upon which we place the living proof of love

Is gifted to us by God’s grace who fits us with enough

To worship Him, with heart and soul (where once this world enticed)

He helps us bear the sacred toll of living, sacrificed

The altar upon which we live is heaped with word and deed

Therefore, we always ought to give its off’ring earnest heed

In light of God’s sacrifice laid upon a cross, and then

To bow before the Lord who made Heaven and earth. Amen

© Janet Martin

Crucial Consideration

Earth's annual flower-carousel has begun to twirl...

and, our days are like the flowers...

a brief bloom at best!

1 Peter 1:24

For, “All flesh is like grass, 

and all its glory like the flowers of the field; 

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

Considering that you and I

Are here for such a little bit

It behooves all of us to try

To make the very most of it

To do the very best we can

To honor God with word and deed

To truly love our fellowman

And not to want more than we need

©Janet Martin

Ps.103:15-18

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

Before It Is Too Late

Because death forgets no one,

 today's post is an earnest and urgent beckoning

because of a reckoning none will escape...

The Ninety and Nine...

Luke 15:4-7

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, 

does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness,

 and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 

5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

  6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, 

saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 

7I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven 

over one sinner who repents 

than over ninety-nine [b]just persons who need no repentance.

On his deathbed the other week, my sister-in-law's brother put his faith in Jesus

before, at 51 years of age, he passed from time into eternity.

Praise the Lord! He did not dismiss the window of opportunity still open,

 to repent and believe!

Death forever closes the window of every opportunity

but ultimately the opportunity to receive the gift of salvation!

Sometimes death comes too suddenly to call upon God's name,

so then, we should prepare to meet God today!

God, who so loved us He gave His Son as the final sacrifice for sin because

'without shedding of blood is no remission/forgiveness. Heb.9:22

Matt.24:43-44

But know this, that if the master of the house had known

 what [a]hour the thief would come, 

he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

 44 Therefore you also be ready, 

for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

What can be sadder than to be Almost Persuaded?!

Acts 26:28 NKJV

Then Agrippa said to Paul,

 “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Almost Persuaded

Death stops us in our tracks,

In leaps of faith, mid-prayer/air

It accomplishes hope’s climax

Or eternal despair

It adjourns highs and lows

When death lowers its bar

It executes life’s curtain-close

No matter who we are

It strips the soul’s veneer

(Pray we prepare to meet

Our God, for we must all appear

Before His judgment seat)

It lurks in every breath

In every step we take

We live in the shadow of death

Eternity at stake

Between Will Be and Was

God’s grace unfurls Time’s mast

And grants what none should waste, because

Today could be our last

Salvation, none can earn

Saves us from sin's dire fate

Because, Death waits at every turn

Who can afford to wait

…to call upon the Name

Of God, mighty to save

All who believe, death cannot claim

For Christ conquered the grave

Therefore, though death is sure

We need not dread its scythe 

All who believe, God holds secure

In everlasting life   

Then pray, do not delay

To make repentance true

Because maybe this very day

Death will take me or you

Then, hearken/listen unto He

Who calls us all by name 

Who gave Himself to set us free

From death's unyielding claim 

Before it is too late

(for death forgets no one)

Pray for faith's gift of saving grace

Through Jesus Christ, God's Son

© Janet Martin

Isa. 51:5-6

My righteousness is near,

My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And on My arm they will trust.
 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be [b]abolished.

Read the full glorious chapter HERE

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 

we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing

 of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 

14 who gave Himself for us, 

that He might redeem us from every lawless deed

 and purify for Himself His own special people,

 zealous for good works.

Aubade (and a prayer request)

When we receive the gift of salvation and become children of God,

we also 'inherit' the call of The Great Commission;

Matt.28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said,

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Ps.119:4-6

4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

6 Then shall I not be ashamed, 

when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

***

In light of the verses above

what a sacred unfurling then, is each new day! 

A new day melts the dark; duty's charge hails anew

Therefore, once more, before embarking on 'so much to to'

My soul is stirred to reach to touch Mercy's return

The Giver has so much to teach and I so much to learn

A new day fills the air where unplumbed moments span

*Praise God who hears my/our humble prayer and works His perfect plan

My soul is stirred to bow, beneath the Verge of Choice 

Lest, in the heat of Want, somehow I miss His still, small Voice

A new day meets our gaze; a fresh wave of Unknown

To tutor us in Thoughts and Ways much higher than our own

My soul is stirred to sing; come joy or sorrow's lot

Beneath the shelter of His Wing the child of God is taught 

Janet Martin

*One of my prayers is for my sister-in-law, Karen,

back in the hospital due to bleeding, after an emergency

hip replacement two weeks ago.

  Would you join  in praying for her encouragement and healing?

Below, a few of yesterday's 'gifts' 💓

A flock of blue jays descended and chattered as they foraged for

 a few minutes then flew on...

brothers 💙

Because in a Sense It Is Always Planting Season...

Like buds, morning breaks

hours unfold 

bearing noon-blooms

that fade and fall,

like so many flower-petals

to strew the dust of dusk

The petals of days to weeks to months to years

scatter seasons of life in their wake...

We are here for such a small 'season'

in light of eternity;

an eternity that begins

in the moment awaiting every single one of us,

when we close our eyes,

never to open them again on earth!

No matter what season we are in

we are students in its 'classroom'

with still so much to learn...

1 Tim.6:11-12

But you, O man of God, flee from these things (the love of money)

 and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, 

love, perseverance, and gentleness.

 12Fight the good fight of the faith. 

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called 

when you made the good confession before many witnesses.

spring, summer, autumn, winter twirls

a kind of carousel

that often startles boys and girls

with hello's swift farewell

as childhood drifts from carefree streams

as adolescence sails

into a world of hopes and dreams

where Reality hails

with that which life is bound to bring

as the years come and go

a very sacred harvesting

for we reap what we sow

where autumns and winters accrue

bearing the telling yield

of seeds we strewed while dashing through

springtime and summer's field 

Janet Martin

Though we cannot turn back the clock

and undo what is done

or un-plant what is planted

this is a new day the Lord has made!

We can rejoice and be glad in it

and ask Him to help us to be mindful of the seeds we strew today,

for, in a sense it is always planting season

and no one lives to see the full extent of the harvest

for better or worse.

Oh, pray we plant for the better today!

Seeds of righteousness, godliness, faith, 

love, perseverance, and gentleness.

A lot of thought goes into spring planting because

every gardener and farmer knows

we cannot reap what we do not sow!

Last week the first teeny-weeny start on this year's garden-planting!

No! this is not all my garden!!

Beyond the grass strip is the farmer's field!

He has lent me a corner of his field so I am able 

to have a larger garden than I could otherwise enjoy!

Love's Law Of...(First things First)

While the layout of each lesson-book may vary

the requirement and result are universal because

we reap what we sow

and God is not mocked! Gal.6:7

I've been on a stretch of demanding days and

half-sleep nights. During the night, last night

the electricity must have blinked off and since I don't

have a battery back-up in my alarm clock

and since I had the blind and room-darkening curtains pulled

and since I had a sound sleep last night, I was appalled when

I looked at my phone and it was... 8:48?!! 😭😬

The tempter was there instantly with 'you over-slept!

no time for devotions today! you must hurry! hurry!"

What a most terrible way, (I have learned from experience)

to hurry, hurry into the day without first thanking and praising God for his mercies renewed,

and then lifting up our 'broken' to Him, our sick, sorrowing and lost loved ones.

Then drinking from the wellspring of His word to have our spirit refreshed and strengthened

because the flesh is weak and prone to fall prey to what it sees...

Circumstance changes constantly...

Last night, snow and ice-ensconced world...

This morning, sunshine drenched world beneath rising temps!

Tis an art the heart must master for life's story to be sweet

Success can lead to disaster if we do not learn its creed

Where the spirit oft is willing but the wanting flesh is weak

Where sight oft seems more fulfilling than ‘faith as a mustard seed’

Tis a test the best of scholars and teachers cannot evade

Nor the tribe that wears blue collars nor miners, nor astronauts

In the end we all will answer for the choices we have made

Be it maestro, merchant, dancer, five-star chef, scrubber of pots

Tis a law of awe and wonder, impossible to detail

Where wellsprings of blessing thunder from each breath no longer cursed

It will enrich dream and duty, a rubric that will not fail

As we marvel at the beauty of love’s law of First things first

© Janet Martin

One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”26“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’c and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’d”

28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”

29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Read Jesus answer HERE...v.30-37

Take Time to be Holy

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Heb.13:8

...leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matt. 5:24

Farewell's Shadowlands

Oh, the undeterred momentum of moments no one can faze

It sparkles through our bearing to a world of yesterdays

It vexes rhyme-dazed poets and Duty's proprietors

As it hastens new morning through noon and dusk's gaping doors

Where, in the wake of choices that we make in its brief chase/grace

Remains the part that never stays yet no one can erase...

The above ditty was suddenly inspired from part of a 

conversation with Hubby this morning, who called

in the beginning/middle of the poem below,

begun after starting the fire, morning devotions

between putting supper in the crockpot,

filling empty bird feeders,

answering messages, texts and emails,

and other sundry domestic dues,

 while trying not to panic as

 I gaped at the clock that boldly declared

that the topic I began writing about

(daybreak's hello) in the waking hues of today

has long since ceased to be...

already part of farewell's shadowland!

but, in the afore mentioned conversation 

Hubby asked me if I ever think of everything

I could accomplish if I didn't write.

I guess none of us can see the hidden 'scale' within,

 where we weigh (hopefully) the eternal value of how we fill

fleeting moments!

Oh, how often I am torn between lyrical cadence

and domestic prudence 😔😅

...because what we do is so brief

yet so eternal!

Dawn, like an unplumbed well of ink

Unstoppers gold-gray, blue and pink

The tranquil tides of night soft-wane

Unveiling berths of mirth and pain

Beneath the tolling of a bell

Unfurling shadows of farewell

The halo of hello is brief

Harbinger of pleasure and grief

Like ripples of a pebble tossed

Dawn disappears; its advent lost

In hues and dues that rose then fell

To fuel shadows of farewell

How subtle spills life’s epitaph

A world where echoes weep and laugh

Composed from the momentous surge

Where daybreak and hello soon merge

Like melted mist, intangible

With long, deep shadows of farewell

Present, where past and future meet

Beckons reckonings, bittersweet

How careful-prayerful we should weigh

Think-ink, that fuels do-and-say

Soft spilling from our lips and hands

To dwell in farewell's shadowlands  

© Janet Martin

Ps. 121

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to [a]be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your [b]keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall [c]preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve[d] your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

A Beautiful Life-Jim Reeves