Before The Winepress and Threshing Floor

Wheat harvest is in full swing! 

The 'winnowing fan' is separating the wheat from the chaff!

Many less visible 'harvests' are in full swing too!

John 15: 1-4 & 16

(read the whole beloved chapter HERE)

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 

 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; 

and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, 

neither can you, unless you abide in Me...

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, 

and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, 

and that your fruit should remain: 

that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

James 2:17

So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.

Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance...

As we study the ripple effects of carelessness, of sin/ disobedience to God,

its consequence is ghastly, rolling though generations with ease,

if left unchecked,

until the 'pit'-fall once disregarded by a few,

 is so crowded that the awareness of it ceases.

(why is it we are prone to lamenting sin's consequence, 

rather than the origin of the consequence- sin?!)

Wisdom always considers, beyond instant gratification, where the action or choice

if unchecked,  will lead and whether the fruit of it will ultimately,

draw us nearer to God or to the world...

is it a fruit of the Spirit or flesh?

If we have truly repented 

and if we truly love

our Saviour, then fruit in keeping with repentance

will/must be evident!! 

We live in a pleasure-driven age with exorbitant amounts of money

poured into the fleeting fruitlessness of many-a-joy toy...

Oh pray we never let the 'thorns/things' choke out the desire for God;

the Giver of every good and perfect gift!

We don't need to be wealthy to afford the gifts He promises to all

who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

'they shall be filled.' Matt.5:6,

while, the opposite is true when it comes to feeding carnal appetites;

the more we feast, the more we starve! 

If we are rooted in Good Soil we will grow and bear fruit...

Years ago one of the families I did childcare for, 

generously built/gifted me an arbour

and some grapevines, after I casually mentioned to them 

in a gardening conversation that someday I would LOVE to have a grape arbor.

What grand anticipation followed the planting of the vines!

but, nothing happened!!

For three years I watched as each spring a few valiant leaves appeared, 

assuring me there was still some life in the vine,

but it only ever survived each season, rather than thrived! 

Suddenly it dawned on me that perhaps the arbor is too close to

the black walnut trees bordering the neighbor's property!

Sure enough, only wild grapes are juglone tolerant!

In disappointment I dug them up and carelessly plopped them in a hole

in my 'miscellaneous' flowerbed assuming by the looks of them

that this time there was no life remaining...

I was wrong!

Finally the thing that hampered their growth was removed 

and they leaped from the earth like a visual hymn!

thankfully, wisteria is unbothered by juglone!

(walnut tree beauties in background)

the mouth may boast a myriad of profound piety

but fruit will always tell the truth of fig or thistle tree 

how careful then, we ought to heed, before the consequence

the seeds we strew, of righteousness or disobedience 

...because, no matter what we say, our actions do not lie

Who we live for is proven by the one we most deny;

the God of love or god of self; no one can serve two Lords/lords

And by the fruit the tree is known; not by the wind of words

    Producing fruit in keeping with repentance, none can do

apart from the True Vine; then call on Him; He helps us to

endure the painful pruning of the Vinedresser, before

the Grim Authentication of winepress and threshing-floor 

 

Janet Martin

Ps.33:18-22

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His mercy,

19 To deliver their soul from death,

And to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in His holy name.

22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You.

The Preciousness of Moment-gold

Life is busy...often it's easy to lament its haste and all we didn't do

in spite of all we did.

Each day deserves our careful consideration

in the weighing of moment gold

because of its eternal value! 

a peek into a small part of July's beautiful bustle

Life is not always 'a bowl of cherries' is it?!!

But oh the beauty of those 'bowls'!

Thank-you, God

our days are never long enough to do all that we want to do

when it comes to the ones we love, how swift the sands of time run through

the hourglass of touch and taste; its haste a subtle give and take

gathering all we once embraced into love's sentimental ache

the preciousness of moment-gold is a gift new moments estrange

as joy and grief slip through our hold they join a cast nothing can change

as choice by choice ( love's sacred charge) grants countless reasons to be kind

for we are always on the verge of the life we will leave behind

behold today, a gleaming gem granted to likes of you and I

a diamond for a diadem of dust to dust of days gone by

where days never seem long enough to do all that we want or should

before we meet the One whose love bestows all that is true and good

Janet Martin

on this note, I am off for an annual summer break.

See you soon , Lord willing

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, 

as for the Lord and not for men, 

 because you know that you will receive an inheritance

 from the Lord as your reward. 

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 

do it all to the glory of God.

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 💙