Eager/Earnest Expectation...

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

Psalm 34:7

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,

and he delivers them.

Psalm 125:2

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.

The gleaming scepter of new day stretches across the land...

A symbol of God’s sovereignty;

Beauty survives/thrives...

The gleaming scepter of new day stretches across the land

A symbol of God’s sovereignty; all beneath His command

Beauty survives where destruction and death’s heartache abounds

Above trouble and rebellion, God’s faithfulness resounds

Where ’blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth’

Then turn the other cheek and speak of He who gives life worth

Do not despair; it is not cares that hem us in but He

Who works for our good, who watches over you and me

Such knowledge is too wonderful for mortal to attain

Nothing can separate us from God’s sovereign love, amen

Creation's gilt-edged grandeur grants a glimpse of what yet waits

On highways not yet paved with gold, on this side of Hope's Gates 

Where what we bear is temporal; the cross precedes the crown

The test precedes the triumph; when we lay our burdens down

When prayer no longer wends its way from man to Mercy's Door

When sorrow's wounds and broken hearts are healed forevermore 

When what faith cannot understand or comprehend unveils

The glory of God's face, His hands scarred with imprints of nails

When our present suffering will ever fade away

Creation waits in eager/earnest expectation for that day

© Janet Martin

Rom.8:18-19

*I consider that our present sufferings 

are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.

 19The creation waits in eager expectation for

 the revelation of the sons of God. 

Yester-dusk...

Creation's gilt-edged grandeur grants a glimpse of what yet waits

On highways not yet paved with gold, on this side of Hope's Gates 

May Day

These are the days that disappear into thin air in what feels like no time at all!

A glimpse at today's sparkle of bliss...

This morning's air was a bit cool and drizzle-dazzled. 

This afternoon the sun's warmth and 'bright, blue skies' returned in fine friendliness

immediately making me feel very busy and a bit behind!

Worked in the garden until it was too dark to see...(no pics)😐

this morning every bloom was frosted with diamonds!

New Grandson's first visit to Grandma's house...

Happy 1 week old!

He has a very keen and cute admirer!

Pumpkin-Raisin muffin snack...

Picked a pot o' posies...

These are the days winter-dreams are made of

Green grass beneath and bright blue sky above

Afternoon air flares with happiest joys/noise

Birdsong and chat of carefree girls and boys

Flowers flaunt glitter of raindrop rhinestones

Bowers a-twitter with myriad tones

Apple tree blushes, blossom-ecstasy

Lilacs burst into a star-symphony

Gardens are playgrounds for dreams and bare feet

Duty is sacred and labour is sweet

Hope is a river that runs through the heart

Each day of May like a work of fine art

Nature's inheritance humbles the meek

These are the days of God's kiss on earth's cheek 

© Janet Martin

Female rose-breasted Grosbeak (identified by my Birder-friends on FB)

This male caught my eye (it's okay. it's a bird) 😅😉

because its back-feathers seemed more variegated than some

Turns out its cause he's young!😇

May Morning Masterpiece...

Earth throbs with God's poetry on this mint-tinted May morning...

A quiet color riot flaunts

May morning’s mint-kissed ambiance

A sacred glimpse of paradise

Unfolds its hints before our eyes

Where perfect pleasure has begun

To spill earth’s treasure, flower-spun

Where song sparrow lilts rippling lays

To He who grants spring’s glory day

Where frond of fresh foliage imparts

A pink pendant of bleeding hearts

Where green in multi-splendored swells

Immerses hills, trees, fields and dells

Where we are like surfers astride

The virgin wave of morning-tide

Where we should never take in vain

This day that will not pass again

But let the heart that we lift up

Be tender as a tulip-cup

And let love’s calls of duty brim

With joy for the beauty of Him

Who fills the barrenness of earth

With May morn’s masterpiece of birth

© Janet Martin

John 1:3 - 

All things were made by him; 

and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 

Catch Me If You Can

Poem-a-day challenge day 4:

For today's prompt, write a catch up poem.

I'm playing poem-challenge catch up today after a busy weekend!💖

Always so much to do/love/write...

This morning was no exception...

Beauty dangled its poetic lure for all the world to see!

Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent

With the renewal of love's covenant 

So between Beauty and Duty...

Poetry

So much to cherish in so little Time

Moment-mementos to capture in rhyme

Duty's staid summons to tend and disperse 

Beauty (never common) to secure in verse

Love-lassoed lyrics so when day is done

Though the dust settles the music plays on

So much to whisper to He who resides

Over the glister of dawn-to-dusk-tides

Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent

With the renewal of love's covenant 

So many sins to repent of, oh my

 Praise God, redemption's fount never runs dry

I know, no poet can ever deplete

Ink-wells refurbished with bitter and sweet

Still, the bard blissfully pledges to try/dare

Desire dredges its deeps with a sigh/prayer 

So many syllables to twist and tease

Into haiku, ballads, odes, elegies

Darling, I do believe poets are kissed

With the loveliest unmet to-do-list 

Forbid that ever I should live to see

The consummation of all poetry

For the fulfillment of poet's delight

Is the instilled bent to write and to write

Garden and galley, brook-creased countryside  

Hilltop and valley, fleece-cloud, blushing bride

Babies and butterflies, loved-one-come-home

Forming the font that turns into a poem

Turning what might be a most mundane day

Into a breath-stealing hip-hip-hooray

The alphabet fills an infinite pen

Spilling and thrilling, again and again

Thoughts become children we hold then let go

 Page after page falls like epical snow

Where want and wonder grapple and set free 

Life-sparkles canonized in poetry 

Blue, twilight shadow falls, troubadour's bliss

Snaring a madrigal from farewell's kiss

Only to be wakened by dawn's hellos 

Morn, noon and night; ink-delight ebbs and flows 

Where, no matter how many poems span

One more is calling 'catch me if you can'

© Janet Martin

  

March Morning Mural

The deep blue dome of dark recedes

As worlds around us reappear...

Dawn makes landfall...

The pigeon-coloured wooden frill

That crowns yon hill primed for first greens...

The fence where finch and robin trill

High warbling scales beyond our means...

The puddles, like art strewn on lanes

Capturing glints of trees and sky

The decoupage of spent refrains

Snared where choirs of leaf-song lie...

The deep blue dome of dark recedes

As worlds around us reappear

Dawn makes landfall; unveils the reeds

Knee-deep in platinum veneer

The fence where finch and robin trill

High warbling scales beyond our means

The pigeon-coloured wooden frill

That crowns yon hill primed for first greens

The puddles, like art strewn on lanes

Capturing glints of trees and sky

The decoupage of spent refrains

Snared where choirs of leaf-song lie

Beneath the vigil of a breeze

The eulogies of poet’s pen

Cloud-coursers scudding welkin seas

As night becomes today again

…the deep blue dome of dark recedes

The transformation that it brings

Tunes us to the Mercy that heeds

Our needs; Fear frets, faith sings and sings

© Janet Martin

Neh.9:5

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God

Forever and ever!

“Blessed be Your glorious name,

Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

Stand up and Bless the Lord

Beholding Beauty (or its Prelude)

I originally entitled this poem

This Broken World Could Drown Joy

then, just after posting it something like a bud

broke inside of me

resulting in adding the photo below,

another verse as the ending

and changing the title.

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken...

The beautiful words of this hymn are so fitting for the days we are in

Sometimes I struggle with a sense of insecurity

(no longer guilt, because I have committed to embracing my calling)

but still, in a world war-ravaged and hurting...Poetry?!!

Yes, by the grace of God, yes!

Because worship is beautiful 

and timely, always!

And Poetry is the culmination of

beauty and worship

when pursued with passion to

glorify its Giver!

"This is the law of being

That links the threefold chain:

The life we give to beauty

Returns to us again."

From Earth Voices

by Bliss Carmen

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross- Mercy Me

Many are the woes of the wicked,

but the Lord’s unfailing love

surrounds the one who trusts in him.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalm 32:10-11

This broken world could drown joy

Beneath dread’s sullen wave

Despair could be an envoy

That bears us to the grave

Beauty could go unheeded

Beneath brute, crushing blows

And worship’s fount depleted

By glaring needs and woes

We could fall prey to reasons

To hate rather than love

And stumble/grumble through time’s seasons

Without ever enough

But beauty is not cheated

By evil’s intercourse

And joy is undefeated

If we have found its Source

Truth's Hope becomes an anchor

That nothing overthrows

The thorns that pierced our Saviour

Bloom with redemption’s rose

This world would turn us dour

And drown all hope of joy

If it could overpower

What nothing can destroy

‘Unless the seed is broken

It cannot bring forth fruit’

Praise God, joy is the token

As faith and love take root

After the darkness, morning

After bud-breakers part

Joy beholds God adorning

The thorn-scars of the heart

© Janet Martin

Brenda's post 

Something Beautiful in a Broken World

helped me corral today's thoughts into poem.

And caused me to open my book

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

To God be all the glory!

Below are a few excerpts  from Adorning the Dark

that spoke to me personally...

Want-list...

The changing views due to the changing hues of twilight helped me finish

this poem; one I doodled at here and there all day long...

The backdrop changed dramatically in a matter of 10-20 minutes!

I want to marvel every day at ways that never lose their wonder!

I want to marvel still where wonder’s thrill never grows old

To feel hope’s joy in dawn’s ahoy whether of gray or gold

To make the best of moments lest when life’s last drop is poured

I weep because for all that was, regret is my reward

From Mercy’s fount I want to count the goodness-es of God

And never taint with rude complaint and thanklessness, His laud

But recognize the precious prize each morning ushers in

Then, be renewed with gratitude for forgiveness of sin

I want to give this life I live love’s careful, prayerful thought

Not to lament with discontentment for what I have not

But to embrace each day of grace with holy diligence

And live without shadows of doubt to cloud love’s reverence

I want to work and not to shirk the duties of the day

But to behold God’s manifold beauties along life’s way

And know His love will grant enough to satisfy my soul

And not to fret and thus forget that He is in control

I want to sing and ever bring an offering of praise

To He who cups life’s downs and ups in Higher Thoughts and Ways

And thrill anew ‘neath heaven’s blue and rose-tinted ramparts

Constantly awed at the way God captures, enraptures hearts

I want to stand on twilight’s strand where shadows sprawl like piers

And feel toil’s rush yield to the hush as daylight disappears

And marvel still where wonder’s thrill never runs out of ways

To cheer, delight, enthrall, excite, inspire and amaze

© Janet Martin

Caught Marveling

And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isa.6:3

While I was pushing tot on the swing yesterday

just before dark,

God trailed His glory on sky and sod...

On parchment of sod, sky and sea

God’s glory is extolled

Four seasons filled with majesty

Time’s manuscripts unfold

Without shadow of wondering

The seed beneath the snow

Cradles the quiet thundering

Of birth and spring’s hello

The Creator of nature’s waltz

Grants but a glimpsed prelude

Of He who earth and sky exalts

And we, with gratitude

The beauty of the Lord abounds

With all but Fringe unseen

Until that day when He confounds

With no dark glass between

Praise He whose beauty births delight

Yet is but Sight's small crumb/sum

That whets Hope’s howling appetite

With The Best Yet to Come

© Janet Martin