Showing posts with label birthday poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday poem. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Beyond Words



Whether our children are babies, adolescent,
teen, or adult a mother's love
is beyond spelling...
fierce and tender,
firm and gentle,
sweet and staunch,
watchful and brave,
forever and ever

I told Victoria that the poem I posted last week isn't really her 'official'
birthday poem, but every time I try to put my love into a poem
I am at a loss for words...
How does one spell the holy, humbling
deeps of love ?!

Dear mothers, you know that 'feeling', right?
As you look at your children, no matter their age
and you are rushed through with a tidal wave of
compassion, concern and thankfulness...

Mother's love is a language
commonly penned with the domestic ink
of cooking and baking,
cleaning and laundry,
and little extra-touches to make home
a gentle, orderly and happy place
that says
'I love you'

Victoria chuckled at the over-tanned smiley faces garnishing
one of our suppers last week...




It transcends tender thought
It defies utterance
It strains but yet has never wrought
Perfected eloquence

It fills a treasure trove
Where ink-penchant runs wild
But cannot tame to words, the love
Mother has for her child

It evades wistful rhymes
Medley of smiles and tears
And prayers to fill ten-thousand times
The cannikin of years

It gapes in grasping sighs
Through hold and letting go
It glints, like hints of paradise
Caught in a flake of snow

To write a mother’s love
Seems to elude Her pen
While evoking cries of 'enough
To try and try again'

To temper onto page
The ocean of the soul
To grant a glimpse of age to age 
Where wordless poems roll
 

© Janet Martin

3 John 1:4
 I have no greater joy than to hear 
that my children are walking in the truth.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Take a (Humbler) Moment...


Yesterday we celebrated our sweet Victoria's 24th Birthday
Every celebration (esp. since Sept. 17) is raw with humbler awareness 
of life's uncertainty/vulnerability...
My sister Lucy's husband and daughter were a special part
of the celebration; unspoken sorrow tuning our laughter
with kinder joy...

It is with unspeakable tenderness that we treasure the halo of faces
around a dinner table! 

 
(I'm not sure why the beginning and end of 
the song is cut off) oh, well...

***

Ah, take a moment, drink it in; the clime of Time is hasting
Its dawn-to-dusk designed to win the present we are tasting
Where nothing stays the same for long; each season, farewell-smitten
While deathless lyrics to Our Song of Life are being written

Sometimes, while in the bloom of love eyes close, never to waken
The loom that weaves The Mortal Glove, by God given and taken
Then, take a moment more to treasure the halo of faces
Around the table; prize love’s pleasure nothing else replaces

Behold the bud of virgin morn, like a flower unfolding
Where soon the bloom of it is borne to Bygone’s holy holding
Each bud a little like a door that God opens and closes
So, take a humbler moment more to thank Him for life’s roses

For no one knows the day nor hour He will bend without pardon
To pluck another precious flow’r from this world’s wanting garden
Then, drink with mindful regard from a fount filled by life’s Giver
With Ink of Moments that become Our Song of Life forever

Janet Martin

Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons
that the Father has fixed by His own authority

( our community is in deep mourning once again;
last week a young husband and father of five,
lost his life in a tragic accident).


Behold the bud of virgin morn, like a flower unfolding
Where soon the bloom of it is borne to Bygone’s holy holding
Each bud a little like a door that God opens and closes
So, take a humbler moment more to thank Him for life’s roses...




Friday, February 21, 2025

God Bless You As You Celebrate...



I have four friends celebrating birthdays today!
A 70th, a 61st, a 50th, and a sweet young 30-something 💝
Happy Birthday, Karen, Debbie, Kim and Paula!
All of you have enriched my life immensely!
Esp. in the past 5 mos. 🙏
God bless you are you celebrate.



God bless you as you celebrate the gift each birthday brings
An opportunity to count the gifts we sometimes miss
For life is full of cares crowding to cloud love's finer things
Caught between hello hugs that lead to farewell's tender kiss

God bless you as you celebrate each face-to-face delight 
Let a firm handshake steal your breath, let laughter make you cry
With joy and thankfulness for everybody you hold tight
And never take for granted looking loved ones in the eye

God bless you are you celebrate another year complete
Where highs and lows collect in settled dust of Past, surreal 
And Today, Happy Birthday, grants a milestone, bittersweet
Because no one can hold at bay, Time's hastening appeal 
 
God bless you as you celebrate the give and take of love
And make the most of Here and Now, because we cannot see
How near or far we are to where the Soul slips off its glove
And leaves behind the precious treasure of A Memory

Love, from Janet 

And to all of us who have or will, 
Lord willing, celebrate a birthday this year!

Author unknown for the poem below...







Friday, November 1, 2024

Grief-frames

Happy 82nd Birthday, dear Mom born Nov.1, 1942
(photo credit on this post goes to my sister Marlene)


Yesterday, at my mother's annual birthday tea-party
the presence of each other seemed more treasured,
 our love more tender than ever before,
in the light of grief...



My mom asked if she could host it
(for the first time ever) in what has been a tradition
for SO many years!
If Lucy were here I could count on her to remember
when it started, who hosted it
and maybe even what she was wearing and
if/who she was pregnant with...
😅😂💖
She had an incredible memory!! 

Because mom hosted it, Dad could enjoy the celebration too 💝
(although we have another one on Sunday that includes our men as well)



Grief ebbs, then rushes in like a billow, invisible
It rolls through heart and soul with staggering intensity
It strips us of all pretense; Love's most severe crucible
As God, who IS love, tries the Part that He alone can see

Grief sends us on a journey we would never choose to take
Around and 'round a gaping void, veiled by façades, skin-thin
It winds heartstrings through phantom frames where echoes tug and ache
Woven from moments not unlike the moments we are in

Grief moans like autumn's lonely wind through woodlands, leaf-bereft
It sobs, like summer, silenced by its sum of Season-sand
From detonated dreamlands, it examines what is left
Sifting through drifts of rubble diamond-dust, where once Love laughed and planned

Grief teaches us to live with an 'if the Lord wills' regard
To love as if Today could be the last for you or me  
It stirs holier handling of dawn's invitation card
Because Today does not come with a Morrow-guarantee  

Grief metes Love's Must; relentless thrust of waves, dash-crash-recede 
Then, with renewed velocity, returns with wrenching pains 
To wander rooms, once full of Innocence we did not heed
Where now his/her essence of presence, like a shadow remains

Grief takes us to the arms of friends and family so dear
And it is no coincidence, it drives us to our knees
To draw us to The Sacred Solace of God's list'ning ear 
*And glimpses to the Inner Room of Heaven's Mysteries/Sympathies

Janet 💔🙏

The verses below comfort me constantly,
as I lift my wordless groans to God's intercession

Rom.8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 
We do not know what we ought to pray for, 
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 
 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, 
because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people 
in accordance with the will of God.

Below, yesterday's timely and profound devotion
from the book Streams in the Desert, Vol.1
(* this devotion articulates splendidly, the last line in today's poem)




While I was working on this post
a friend sent me these words...
She is mourning the loss of a friend who passed away this week.
"God is so gracious and so tender,
 even though we might never get the ‘why’ on this side of heaven."
Thank-you, Joanne!
(Her friend was released from a brave battle with ALS)

And last but not least...
My mom with her salt and pepper shaker collection
200+ pairs!

Yesterday she invited each of us to choose a pair,
before she gives her grandchildren the opportunity to do the same


I chose these Siamese cats.
They have lived in my mother's china hutch since
before I was born.
From her friend Mary (Mrs. Abner Martin)

My two 'little sisters' enjoying their choices!
Lucy was the middle sister...



Monday, September 2, 2024

Moments Are Such Momentous Spheres...

It seems like a flicker; of moments that composed three decades 💖
We celebrated our second daughter's 30th birthday yesterday.
A little late, like most of our birthday celebrations this year!

Happy 30th Birthday, Melissa



Moments spill-sparkle from a fount
We cannot visualize
Like stars too copious to count
They glint in loved one’s eyes...




there's someone 'hidden' in the above photo...guess who??
clue in the photo below 😂😂





We missed Victoria who was enjoying a camping weekend with friends💛 

Moments are such momentous spheres
Erecting in their wake
An ever/echo-world of smiles and tears
From loving’s give and take
And, looking back from where we stand
They steal our breath a bit
For, one moment may not seem grand
But together they fit
To fill a frame shaped like a heart
Into a stunning work of art

Moments make people grin and groan
While winnowing life’s flow’r
Soul’s promenade of skin and bone
Time’s sweep of sun and show’r
Melding the pigment of today
With pictures of the past
Ah, soon the place where children play
Seems like a shadow, cast
Across a sense of rooms bereft
Of laughter after guests have left

Moments spill-sparkle from a fount
We cannot visualize
Like stars too copious to count
They glint in loved one’s eyes
They melt, like snowflakes on our tongue
They drive the dreams of youth
Then startle us, so briefly young
With time’s incumbent truth
And as we gaze at their return
They blaze trails of still much-to-learn

…like never passing up the chance
To live love’s masterpiece
Like cherishing the charge God grants
In each momentous lease
Aware of the fleet nature of
Gain and loss synchronized
As moments fill a phantom trove
With treasure barely prized
Before it bore bittersweet awe
For love and life’s momentous law

My dear, before Time disappears
Let’s make the most of love
Moments are such momentous spheres
Quite large and small enough
To unfold opportunity
And mold and hold reply
No matter what the case may be
Moments slip subtly by
Erecting an eternal wake
Of love’s momentous give and take

Futile to entertain regret
My dear, new day is born
A maelstrom of momentous ‘yet’
Dazzles the dewy morn
Crowning the mist of moments spent
With dawn’s redeeming spree
And fresh meter of moments lent
To compose history
Let’s strive to honor He who grants
Today’s moment-ous song and dance

© Janet Martin

Futile to entertain regret
My dear, new day is born
A maelstrom of momentous ‘yet’
Dazzles the dewy morn...


Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone...

Monday, June 24, 2024

To Be the Oldest Sister/Daughter

(Belated) Happy Birthday, Emily 💝🙏🙏
Because it's never really 'belated' to celebrate those we love!


We finally had a chance to celebrate our oldest daughter's birthday, 
on Sat. evening two weeks after the official date! 
This poem was written for her and for 
my oldest sister who turned 60 a week ago!
We who are blessed to have an older sister to follow
 can easily take a lot for granted!! 

We also had an opportunity to try out Jim's/Grandpa's birthday present from his grandchildren;
an oldie game, croquet! lots of laughter from all 
(except the two year old who was soon comforted with a swing ride)



To be the oldest sister bears a charge she does not choose
Of feet anointed with a fine pair of trailblazer-shoes
The familial ground-breaker, whereby younger sisters gauge
Unspoken preparation for wars time and nature wage

The oldest sister shoulders an unalterable yoke
While younger sisters walk on luxury of ground she broke
Keeping a wary watch for firsts that steadfastly commence
Where time insists on countless reluctant relinquishments

Mother's first little helper and daddy's second sweetheart
First to test many waters that life is bound to impart
First scholar, first teenager, first to leave the nest called 'home'
First to face every new season of what is yet to come

To be the oldest sister, is to first weather the tide
That wakens her to winds of change, with gaze, less starry-eyed 
Than once-upon-more-youthful-years, soon strewn upon a wake 
That each sister behind her, Lord-willing, is bound to take 

God bless you, Oldest Sister/daughter, may His hope keep joy unfazed 
And grant you faith and courage where new trails wait to be blazed
Ere younger sisters follow where once first your footsteps fell 
God bless and keep you as you step into a new year's swell

© Janet Martin







 
 

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

A Page from the Lesson Book( in the School of Life)


Hello! 
First of all, I am going refer to the previous post, 
because you might be wondering if I got carried away
 by a couple of renegade bats and a mouse,
 due to a longer than normal quietness here, but no! 
those bats were caught on Thursday night after much more shrieking drama 
and a husband who came back from a road trip just in time to be the valiant hero of the hour. 
The bats were deposited outdoors before we left early on Friday morning
 for a little holiday to Lancaster Pa. and Niagara Falls. 
We returned home on Monday afternoon
 to find the mouse trap also lived up to its charge,
so here's hoping to a critter-trespassing-free week!!


On Friday I turned 58! I can hardly believe it and I am thankful
for God's grace, goodness and mercies in every year of my
continuing education in the School of Life💖
So often it seems what I once thought I learned I need to relearn
So this poem is about what I am learning rather than what I have learned...
(I'm sorry this poem was a bit like a runaway team of horses;
I had to chase after it and rein it in)
In my defense, this is almost five day's worth of pent-up poem release 😅
after admiring many horses 💖💖

A few shots from the weekend...













I'm learning, it is futile/foolish to lament the haste of Time
That every day we should embrace as 'living in our prime'
I'm learning, regret and repentance are not the same thing
To live to love is manifold and all encompassing
How the lens that we look through affects thought, then word and deed
As moments toll/roll toward a goal for deathless soul decreed   
That every day is holy ground, with so much to amaze
That happiness is found as we extinguish Want with praise
That hope without an Anchor is not really hope at all
That no matter how we progress, pride still fathers The Fall 

I'm learning love must be learned, and learned best when very young
That much is built or torn down by the timbre of the tongue 
That grief can carve a chasm only faith in God can cheer
That to exchange His Word for mine earns Consequence severe
That the enthralling thrill of the Splash swiftly disappears
But the ripple effect of it can outlast years and years
That our words are sweeter if we taste before we bite 
That licking frosting from beaters is an ageless delight 
That we cannot do everything to help our fellowman
But we can all so something, and we should, the best we can

That no one is too rich or poor to desire 'a good turn'
That we never outlive the class of 'still so much to learn'
That we will surely spoil the child if we withhold love's 'rod'
That flowers are a universal love language from God
That kindness and compassion prove the love that never fails
That laughter is good medicine for anything that ails 
That though Mother Nature and Father Time will have their say 
We are not at their mercy, but God's mercy, new each day
And though, as time goes by, we mourn the good of Good Old Days 
God's everlasting and unchanging goodness naught can faze
 
I'm learning truth speaks for itself; a Voice none dethrone 
That the noise of rebellion cannot shift The Cornerstone  
That with each generation, nothing will stay quite the same
Save this, Jesus; salvation exists through no other Name
(though some have become bold enough to boast another way
Behooving all who still believe in Him to pray and pray)
I'm learning that in spite of so much to be sad about
God overflows creation with much to be glad about 
And kindness is still like a little miracle of joy
And one of life's best gifts is still a little girl or boy

And life is like a cookie; we should savor every crumb
And Choice is like a Door always hinged to what will become
And though a good book can be good company for a while
A good book never can replace a warm handshake or smile
That Older Age reserves surprises we would never trade
For prettier disguises that will pitilessly fade 
I'm learning how to touch and taste brief sparkles from Time's Fount
While all the while revering that for which I'll give account 
And how a number cannot keep us from kicking up heels
That the fountain of youth is not in how one looks, but feels 💖 

I'm learning how the common task is not common at all
That duty is a beautiful, breathtaking bestowal 
That it is a rich blessing to be busy with demands
Lest we give place to the devil with idle mind or hands 
That we get out of life what we put in, no more, no less
That the antidote to discouragement is thankfulness
That it is no cliché; God grants much to be thankful for
"God, forgive me for the fathom of mercies I ignore' 
I'm learning that to number days with wisdom's gain and love
However old or young we are will always be enough 

I'm learning how kind and cruel unblinded love can be
How the sting I despise often refines humility 
And how these lessons equip love with a gentler reply
When in a situation when we don't see eye to eye
I'm learning in the tug of hugs as heartstrings strain and ache
No distance is quite far enough to cause heartstrings to break
I'm learning not to fret the 'druthers' while pushing the plow
That, though all dreams do not come true, the birds still sing, and how 
I'm learning, bit by bit, and prayer by prayer's imperfect plea 
 How holy is each lifetime's blip before Eternity 

...how season over season tunes ruthless relinquishments 
How reason cannot reason away harvest-recompense
How we grow too soon old and too late smart; ah, sacred sigh
That unfolds the umbrella of daybreak's marmalade sky
 I'm learning that a slice of buttered bread is luxury
And what and who we love the most is very plain to see 
And that a garden nook is pleasure at its simple best 
And that a winding brook can satisfy the Poet's quest
And that it is no use to try to slow the haste of time
But rather snare wisps of thin air to tame into a rhyme 
 
© Janet Martin

1 Tim.6:6-16

Godliness with Contentment

6Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
7For we brought nothing into the world, sob we cannot carry anything out of it.
8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation 
and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires
 that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
  10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 
By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith 
and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Fight the Good Fight

11But you, O man of God, flee from these things 
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.

13I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, 
and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession
 in His testimony before Pontius Pilate:
  14Keep this commandment without stain or reproach 
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,
  15which the blessed and only Sovereign One—
the King of kings and Lord of lords—
will bring about in His own time. 
16He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. 
No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. 
To Him be honor and eternal dominion!
 Amen.





Sunday, June 2, 2024

IT Is What IT Is...


We enjoyed celebrating Jim's 60th birthday yesterday...






Sometimes we say ‘IT is what IT is’
With morose resignation
As if IT held no promises
Worthy of celebration

As if IT didn’t burst from buds
In petal-wild profusion
Or drench June worlds in purple floods
Of wild phlox absolution

As if IT did not overflow
With mercies, new each morning
Or leave a Light in the window
For a loved one returning

Or bake a birthday cake or pie
Or scatter summer showers
Like silver laughter from the sky
To quench the thirst of flowers

Or weave, where winsome echoes waft
Fair scenes, love fondly misses
Or, for each hard knock, a sweet, soft
Memento warm with kisses

Or, strew in the blue wake of years
Grace, green with spring’s caressing
As if IT did not dry our tears
And cheer us with fresh blessing

As if IT didn’t steal our breath
With thankful exclamation
Because God made a way so death
Is no vague destination

As if IT offered nothing more
Than doleful growing-older
No picnics, gardens or seashore
No  friend-to-lean-on shoulder

As if ‘ IT is what IT is’ was
A sorry state of guesses
Rather than love’s thundering applause
For all IT’s happiness-es

Rather than Time's unsullied page
When a new day is breaking
As if IT did not set the stage
For memories-in-the-making 

© Janet Martin

Our grandchildren were SO excited to give him their
silly cards so we could all laugh 😂💝



 A fantastic cover of Alan Jackson's song

The Older I Get 💓

 

Ps.71:8-9

My mouth is filled with Your praise
and with Your splendor all day long.

9Do not discard me in my old age;
do not forsake me when my strength fails.

Friday, May 3, 2024

As Long As There Is 'Us'

Yesterday morning my mom, sisters and sister-in-laws 
gathered in a joyful celebration; a birthday...
Happy birthday, Karen 🎂🌷
(picture used with permission; photographer my sister, Lucy)

(click HERE for a record of some of the prayer requests
shared over the years for Karen and my brother Dave, her husband.
 



We were each invited to bring approx. 6 stems of white, pink and/or purple flowers to
create one big bouquet from all of us💗💜💗




Yesterday afternoon a community of mourners gathered
(after a tragedy mentioned HERE and HERE)
to remember the life of a dearly beloved woman; 
a wife, mother, daughter, sister, sister-in-law, neighbor, friend, 
mentor, counsellor, etc. to so many...

Gatherings like this are a solemn reminder to all of 'us' 
to be more mindful (once again) 
of something we can easily take for granted; 
each other.

As grieving friends and family shared
there was a common theme; to choose, above all else-
gratitude for the gift of her life 
and love they shared with her.

As long as there is ‘us’; mom, dad, spouse, sister and brother
Neighbors, friends, both far and near, we have a gift; each other
No two of us are quite alike, created tenderly
By He who's written all our days before one comes to be

As long as there is us, until that day when death doth part
We ought to live to love each other with all of our heart
Because life is a fragile thing; we cannot see how far
From farewell’s fond and unrelenting, rending reach we are

So then, let’s love each other without verbal fist-a-cuff
Let’s recognize the gift of now, and make the most of love
Because life grants no guarantees, let’s be patient and kind
For no one knows who next will leave love’s gaping hole behind

As long as there is ‘us’ let’s write Our Story with love’s ink
Rather than take for granted what can be gone in a wink
Let’s look each other in the eye and hold each other near
Before the gift of ‘us’ frames joy in sorrow’s tender tear

As long as there is ‘us’ let’s keep each other in our prayers
Let’s make moments to cherish in the thick of common cares
And be more humbly mindful of the gift we call today
Then, be a living ‘thank-you’ to the Giver, while we may

© Janet Martin

Your eyes saw my unformed body; 
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
 before one of them came to be.

Yesterday evening this post (click link in title)
 from Ann Voskamp was in my inbox!
Especially profound in the light of recent events...