Let's Look If We're Able (at Mercy's set table)

 

Because all of our hearts are kinda in our throats right now

as we wait, pray and wonder...

He wasn't pretty

the first snowman of the year,

but he was loved!

Let’s look if we’re able 

At mercy’s set table 

And leave to the Lord what we ought 

This earth runneth over 

With joys to discover 

Like a four-season garden plot 

The blessings that matter, 

Like child’s carefree chatter 

As they slip their hand into ours 

The faithful adorning 

Of beautiful morning 

As night’s bud bursts forth in fresh flowers 

Let’s be boldly honest 

Because of the Promise 

-es God made, trustworthy and true 

Time’s delicate suture 

That holds back the future 

Throbs with what God said He will do 

So ours is to listen 

Where frosted fields glisten, 

Where orbit of season-tide tolls 

To usher the plunder 

That gushes with wonder 

That thunders through awe-smitten souls 

Let’s cherish the summons 

Of what may seem common 

But is mortal’s Magnum Opus 

The season’s first snowman 

The burst of affection 

From hearts still without prejudice 

Let’s savour sweet laughter 

To treasure long after 

Its sparkle of pleasure subsides 

Let’s look if we’re able 

At love’s laden table 

Where Goodness and Mercy abides 

© Janet Martin 

Every so often while snowman was in the works

Little Girl would ask,

Hot chocolate, cookie time?

Finally 'not yet' turned to 'yes!'

making the treat so much sweeter for the waiting!

The faithful adorning 

Of beautiful morning 

As night’s bud bursts forth in fresh flowers 

Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, 

that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? 

Does He promise and not fulfill?

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, 

the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion 

for a thousand generations of those who love Him 

and keep His commandments.

1 Corinthians 1:9
God, who has called you into fellowship 

with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

I Will Trust My Saviour, Jesus

Summer To-do List (lest we miss it!)

Drink in the songs of summer

The sigh of where zephyr blows

The teal cajole of waves that roll

From skylines to our toes

Ah, feast your eyes on flowers

A colourful buffet

That spills its art from earth to heart

In a most perfect way

Linger longer in gardens

Be florally content

For soon Time’s way will have its say

In blooms withered and spent

Harvest a host of echoes

To tenderly retrace

After gold-green has lost its sheen

And silver takes its place

Pour second cups of laughter

Beneath leaf-canopy

Let happiness dissolve our stress

For what must be will be 

Bask in beauty with boldness

And humble gratitude

That God so lent a season bent

With Mother Nature's brood

Absorb gorgeous sun-sparkles

Before it is too late

Get close enough to catch the Love

Climbing trellis and gate

...and feel life's friendly welcome

Greet us like next of kin

Where flowers nod and we sense God

Walking somewhere therein

© Janet Martin  

Not Only For The Gifts...

 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 

and comes down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

James 1:17 NKJV

Not only for the gifts, dear Lord

Though mercy-tides abound

With blessing no wealth could afford

If owed by buck or pound

We thank Thee, not just for the gift

But for the Giver too

With humble gratitude we lift

Our utter praise to You

For what, oh Lord, is man that Thou

Maker of Heav’n and earth

Shouldst ever so freely endow

Mortal with mercy’s worth

Then, greater than the gifted Thing

Though we are humbly awed

Is He who gives; and thus we sing

Our praise to Thee, oh God

© Janet Martin

Psalm 96

 Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in the splendor of his^[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
¹³ Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

The Full Gamut...of Love

 For all the reluctance that some letting go sparks

there is always a whole gamut of new thrills waiting to be

held, if ever so briefly!

So then love and let go;

Life is sure to bestow

Fresh wonder-filled hellos

To buoy and to bless

A flowerful ‘oh my’

Cloud-pontoons drifting by

June yielding to July’s

Imminent happiness

A school-boy with a pup,

Sun-sparkly buttercup

A mug to refill up

With daybreak’s favourite brew

Innocence of a child,

Vagabond blooms run wild

And duty’s march beguiled

By beauty’s howdy-dee-do

Oatmeal cookie, mint tea,

A good book’s company

Slow teal song of the sea

Melting over bare feet

Smiles to hold back love’s tears

Where don’t-blink balladeers

Dance on what disappears

Like amber fields of wheat

Miss Mischief, halo-crowned

Small sorrows, laughter drowned

Leaf-lays that kinda sound

Like far-off waterfalls

Big shoes and little lads

(The wake-up call for dads)

An afternoon of ‘glads’

That deck sweet summer’s halls

The almost supper hour

The leaning shadow-tow’r

The promise of a flow’r

From earth’s bud-laden trove

Un-expectation’s bans

In sudden change of plans

The Faithfulness that spans

The full gamut of love

© Janet Martin

Barter

by Sara Teasdale 1884-1933

Life has loveliness to sell,
   All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder in a cup.

 Life has loveliness to sell, 

 Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
   Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.

 Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstacy
Give all you have been, or could be.

A Wedding Blessing For Couples Getting Married During Covid-19

 Sometimes my oldest sister calls to ask if I have written or would/could consider writing a poem about a certain topic. This was such a time. She was looking for a poem to put in wedding cards where they are invited guests but are unable to attend due to social distancing. I am sharing it in hopes that it may bless and comfort the couples who do  not have the joy of a traditional wedding...

Love suffers long and it is kind; bears and believes all things

It endures and secures us in the troubles that life brings

Love never fails, the Great Sustain-er in times hard and strange

When cruel disappointment allows things we cannot change

Dear Lord, we know that You behold this lovely bride and groom

And how they miss what’s missing in the Ceremony Room

Then Lord, instill the absence of dear friends and family

With Your fulfilling Presence and love’s divine sympathy

Be near to we who are with them in thought if not in form

Grant us Thy perfect peace, (not as the world gives) in this storm

Satisfy pain with promises that nothing can replace

Surprise the bitter blow with joy possible by Your grace

Thou, Favoured Wedding Guest, fill emptiness with comfort sweet

Lord, bless this day with happiness and make their joy complete

Where, as from this day forward, they, no longer two but one

Have learned, from the beginning who Greater, to lean upon

And as they vow to love each other faithfully always

Lord, fill us with thanksgiving that will fill Your courts with praise

And Lord we pray that You will shelter them close to Your heart

With Your goodness and mercy to follow till death doth part

© Janet Martin

Surely Goodness and Mercy will follow me all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

Psalm 23:6