Showing posts with label character-building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character-building. Show all posts

Monday, May 1, 2023

Such is Perhaps

I've come to the conclusion that love and life
are a fine mingling of disappointment and delight!


Torrential down-pours to and from Pennsylvania
 hampered/dampened what would have been even more spectacular views,
on our weekend getaway to attend our nephew's wedding!


Dodging the timing of the wipers to capture the *perfect shot became a bit of a game...
*(I quickly gave up on 'perfect' and simply hoped for a few unblurry shots)😅


But Saturday was less wet than forecasted 
so we didn't get drenched in the morning while doing touristy things
 nor in the afternoon did guests get drenched. 
The wedding was beautiful!


This beautiful couple have already been through some deeply refining disappointments
requiring dream-rearranging...(shot blurred for privacy sake)


Weather-disappointments are a part of life and overall
rather small on the scale of disappointments!
And God's handiwork is stunning, even in the rain!
(both literally and metaphorically)



Sometimes dreams don't turn out how we imagine/anticipate!
But if we place our dreams into God's hands
 perhaps, no, surely He will use the disappointment
to deepen our awareness and appreciation for
the myriad of mercies we are showered with daily! 







Dreamworlds collapse; Such is ‘perhaps’
…perhaps life’s bitter-sweetest means
Of teaching us to hope and trust
In more than destiny of dreams

Perhaps to help us hone the heart
To kinder, meeker give-and-take
Because we know the stinging smart
That ‘perhaps’ can leave in its wake

...to make us more aware of how
We wield the onus of replies
Where perhaps ‘perhaps’ is the ‘wow’
Still wearing broken-dream disguise

...while we weather warpaths of wish
Vexed by detours, potholes, barred gates
Perhaps we should remember this;
 Perhaps something far better waits

© Janet Martin



Life's disappointments develop and test
the mettle of our character.
Everyone is hunky-dory when life goes the way we like, right?
When it doesn't...ah! what then?!

1 Thess.5:18
...in everything give thanks; 
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

A lot of our deepest disappointments are only fully witnessed
by He who truly loves and cares!
Thank-you, faithful Heavenly Father🙏




Wednesday, August 22, 2018

For Track-Record Blazers

Sometimes there are pics I simply can't take...like little fellows ( really cute too:)  on chairs facing the wall because they told a falsehood and 'he did too' is not an acceptable reason 


 ...so we talk about how this is not just about trying to get out of a consequence that telling the truth might bring(and that's a big decision for a little fellow) but then we discuss how terrible could consequence be compared to what is at stake if lying becomes a habit hard to break?!) 
because habits of today shape men of tomorrow, either trustworthy or not at all!? 
and which would they rather be?! 
Who we want to be when we are old begins today!


I'm not sure what actually happened because it all happened 'under-cover'😉after they
had played very long and well together in their spacious hideout.
A rainy day means couch-forts are allowed!...and various other in-door escapades!



The tool that blazes track-records into the sands of time
Can fool us by its common habits of humanity
Where touch and taste with moment’s haste makes more than echo’s chime
But something that tolls far beyond the grave; our legacy

The way we are is more than merely that or this, my dear
The footing we build on is set through simple do-and-say
Where choices made by long-gone men and women are still here
Like stitches in the fabric of the world we know today

The shirker and the worker will soon slumber side by side
And what they leave behind no up-and-comer can undo
Where a new era spreads its wings and sings ‘here comes the bride’
…where children teach their children what they learned through me and you

…where God is great and good and changeless through each age to age
His precepts infallible; the builder’s Chief Cornerstone
Then, come what may, where war against demons of darkness wage
Faithful abides The Rock that never can be overthrown

There is no new religion; we are all born Worshippers
Where who or what we worship we prove through the voice of choice
We frown or smile and all the while with fellow hims-and-hers
Leave mile on mile of aftermath; a path nothing destroys

Then we should all look long and well at what we leave behind
The tool that blazes track-records cannot be done away
But is a simple testament of footfalls of the mind
Ah, pray we set down trusty steps that lead no one astray

© Janet Martin


Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
    and we bear their punishment.


Friday, October 2, 2015

Thence...





Somewhere along the way
We lose our innocence
As we begin to weigh
Action With Consequence

...and every child must learn
This Thing none can refuse
That Consequence is the return
Of action that we choose

So if we would be wise
We should remember Thence
That in each action softly lies
The fruit of consequence

© Janet Martin

While spending some time on the thinking chair, one of the little guys I babysit and I had a conversation about consequence; about how we cannot control what someone else says or does, but we are responsible for our own actions and response

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Thursday Thoughts On Character-building...

Click on image to enlarge



Work hard
Be kind
Be true
No one can take that
From you

To do what is right
Is never wrong
Remembering that
Will keep
You strong

Man sees the outside
But God sees
The heart
He knows if we
Are doing our part

© Janet Martin

So when the few who didn’t skip class were told they would be rewarded with lunch, (teacher’s treat) on the last day of the semester (today) it made those who didn’t skip glad. Yesterday Teacher told the class everyone would be treated; those who skipped as well as  those who didn’t .  The ‘skippers’ laughed at the ‘nons’. .. I remind Student. Character is shaped by choice of response…
Remember, the teacher didn't have to treat anyone. I guess he chose to treat everyone for their hard work all semester.

We may think that Choice
is not oft rewarded,
We should remember

***

Character is that Thing
that happens
whether we pay attention
or not
the wise remember
and realize
Character begins in
Thought

***

What others say
We cannot  boss,
but our response
Is up to us

***

touch-taste
do-say
builds the man
we are today

***

Handle with care
Like treasure rare
This moment you are in
Its precious gift
As moments shift
Will never pass again

***

Words can pile up
like dust on a shelf
What we do
speaks for itself

***

Love bears all things, 
believes all things, 
hopes all things, 
endures all things.
Love never fails;

1 Cor. 13: 7-8








Monday, November 18, 2013

Joy-harvest...





To harvest joy we must employ
Not tools of iron, steel or wood
But firmly wield in every field
A humble heart of gratitude

To harvest joy giddy like boy
With puppy or wee girl with dream
We must aspire in meek desire
To regard ‘small’ with high esteem

To harvest joy; mystic alloy
Of standing strong and bowing low
We must entrust our begging dust
To One True God who loves us so

To harvest joy is not to cloy
Vain expectation’s bloated yen
But to embrace God’s gift of grace
In breath-by-breath betrothed ‘amen’

Ultimate joy is no decoy
Of painted plastic, stone or wood
It is the thrill of  broken will
Filling a heart of gratitude

© Janet Martin

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Kid's Poem on Telling the Truth




I ought to never tell a lie
‘Cause lies like company
And soon the lie that first was one
Turns into two or three
For when a lie begins to lose
Its word-woven disguise
We protect it from the truth
By telling some more lies
And suddenly it’s hard to tell
How many lies were said
So it is always wise and well
To tell the truth instead

© Janet Martin