The Key to Finding Happiness

“It is not how much we have,

but how much we enjoy,

that makes happiness.”

— Charles Spurgeon

This little gal finds happiness

in mixing and stirring

(oh, if only you could hear the pleasant chatter!)

I enjoy small blips of quietness and tidiness

amidst the mess and mayhem of memories😊💗

(Some people spring and fall clean.

I tend to winter-clean and reorganize 

because outdoor work is on pause!)

Rolling-pin-collection dusting is complete...

Why a rolling pin collection?!!

I have no idea other than once I started, I was amazed at

how many colours, shapes and sizes they come in...a bit like people😅

 

This life runs rife with choice and chance

That makes us pray or fuss/cuss

How we reply to circumstance

Is always up to us

This life runs rife with want and need

Awaiting our reply

Where common font of word and deed

Is up to you and I

This life runs rife with ups and downs

Beyond our control

A smorgasbord of smiles and frowns

To rankle and console

This life runs rife with so much care

Where all we have is lent

A feast to favor faith’s welfare

Is always God’s intent

This life runs rife with more or less

Of yes and no combined

The precious key to happiness

Is up to us to find

© Janet Martin

I am also enjoying some

Spurgeon , thanks to Christmas gifts!

Prov.3:13-18 KJV

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 

and the man that getteth understanding.

14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, 

and the gain thereof than fine gold

15 She is more precious than rubies: 

and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her

16 Length of days is in her right hand;

 and in her left hand riches and honour.

17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 

and all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: 

and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Like a Wind-swirl or a Splash...

Explanation to this photo at the bottom of this post...💝

This post inspired in part by Luke 8...

in part by scattered seeds, 

soon bearing blooms of consequence, 

and in part the momentum of moments...

Therefore consider carefully how you listen.

Whoever has will be given more;

whoever does not have,

even what they think they have will be taken from them.”

Luke 8:18

“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

Luke 8:25

“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

Luke 8:39

Where clocks unravel so much more than morning, 

noon ...

and night...

(While I was writing this post my mom called to tell me 

my Uncle (Ernie Frey) passed away last night,

making the point of this poem ever the more poignant! 

He was in his 80's but the moment life ceases, the span of

100 years is but a spark and one breath eternity)

Between the bars of birth and death a sacred field unfolds

Where scattered seeds of no and yes soon shatters nascent molds

To strew beneath our hands and feet the fruit of consequence

Where tots follow, so pure and sweet, cloaked in Brief Innocence

What may seem nondescript at first, bursts tick-tock’s tiny glove

The loom of living blessed and cursed with faith or lack thereof

Where clocks unravel so much more than morning, noon and night

The Judge’s gavel poised above the roar of dark and Light

We all have this in common; death’s Summoning of the Soul

The seeds we scatter matter; only faith can make us whole

The Word of God anchors Unknown with Truth’s Security

Time's speck of sod man’s stepping stone into eternity

...this stanza added after mom called💖🙏

Ah look, life’s book of seasons is soon turned to dust and ash

Thought’s tilt-a-whirl of reasons like a wind-swirl or a splash

Where soon the wheel of day-to-day that shapes life’s clay will cease

Ah, pray we hear God say, ‘your faith has saved you. Come in peace’

© Janet Martin

I have one tot in my childcare

 who loathes the sound of tick-tocking clocks right now,

and so we have been trying to allay her fears by bringing clocks up close 

and smooth-talking/soothe-talking time away😅

It's quite an awakening to the adult mind to try to explain time

in terms a small child can understand!!

Potential Disaster...(by Faith Averted)

November unfurled in a blaze of glory/mercy renewed!

Cares press and threaten happiness; The shroud of The Unknown

Could blind us to what remains true; we never walk alone

Could have the gall to cast a pall of rude ingratitude

Before our eyes where morning skies unfurl mercy renewed

Could make us dread what lies ahead if we forget to lean

Upon The Word, undeterred by what will be-is-has been

Could toss about and make us doubt Hope’s anchor of the soul

Could rob us of the peace and love of faith that makes us whole

Could weigh us down with cynic’s frown where beauty breaks earth’s vat

Could make us miss the joy of This while fretting about That

Could darken hearts with venom darts while morning breaks night’s mold

And melts the stars from heaven’s bars to wash the earth with gold

Cares press and threaten holiness; the intellect of man

Could justify what some deny because they doubt Love’s plan

But God will bless with happiness those who trust Him and praise

The Giver of More Than Enough as mercy numbers days

What could befall cannot forestall God's goodness preordained

Nor circumvent His mercies bent with justice still contained 

Though what we see appears to be doom and gloom's bitter fruit  

What could unfold cannot withhold grace and truth's Absolute 

© Janet Martin

First when I got up life seemed to be trying to press

its shroud of cares upon my shoulders then My devotions included 

Psalm 47

Clap your hands, all you nations;

shout to God with cries of joy.

2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,

the great King over all the earth.

3 He subdued nations under us,

peoples under our feet.

4 He chose our inheritance for us,

the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.[b]

5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,

the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

sing to him a psalm of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations;

God is seated on his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the nations assemble

as the people of the God of Abraham,

for the kings[c] of the earth belong to God;

he is greatly exalted.

...and Brenda's post once again reminded me

to celebrate life's ever-present beauty and joy!

That was all before the glory of daybreak when

'The heavens declared the glory of God;

the skies proclaimed the work of his hands.'

Psalm 19:1

...so no matter what is going on to compose our secret 

or not so secret cares and sorrows that could seek to dethrone our

happiness/holiness,

what a joy to remember

'God reigns over the nations;

God is seated on his holy throne.

Psalm 47:8

Something More Precious than Time...

If You Believe

(playing a song from the era of many fond memories

of a friend's mother, who has passed on)

And praise God, she believed and taught her children to believe too!)

At today's visitation the phrase 'precious time'

stood out to me as they fondly recalled

the last days/year and a half with Mother

after they were initially told maybe three months...

Time/life is precious 

but to the believer there is something more precious than Time...

Precious in the sight of the LORD

 Is the death of His saints.

Psalm 116:15

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

Rom.10:9

Oh, have you received the free gift?

Have you believed so you will not perish

with that final breath

but have everlasting life?

John 3:16

We don't need to find and provide the atonement offering!

God provided the Lamb...

For just as through the disobedience

of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners,

so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus)

the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:19

What is our part?

To believe, receive and then,

'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, 

in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

 holy and pleasing to God—

this is your true and proper worship.'

Romans 12:1

(this not to secure our salvation, 

but to say thank-you, thank-you, Jesus

with a life of worship!)

He did not leave it up to us sin’s penance to procure

But gave His only Son, Jesus, our pardon to insure

If we believe we will receive the Gift purchased by He

Who suffered for us to achieve redemption’s legacy

He suffered for us to achieve redemption’s legacy

The evil one tries to deceive us with uncertainty

But God is faithful; He supplied atonement’s sacrifice

Once and for all Perfection died to pay salvation’s price

Once and for all Perfection died to pay salvation’s price

He does not ask us to provide what could never suffice

But simply beckons us to trust His forgiveness by grace

If we confess our sins His justice will our guilt erase

If we confess our sins His justice will our guilt erase

Oh God forgive us if some lesser god should take Your place

You lead us, not into temptation, You are our Shield

You repeal condemnation as by Your stripes we are healed

You repeal condemnation as by Your stripes we are healed

Hope’s open invitation rolls across earth’s Harvest Field

While Death is like a reaper’s blade a-swinging to and fro

And joy is knowing Jesus paid the debt we should yet owe

© Janet Martin

One more fav hymn by George Jones

How Beautiful Heaven Must Be

To Live For Thee, Oh God

When we dissect the moments of a day, 

do we find a life lived for Self or God?

This was a sobering challenge to me recently.

Oh God, let my love be more

than an acknowledgment of Your existence,

whilst harbouring a heart of prideful resistance

Have Thine Own Way, Lord-Jim Reeves

To live for Thee, oh God

Affects all that we do

It keens the heart to do our part

To serve and honour You

To live for Thee, oh Lord

Is more than pious nod

To testify with mouthed reply

The existence of God

To truly live for Thee

Means self must be denied

Love’s price is always sacrifice

All else is selfish pride

To live for Thee, oh God

Nobody can ignore

For we all prove who we most love

By who we’re living for

…then when death comes to claim

Soul’s cloak back to the sod

Heaven or hell will surely tell

Life lived for Self or God

For who we love we serve

Life, not lips testify

If we believe, and thus conceive

The fruit of love's reply

© Janet Martin

Matt.6:24

“No one can serve two masters. 

Either you will hate the one and love the other, 

or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve both God and money.

Joshua 24:14-15

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. 

Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped 

beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 

15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, 

then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 

whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, 

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 

But as for me and my household, 

we will serve the Lord.”

Gal.1:10

Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? 

 am I striving to please men? 

If I were still trying to please men, 

I would not be a servant of Christ

I posted the above post before church...

then, lo and behold, our scripture passage for 

this morning's message was;

1 Thess. 4

Living to please God...

verse 1: As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 

we instructed you how to live in order to please God, 

as in fact you are living. 

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus 

to do this more and more.

Sucker-Punch Eye-openers (or The Grief of Unbelief)

A message worth the little while it takes to hear it!

The Two Paths of Life

This link below is also worth the click:

 Flying Blind- Franklin Graham

Hebrews 10:29

Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose,

will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,

 counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, 

and insulted the Spirit of grace?

Sometimes life deals a sucker-punch to our

utter heart and soul and love is grieved beyond words!

Sometimes those sucker-punches turn out to be shocking eye-openers

(and knee-benders and head-bow-ers)

Sometimes it seems to take a sucker-punch to wake/shake us up!

Sometimes we just don't want to believe that 'they' don't believe!!

The practice of disobedience speaks like writing on the wall 

regardless of what 'they' may say.

The Grief of Unbelief

Kinda like part 2 to this morning's post'

The Bedrock of Belief Or Not

They mock the straight and narrow

They scorn the black and white

The spit into the face of grace;

The Way, the Truth and Life

They grieve the Holy Spirit

And trample underfoot

The Son of God; they profane Mercy's

Covenant of blood 

They treat as something common

Salvation's Cornerstone

As if they have no One to fear

Before the Judgement throne 

They do not seem to grasp

Death and hell's hopeless fate

And that dread day of reckoning

When it will be too late

Lord, hear our pleading prayer

Where cold, bold unbelief 

Is like a cruel sucker-punch

That breaks love's heart with grief

How much more You must weep

To know what waits for they

Who once confessed and professed faith

Who knew, then turned away

Janet Martin

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 

and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 

Facing Life' s Biggest Challenge; Love...

Life is full of test and disappointment,

frustration and disagreement,

but never justifies our rebellion to

the Giver of all we have...

So much more than meets the eye

is in the bud of bloom...

...in bud of day

in the bud of youth

Beloved, let us love one another, 

for love is of God;...

1 John 4:7

Let’s count our blessings, not our woes

Let’s love in spite of how life goes

For what good is all else we claim

If we put charity to shame

Let’s make the most of moment-gold

Poured, tick by tock into a mold

That we can never modify

No matter how hard we may try

Let’s live the first, Greatest Command

With humble heart and helping hand

Let’s pray while we traverse earth’s sod

And leave the details up to God

© Janet Martin

Luke 6:32-36

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? 

Even sinners love those who love them. 

 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? 

Even sinners do that. 

 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? 

Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 

 But love your enemies, do good to them, 

and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. 

Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, 

because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 

 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

A Call To Persevere...Jude 18-21

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 

 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers 

who will follow their own ungodly desires.”  

These are the people who divide you, 

who follow mere natural instincts 

and do not have the Spirit.

 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith 

and praying in the Holy Spirit,  

keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 

to bring you to eternal life.

 

Always and All For God

 

The fruit of our labour is sometimes strawberries.

The fruit of our faith, ah, who can fathom?!

This poem was inspired first by a glorious wave of morning-tide

rolling over the rain-washed countryside...

...before heading out for a berry delightful morning

 at a nearby pick-your-own strawberry patch!

Always, and all for God who gives, may our motive be

Each moment-metered life one lives leads to eternity

All that we have, by time is tried; a sacred sea that pours

In waves of morn-to-eventide, awash twixt Eon’s shores

In waves of morn to eventide awash twixt Eon’s shores

Across still gaping graves, time flies, in season-repertoires

While we must choose who we will serve and thus the Soul’s reward

Some never look beyond Self-worth, some live to please the Lord

Some never look beyond Self-worth, some live to please the Lord

Some set their sights upon this earth as if they can afford

To ignore what some cling to like a lifeline sure and keen;

The substance of things hoped for and its evidence unseen

The substance of things hoped for and its evidence unseen

Instills with awesome purpose what would oft seem harsh and mean

Aware while moments dance and race we owe their no return

Always and all for God who grants the grace that none can earn

Always and all for God who grants the grace that none can earn

Where mercy meets us face to face as surely as the morn

Where wealth accrued cannot provide that which will save the soul

When waves of morn to eventide no longer swell and roll

© Janet Martin

And whatever you do, do it heartily, 

as to the Lord and not to men,

Col.3:23

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 

the evidence of things not seen.

Heb.11:1

Life's Little Ways...

Yesterday our pastor asked me if I have any poems in the works 

and I am always caught completely off-guard when someone refers to that topic 

and I think I stuttered something about

 'usually I have something in the works because its just the way I 'tick' or process life',.

(I wish I was witty and could have thought of something to say like,

 'do you have any sermons in the works?',

 but on second thought, that might come off as a bit smart-alecky...sigh. here I go,

 second-guessing and over-thinking. Two of my main weaknesses) 

I then added, referring to his message that I just got a lot more to process

.(I didn't add, 'hopefully into poetry', but it's what I partly hoped God would allow. 

Poems turn lessons I might otherwise forget into keepsakes.

One of his points in yesterday's message was

 'whose agenda are we/am I focused on, mine or God's?' 

 It ties in well with a book I just started reading by Andrew Peterson entitled, 

Adorning the Dark...

The writer challenges us to 'seek first the kingdom of God' not

only in everyday life but also especially when it comes 

to the creative part of our being such as writing.

Life lends us lots of little ways to prove who we love most

The Giver of our numbered days tests desire and boast

Where godliness/holiness and gratitude/attitude must war against the flesh

Lest passions, sly and unsubdued inveigle and enmesh

How wily is the voice of Want; it beckons and beguiles

How subtle the silver-tongued taunt that first thrills, then defiles

How careful, prayerful we should weigh ambition’s catalyst

The tempter sweetly stalks his prey with poison, sugar-kissed

Life lends us lots of little ways to learn what it would teach

Mercy heaps morning’s gleaming trays, no one beyond His reach

He is a gracious God of love to we, accountable

For all the little ways we prove who we love most of all

© Janet Martin

Seek ye first

the kingdom of God

and His righteousness

and all these things

shall be added

unto you.

Matt.6:33

Every day God shows us in so many little ways 

how much he loves us

Oh, may the same be true about us, for Him!

Onus of Belief (and unbelief)

 PAD Challenge 27:

For this Two-for-Tuesday prompt:

Write a believe poem and/or...

Write a don't believe poem.

We Believe- Newsboys

 

Some are afraid to Believe

For the onus it will bring

Because belief is grounded in

The soil of reckoning

And reckoning becomes

When this mist-kiss is through

The price of Belief’s soldered sums

Not in the what, but Who

Still, some avoid Belief

As if this will annul

The Soul that cannot die

And reply's inevitable

They scorn love’s Beckoning

Disregard the reward

But oh, unbelief's reckoning

Ought not to be ignored

© Janet Martin

John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

 that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him. 

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, 

but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 

 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light 

for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 

 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, 

so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done 

has been done in the sight of God.

Mark 16:16

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,

but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 10:9

that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"

and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,

you will be saved

Get In The Habit of Writing Your Own Headlines

PAD Challenge day 10:For today's prompt, take the phrase "Get (blank),"

replace the blank with a word or phrase,

make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

It’s not the media that writes the headlines of our lives

We are the ink of love’s insights; of joy which hope derives

We choose between fear’s torment or the strength of a wise word

We make the most or least of moments pouring undeterred

It’s not the world that works its wonders in the human heart

But grace and courtesy unfurled in priceless works of art

We are the hands and feet that author change we want to see

Of helping one another, of love’s vows kept faithfully

It’s not the headlines that dictate our state of happiness

We are the writers that create ‘Front Page-worthy Kindness’

It’s not the media that writes the way that we reply

To high and lows of love and life; oh no, it’s you and I

It all comes down to this; whether we are thankful or not

Whether we let the tether of fear commandeer our thought

Whether we hold accountable the person in the mirror

To write the kind of article that others want to hear 

History in the making grants a very sacred gift

The honour of partaking in moments soon set adrift

Pray when Day's Dust of Duty strews its aftermath, we find

Headlines that tell of Beauty of True Love For Humankind 

© Janet Martin

A few of yesterday's headlines in my world include;

Grandchildren Help Gramma Clean Up Yard...

Gramma Teaches Tots How To Make Indoor Smores...

Anonymous Angels Who Nominated Unsuspecting Recipients,

 And Hardworking Local Florist (credit posted on FB only for privacy protection)

 Work Together To Create Happiness For Forty Surprised Flower-bouquet Receivers!!

(I was beautifully blessed to be at the receiving end!)

This post shared by a friend on Facebook inspired the above poem...

Today, More Than Word-play Melt-away

May today be more than 

prattle of word play

but rather a vison 

with a mission! 

(or is it mission with a vision😊)

Part of my mission today? window washing!!

(to clear the vision a bit😀)

Oh! and may the snow-melt continue!!

Yesterday morning-

-this morning!

As much as some of us enjoy word-play,

may today be much more!

Circumstance grants participants the chance to do our part

Compassion is a soldier that shoulders the faint of heart

Desire is a fire that requires dire care

Where altogether tethered, we weather its 'whether' (or not) share

Emotion is an ocean of devotion’s counterparts

Persuasion, the invasion of temptation’s subtle darts

Assumption is the gumption to conclude truth without facts

Pride is a deadly guide that flatters, lies, lures and distracts

Redemption is exemption from an awful debt we owed

Forgiveness the divineness of God’s grace to man bestowed

Belief, the capsheaf of achievement, arrogance undone

Salvation; liberation’s restoration through God’s Son

Poetry is the pottery from think-ink’s spinning wheel

Success is happiness with less rather than More’s appeal

Peace is release from fear, my dear, as trust hoists up its sail

With Hope, faith’s rope secured in promises that will not fail

Today is more than word-play on age-pages signed and sealed

Choice is a voice that needs no noise to have the heart revealed

Dawn is the spawn of opportunity’s brawn beckoning

Time is a stair we climb toward the Lord and reckoning

© Janet Martin

Bible Love Notes; The Time is Coming

Col.3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, 

as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 

 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. 

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.