Content to be Content

Last night, due to fog etc. the older half of our small group

was unable to be present and I was the only oldie,

(because the host home was two minutes from my home...)

I listened to young parents as they shared delights and challenges of

babies and tots.

Sometimes, youth in its 'youthful loveliness' can make more weathered relics

 hanker for days, long spent and much forgotten,

until my 'leveler head' prevails 😅

Sometimes I hunger deeply for life before the loss of loved ones

 altered it eternally.

Sometimes that longing serves as a wake-up call to 

redeem my time wisely rather than in foolish, futile lament. 💔

This was the Lord’s doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it

Ps.118:23-24

Don't wait until tomorrow to smell today's roses...

Sometimes, in foolish moments I hanker for days gone by

Where common scenes have softened until only love remains

Where lessons I once rued while youth unfurled its butterfly

Have settled like gold-dust in the wake of love's growing pains

And then I am content; futile, longing's lament because

Want wishes for a star-glossed world that never really was

Sometimes, in foolish  moments I am tempted to appeal

To once upon gone-good-old-days for laughter's freer vim

Until I turn to gaze at faces, kissable and real

Warm with the precious company of darling Her and Him

And then I am content with blessings too profuse to tell

Sensing a sacred cadence tuning hello with farewell

Sometimes in foolish moments I am blinded by a view

Surreal and sentimental, gleaming in yesterday's sun

Where time's redeeming brush has smoothed what once was troubled too

Where, rather than battlefields, a masterpiece has begun

And then I am content to relinquish Want's wanderlust

God keeps the Part that matters; all else is but dust to dust 

Sometimes, in wiser moments I am able to discern

The hues between the views that else would gleam in flawless poise 

I feel the faded sting of lessons we must live to learn

And even if I could I would not resurrect spent joys 

Content to be content though grief seasons the heart with scars

It grounds and guards love's feet from wand'ring lost, among the stars 

 © Janet Martin

I found this poem-gem in a book

I picked up the other day from our local thrift/treasure store  

Internal Exhale...

 "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Phil.4:4-6

(read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice!

5Let your [b]gentleness be known

 to all men.

 The Lord is at hand.

6Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything 

by prayer and supplication, 

with thanksgiving, 

let your requests 

be made known to God;

  7and the peace of God, 

which surpasses all understanding,

 will guard your hearts and minds 

through Christ Jesus.

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again...

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed...

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity...

(I would love if someone could ID this bird! It fluttered/ ran ahead of me,

a bit curious at the intruder 😅)

forgive my blurry zoom lens

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy...

'o-h--h! I can't wait till three o'clock, snack time!!!' sighed

Miss Sweet as sweet-can-be at two-thirty.

'Oh my! replied I, completely at a loss as how to live up to her anticipation/expectation.

'Do you like popcorn?' I asked, relieved I had one snack staple on hand.

Her pause suggested a 'no'. 

'Actually, what I am really wishing for is fresh bran muffins' 

(NOT what I was expecting at all, but so relieved. lol!)

'Guess what?!" I said. 'This very morning I was wishing for fresh bran muffins!!'

So, fresh bran muffins it was 💖😋

The day before our snack was breakfast cookies (click link)

 and Little Helper's verdict; so YUMMY!

They are the perfect mid-afternoon slump snack

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again

To light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity

To linger in November's dusk; brusque blush and blue-bathed countryside

O, I have ceased the futile quest of clinging to what none can claim

Content to let the gauze hemline of seasons slip through unclenched will

To be still and know He who fills boundless firmaments with His Name

Anoints each moment with His brush, as Today's Masterpieces spill 

O, I have ceased to Want for things, whose ownership death will destroy 

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy

As meeker gratitude enriches happiness beyond compare 

O, I have ceased to be encumbered by Bygones I cannot wrest 

Content to concentrate on faces and favours still within reach 

To let the sorrows of this world be comforted by Heaven's Best

And wonder at the holy pleasure only God, through grief, can teach

O, I have ceased to pursue answers for His higher thoughts and ways

Content to know that He is able to do exceedingly more

Than I can think to think; then, with nothing but humbler, purer praise 

To take up faith's cross like a child, and trust God for what lies before  

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the brush of dawn undo the darkness once again

And light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

© Janet Martin

While I was wrestling with the second last stanza of this poem 

my daughter, Victoria sent me a message, simply this;

Enjoying this collection of hymns this morning 😊

(and suddenly, as I listened, like a little miracle

the words fell into place!)

Tennessee Ernie Ford Hymns at Home

Thank-you God, for 'faces and favours still within reach' !

Thank-you for my family and friends, 

pouring out/in so many precious ways

to comfort me 🙏

Bless each one today! 

Like Trees Along the Shore

The Lord is my Shepherd

I shall not want.

Ps.23:1

Joy, in its finest form

Pales in the light of Want

Contentment takes the heart by storm

And trumps the tempter’s taunt

Want’s vice is full of ways

To vex the virtuous prayer

Contentment fills the heart with praise

And joy beyond compare

Though life is full of grief

(love’s groaning intercourse)

Joy is its Comforter and Chief

As we trust in its Source

True joy is not the fruit

Of much accruing more

But grows, as love for God takes root

Like trees along the shore

© Janet Martin

Rom.15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace 

as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let Your Lower Lights Be Burning

Of This...

 

If I should dare to wander where the feet of angels fear to tread

And yield to worlds that want unfurls with abandon inside my head

Then, linger where fools stand and stare at faded font of yesterday

Ah! I might miss the bloom of this before its petals drift away

If I with skilled desire should build a bridge that only thought can cross

And boldly woo a rendezvous with what will never be or was

Then vainly pause a bit because pleasure and pain must have its dance

Ah! I might miss the thrill of this, while lost in Fantasy’s romance

If I should long for some lost song because of how it made me feel

Ah! I might miss the hymn of This, where original anthems peal

To interweave with what I grieve bequeathed at birth to dusk-wreathed death

To softly kiss the joy of This as it unravels breath by breath

If I should scorn the brimming morn while hungering for what is not

And feast my eyes upon a prize contrived by idle hands of thought

Ah! I might waste the pleasing taste of sweet, sweet berries on my spoon

And I might miss the bliss of This; a glorious summer afternoon

© Janet Martin

I Am a Master of Excuse

This excerpt from the message below moved me to tears...

Oh! that this would be my true ambition.

Christian contentment

is the direct fruit

of having no higher ambition

than to belong to the Lord

and to be entirely

at His disposal.

Alistair Begg

The Secret of Contentment

  

I am a master of excuse and pious coquetry

I fit finely inside replies of I and my and me

I am far, far too readily induced to compensate

For second miles I’d rather not suffer; the cost too great

I rise to meet the day and pray, then forget easily

That I can do all I can do through Christ who strengthens me

For when I repent and believe I am ‘mine own’ no more

But ought to be devoted to the Saviour I adore

And ought to be, with every gifted breath and day, content

Because by grace I have been saved; the temple veil is rent

And I, invited to boldly approach the throne of grace

Will receive grace and mercy to supply each need I face

I am a wretch; yet Christ loves with an everlasting love

By His divine power He fits me for Heaven above

Therefore I have no boast but this; the blood of Jesus Christ

Who broke the curse of sin and death through Himself, sacrificed

For I, a master of excuse, who forgets easily

That I can do all I can do through Christ who strengthens me

© Janet Martin

Gal.2:20

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me. 

The life I now live in the body, 

I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me.

Phil.4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Rom.7:24-25

O wretched man that I am! 

Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Happily Ever After

PAD Challenge day 11-

Write a form poem, and/or...

Write an anti-form poem.

Anyone who knows me well knows I love

the traditional style of form.

However, I do admire those who serve anti-form well!

Sometimes I am so happy

And sometimes oh, so sad

For all the fulfilled wishes

That I never had

Sometimes when I am waiting

For Wish, not granted yet

I retrace Intervention 

 That spared me from regret

Then, when my school of wishes

Swims past my dangling hook

Like sassy, flashy fishes,

I pretend not to look

Happily ever after

I've learned, I'm learning how to prize

The wealth in lilts of laughter

The stars in loved one's eyes

 

Janet Martin

Dare To Dream But Bear In Mind...

I sat in the garden for a little while this afternoon soaking in the

sights, sounds and smells of fading August...

No longer restless with a dream, but reveling in the bloom!

Dare to dream but bear in mind Dream’s vulnerability

For, it seems life is inclined to vex blind fantasy

Where what we composed in forums with youth still intact

Soon begins to weather foibles and fumbles of fact

Dare to take a leap of faith but be aware of this

Sometimes you will hit the mark! Sometimes you will miss

Sometimes the sweet landing you envision when you jump

Will take you by rude surprise with an uncourtly bump

Dare to hold, hug and embrace but always with this thought

Letting go is juxtaposed with everything we’ve got

Taste today’s sweet laughter; rejoice and be glad because

Everything that is, soon after, becomes what once was

Then the dreamer starts to see what starry eyes once missed

Fantasy will step aside for moments slowly kissed

Where what want composes as youth dons a weathered brow

Becomes about smelling roses blooming here and now

© Janet Martin

 

 

 

The Secret to A Heart Content

Day 20 PAD Challenge: For today's prompt, write a six words-challenge poem.

6 words are: Content, Double, Guide, Meet, Pump, Suit

Red-bellied Woodpecker

(he showed up today, after a long absence looking a bit harried, but still beautiful!)

American Robin

How lovely is a heart content

How double-happy its delight

When we meet life, not with lament

But with poetic/ecstatic appetite 

Time is a tour guide, quite gallant

Poised to accommodate pursuit 

The heart is easy to enchant

When contentment has taken root 

A heart content cannot be bought

No pump can run its wellspring dry

Its happiness cannot be caught

Like a bird or a butterfly

I think sometimes we tend to miss

 Its kiss, and complicate its 'yes'

When contentment is simply this;

A heart chock-full of thankfulness 

P-s-s-s-t! keep this between you and me

I don't want to make Them feel bad

But, some folk don't read poetry

Then wonder why they feel so sad

😅

Janet Martin

Some people don't read poetry or bird-watch!

poor dears😉😊

For What His Grace Allots...(and update on my niece)

Life is beautiful (even in the broken)

Is it not the broken that enhances the beauty?!

(see end of post for update on my niece)

Life is not perfect.

Love is far from perfect

(though we have Jesus who demonstrated perfect love toward us)

we are broken people each in our own personal situations of

'try, try again' to make the best with what we have.

Life's road is full of ruts

It can be easy to get stuck in one without realizing it;

attitudes, habits, etc.

But with each morning comes God's mercies renewed

and fresh grace and opportunity to do the best with what we have.

Futile to look to the neighbors garden wishing for their lot/plot...

(the above is the part I wrote this morning 

before Duty took over and turned it into an evening post)

this little tot is simply peering through the fence to enjoy the view!

So I decided to join her and just enjoy it too💖

futile to peer over the fence to pine for greener lot/plot

and overlook due diligence wishing for what is not

nor is there any common sense on looking back too long

today becomes the recompense tomorrow hinges on

what does it profit you or I to wallow in dismay

what matters now is how we tie up loose ends of Today

before it is too late to make the most of what will be

The Past when twilight bars the gates where today used to be 

the same sun sets and rises on a world of fellowmen 

the whetting stone of life's surprises vexes our ken

where some will bless and some will curse and some will just stand by

for better or for worse each circumstance waits our reply 

sometimes a little stumble jolts us to reality

and helps to keep us humble in the opportunity

where, pray we honor Providence with what His grace allots

rather than peer over the fence and pine for greener plots

Janet Martin

1 Pet. 4:10-11

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, 

as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 

 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. 

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,

 so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. 

Amen.

Update on my niece who suffered

multiple injuries in an accident almost 2 weeks ago...

The doctors are amazed at her progress!

Yesterday she was released from Sick Kids

and granted permission to go home for a few days 

before starting rehab next week!

She still tires very easily.

She turns 15 tomorrow!

We are so happy for her to be able to celebrate this

milestone at home with her family!

No visitors allowed (due to Covid-risks)

and prayers for continued healing appreciated! 

We are very thankful for the healing

God's grace has allotted so far!

On Finding Fulfillment

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. 

Col.3: 23-24

It's not as much what we are doing

as who we are doing it for

that brings contentment/fulfillment

So it begs the question;

What are we doing for Who?

This gal is working at next Christmas's wish-list...

(only 11 mos. less a day to go!!😊😉)

We all have wish-lists, don't we?!

How far are we willing to go for who?

The ladder to success and happiness 

Is foiled by flaws and failures of the flesh 

Enmeshed in plans and dreams so dearly plied 

Is a force to be reckoned with, called pride 

And no matter how high our hopes might climb 

Or where our dreams may lead if given time 

The chase that we embrace is not enough 

To fill that place God reserved for His Love... 

…to love Him with heart, soul and strength and mind 

So few it seems, life truest success find 

For He does not cater to wish and whim 

The Creator made us to honor Him 

And so, until we do the heart will cry 

And nothing will fulfill or satisfy 

This world will seem a feckless trek to death 

Until we learn to rev’rence ev’ry breath 

And recognize life’s sacred gift from He 

Who lends its lease of brief mortality 

Where we will find fulfillment only when 

We labour for the Lord and not for men

Sooner or later everyone must choose

Who they will serve and thus, who they refuse

If we choose God then all we do will be

An expression of awed humility 

© Janet Martin 

Complete Confidence

Oh Lord, our Father, how uncertain we would ever be

Without the confidence we have by simply trusting Thee

We do not need the answers (much, at times, to our dismay)

But only Lord, to learn to trust thee each step of the way

How often we are torn between the laws of faith and sight

Where what is seen is but the surface of Mercy’s delight

So Lord, we pray that You would let our confidence increase

Lest with fear or impatience we prejudge Your Master peace/piece

How prone we are to groaning from a wilderness of doubt

While Canaan flows with milk and honey, we complain and pout

Forgetting that the Keeper of His Word waits to fulfill

The Plenty of love’s promises according to His will

© Janet Martin

 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt 

into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--

a land flowing with milk and honey.'

Exodus 3:17