While Faithfully He Parts the Gates...

April mornings in Ontario, Canada serve up a salad-bowl of seasons...

Spring sunshine,

Inspiring picnics...

Picnic lunch: fresh homemade bread, fresh farm-made cheese, zucchini relish canned last summer,

locally made summer sausage, and cucumber slices!

In the fresh air it was a five-star meal in a top-notch setting

of quilt table-tops and no-shoes service!

THEN whoa, back to winter woolies,

...and today?

Raindrop rhinestones and ringlets!

Grand-daughter sighs ecstatically as she counts 'all thothe puddlthe'💖

(but, no puddle splashing today. They are simply too frigid to be healthy!

Warmer puddle-days are just around the corner!)

Creation swells with goodness; wellsprings brim that none can drain

Life’s Giver keeps His promises; He grants the sun and rain

Where nature heeds its father’s rules and trust its father’s lead

Where miracles burst from capsules of bud and bulb and seed

The crux from which earth’s deluxe wonders seep, thrills mortal gaze

The cradle from which birth thunders in silence, leaps with praise

Awe authors humble worship to He who some dare deny

From the fringe of eternity mercy and grace reply

Love lavishes this creature place with glorious majesty

Although the beauty of His face we cannot clearly see

We glimpse Him in the seasons as they toll from shore to shore

Frilled field and flower oceans rolling past our very door

The thankless creature shakes a fist; the grateful creature bows

As gray, or gold and amethyst bends daybreak's gleaming prows

Where whether unawares or not each precious creatures stands

Not only on a foot-width plot, but in God’s gracious hands

Morning’s welcome mat shimmers as it unveils land and sea

Creation swells with glimmers of the Giver’s majesty

Oh, God forgive, greed claws, hate desecrates and bombs destroy

While faithfully He parts the gates where nature rings with joy

© Janet Martin

Something about the gory scenes of war 

bleeding

beneath trees bursting into blossom 

on hills 

steeped in virgin green

tugs at the crux of one's 

soul! 

🙏😢

Psalm 89:11
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: 

as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

This Is My Father's World

This Is My Father's World Lyrics

(so comforting for the times we are in as we lift our prayers

for all the hurting to Him)

This is my father's world

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres

This is my father's world

The birds their carols raise

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their maker's praise

This is my father's world

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas

His hand the wonders wrought

This is my father's world

Oh, let me never forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the ruler yet

This is my father's world

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is king, let the heavens ring

God reigns, let the earth be glad

This is my father's world

He shines in all that's fair

In the rustling grass, I hear him pass

He speaks to me everywhere

Songwriters: C. Barny Robertson / Dp / Maltbie Babcock

Handful of Seeds?

 

Poem-a-day challenge day 5:

For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),

write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.

It doesn’t make sense that something so little and brittle should kindle such joy

The rush of elation roused by contemplation of what waits within its employ

Of places to wander and graces to ponder as wonder its plunder beholds

Completely breath taken by what will awaken, that raindrop and sun-kiss unfolds

Each April as surely and sweetly and purely as winter’s traces disappear

A feeling comes stealing, nay, reeling and pealing like bells tolling in the new year

As seeds for the garden (so seemingly common) then, utterly awe and amaze

And fill heart-recesses with thrilled happiness-es that spill into anthems of praise

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward

The way that a kernel begets virgin, vernal abundance of goodness outpoured

Instilled with cool bowers, bright rainbows of flowers, provision for needs great and small

So little and brittle, ah, handful of miracles; Perhaps it makes sense after all

© Janet Martin

Because we remember stunning petal splendor, the fruit of our labour’s reward...

the fruit of our labour's reward...

Unbridled Hallelujah

A hymn of praise to our awesome Creator and Saviour!

Isn't being marveled speechless the best?!!

(as I was yesterday at Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto, Ont. Canada)

Gen.1:20

And God said, 

Let the waters bring forth abundantly 

the moving creature that hath life...

Whether we are poring over His Wonder-full Word or

witnessing wonders of His Hand,

whether we are weeping for joy as we behold

in our mind's eye, the cross of Calvary

or whether we are wonder-struck,

 beholding glimpses of God's majesty in creation...

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is [b]unsearchable.

 Ps.145:3

To the God of creation

Oh, may our honor be

More than mouthed adoration

But heart-humility

To the God of salvation

May our lives confess

With faithful exaltation

Redemption’s righteousness

To God, of earth and Heaven

May worship never cease

Through Him we are forgiven

Christ’s death, our death’s release

To God be all the glory

The beauty of His grace

Will reveal faith’s full story

When death unveils His face

For the God everlasting

Who will make all things known

Hears the cares/prayers we are casting

Before His glorious throne

God is hope's restoration

The Savior of the soul

The healer of all nations

The faith that makes us whole

The joy of the believer

Sin's pardon all may claim

The dread of the deceiver

Who trembles at His name 

To Alpha and Omega

The Beginning and End

Universal ecclesia's

Father and faithful Friend

May unbridled devotion

Compose love's fervent lay

Majestic as an ocean

That no shoreline can stay 

His goodness and His mercy

Without reserve, run rife

Absolute Supremacy

The Way, The Truth, The Life

Boundless heights and depths thunder

With evidence of He

Who eclipses awed wonder

Who will bend every knee

To God, love’s divine Author

May our devotion brim

All glory, praise and honour

Belongs only to Him

Mortal boast is folly

All we have, He gives

Through God, just and holy

Redeemed Sinner lives

© Janet Martin

Psalm 145:5

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And [d]on Your wondrous works.

(read whole glorious chapter here)

Reminded me of this song video

I Will Praise Him Still

Foretaste...

 Hymn of Heaven- Phil Wickham

I was introduced to the above song last night.

While we long for Heaven we delight in its foretastes...

hymns like the one above or

such as the heavens declared the past two mornings!

Yesterday...

Daybreak kindles expectation

Draws ajar starred crepuscule

Floats above unbound creation

Flaming frays of gauze and tulle

God’s hand ruffles welkin tresses

Lowers a translucent scrim

To showcase His masterpieces

Earth and heavens exalt Him

Wonder exceeds explication

Praise and worship interlace

For the Author of creation

And the glory of His grace/face

Daybreak, like a boundless ocean

Rushes over eastward shores

Delight turns into devotion

Mercy has not barred its doors

Daybreak ushers in fresh favor

Faithful hands tip love’s pure grail

Bidding us once more to savor

Promises that will not fail

© Janet Martin

Today...just now

(after gorgeous Sailors/driver's-take-warning skies; freezing rain/sleet has started)

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
And He who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who makes all things,
Who stretches out the heavens [c]all alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;

Isa.44:24

For Wonder-seekers

Not recovering quite as quickly from whatever I have

(not even worth the mention compared to people with really hard hardships,

but still enough to knock the wind from my sails this past week+)

has challenged me to treasure-hunt/wonder-seek! 

It also seems to be the time of year I have to dig/drill a little deeper

to find poem-oil/ink

This Feathered Friend, Red-bellied Wood-pecker, though very bashful

delights us on a daily basis right now!

Thank-you God for daily wonders...

we will find them if we seek!

Songs of joy are not depleted, sustained by the One who made

Beauty’s birthplace, undefeated by time’s four-seasoned parade

From founts faithfully replenished earth and heavens overflow

With His wonders undiminished in a world of want and woe

What a friend we have in He who does not weary of our prayers

Constant confidante for we who oft must suffer creature cares

He abides, steadfast and righteous, in spite of calamities

Oft His handiwork delights us, oft His promises appease

Earth and sky showcase creation’s masterpieces without pause

In the face of altercations Mercy does not cease its cause

But brings to the due of duties, nature’s gifts to thrill our gaze

Where each season brims with beauties to surprise us into praise

© Janet Martin

Psalm 65:8

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; 

where morning dawns, 

where evening fades, 

you call forth songs of joy.

Oh Thou Whose Glory Earth and Sky Declares For All To See...

Inspired in part by

Isa.55

He loves righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Ps.33:5

Facebook flowed with photos of  last night's glorious sunset

that at our house, we can only glimpse the outer fringes of...

But what a metaphor for faith,

 as the outer fringes of his works

rouse a wild desire to 'see in full'

When Jim called this morning to ask what's new, do you know what I said?

I said 'nothing'! Nothing at all? he asked and I repeated 'nothing'.

And then I said 'wait a minute! how can I say 'nothing' after reading Isa. 55?!!

and I shared with him some of the glorious pleas, reminders, invitations and promises

from this beautiful chapter and I shared the poem

inspired by the manifold majesties of the sunset-artist!

God's mercies are new every morning.

Lam.3:22-23

Hallelujah!

Oh, thou whose glory earth and sky declares for all to see

Day after day, night after night exhibits majesty (Ps. 19:1-2)

Since the creation of the world Evidence streams, profuse (Rom.1:20)

Without a word (so all may know and be without excuse)

Majestic is your name, oh Lord, our Lord, in all the earth (Ps.8:1)

No wealth of mortal can afford Goodness and Mercy’s worth

Without money you bid us come to freely drink and eat (Isa.55:1)

You vow to satisfy the humble soul with joy complete

Thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory without end (Matt.6:13)

Your thoughts and ways a tower whose height none comprehend (Isa.55:9)

Forgive us when we doubt because we cannot understand

How pitiful we are without faith in Your righteous Hand (Isa.29:19)

How easily our eyes can blind us by the things we see

How proudly want can bind us to the lure of luxury

How greatly, what/Who is hidden waits to rend denial’s veil

And leave us wholly/holy smitten with Thy love that cannot fail

How terrible to wait to call until it is too late (Rev.6:16)

Love’s kindest beckoning of all (Isa.55:6) transcends time’s mortal state

Oh, Thou whose glory earth and sky declares for all to see

May we unite to magnify Thy Name eternally

© Janet Martin

So, cling to His Hand/Word 

and He will help us cling to our marriages;

He whose glory we behold but outer fringes (Job 26:14)  of has said,

What He has joined let no man put asunder/separate.(Mark 10:9)

Cling to his Hand/Word 

and he will guide us through dark channels of conflict.(Isa.41:10)

Cling to his Hand/Word 

and He will calm the storms of fear. (Matt.14:31)

Cling to His Hand/Word 

and let His truth thwart lies from the enemy (Ephes.6:14)

The list of benefits is endless 

when we cling to His Hand/Word! 

(Eph.3:20)  (1 Tim.1:14) (Psalm 23)

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Caught Marveling

And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isa.6:3

While I was pushing tot on the swing yesterday

just before dark,

God trailed His glory on sky and sod...

On parchment of sod, sky and sea

God’s glory is extolled

Four seasons filled with majesty

Time’s manuscripts unfold

Without shadow of wondering

The seed beneath the snow

Cradles the quiet thundering

Of birth and spring’s hello

The Creator of nature’s waltz

Grants but a glimpsed prelude

Of He who earth and sky exalts

And we, with gratitude

The beauty of the Lord abounds

With all but Fringe unseen

Until that day when He confounds

With no dark glass between

Praise He whose beauty births delight

Yet is but Sight's small crumb/sum

That whets Hope’s howling appetite

With The Best Yet to Come

© Janet Martin