With Only One of Each of Us...

How grieved our Creator must be when we choose to bicker and bite

instead of lovingly forgiving each other like He lovingly forgives us!

After all, every single one of us is on our maiden voyage through life 

with so many mistakes made, to learn from...

and to top it all off there are no two of us exactly alike!!!

Unlike these birds who all sound and look exactly alike...

With only one of each of us and no two quite alike

It stirs in us the impetus to do the best we can

To honor He who drew in us His holy breath of life

Where there will never be another you or me again

With only one of each of us and no two quite the same

Is it then any wonder that we often disagree

But wouldn’t it be nice if we recalled from whence we came

Then strove to love because there is only one you and me

And no one else can take the place of only you or me

Where every single ‘us’ is originally designed

And no one else can be the person we were made to be

Now is that not reason enough to be loving and kind

…and just a bit more patient with one-only-you and-me

Where we are all on maiden voyages from here to There

With our one and only unique personality

And our One and Only Creator beyond compare

We all have this in common; He who makes us black and white

And numbers our days before one of them comes to be

He smiles with loving kindness; we are precious in His sight

For there will never, ever be another you or me

How often we could treat each other better than we do

And cherish one-and-only-me-and-you while we still can

Before it is too late because either first me or you

Will go the one-and-only way we go since time began 

© Janet Martin

Psalm 139:13-16

For You formed my inmost being;a

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

15My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.

For All The World To See

 

From divine providence

And unplumbed majesty

God spills unrivaled excellence

For all the world to see

The wonder that yet waits

Evades our eyes and ears

Save, through a gap in pearly gates

Where glory’s glimpse appears

Before dumbfounded gaze

God flings His artistry

The firmaments declare His praise

For all the world to see

     Let's pause, because the earth

And sky profusely brim

With creation's marvelous mirth

In evidence of Him

...and it would be a shame

To rush negligently

Where all creation shouts His Name

For all the world to see

© Janet Martin

Psalm 148:13

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is lifted up;
        his majesty transcends earth and heaven.

Unplumbed Knowledge (Too Wonderful For Me)

Inspired by Psalm 139

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

 Psalm 139:6

O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. v.1

Search me, O God, and know my heart: 

try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me 

and lead me in the way everlasting. v.23-24

There is no fooling You

Lord, you know all our ways

While we were knitted in the womb

You beheld all our days

While we were being wrought

You knew us every one

Before a thought became a thought

Before a deed was done

Your knowledge hemmed us in

Behind, beside, before

Beneath the shadow of your Wing

You keep us evermore

Lord, we are fearfully

And wonderfully made

You know the place intimately

Where thought and choice are weighed

You search and know each heart

Nothing is hid from you

For you fashioned our inmost part

Before one breath we drew

Then, search where you have searched

Lest wicked ways remain

Lest craftiness of pride is perched

Where worship is made vain

Lord, lead us in the way

Of everlasting life

Shield us from the cunning buffet

Of vanity’s vain strife

But purify our hearts

To praise you more and more

Your goodness and mercy imparts

All we are thirsting for

Your thoughts; what preciousness

To think that they should be

Of us, oh, Lord, such knowledge is

Too wonderful for me

© Janet Martin

Too Wonderful For Me- Shane & Shane

Poetic Fulfillment

 Rom.1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—

his eternal power and divine nature—

have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

We shall not want for wonder where the font of nature spills

In fine four-season splendor, to woodlands and fields and hills

The Author of the poetry from which earth’s poets drink

Transcends human periphery confined to page and ink

Without a word He quiets us, without a word He pens

The poetry that silences pride’s pompous clucking hens

We shall not want for wisdom in the prose of Deity

The birds are fed, the lily clothes the field in royalty

The penmanship of earth and sky births reverence unflawed

By mortal boast; our worth the offspring of love’s breath of God

While we dip quills into a wellspring rife with the design

Of branches learning how to cling to the Life-giving Vine

We shall not want for worship while we read the works of He

Who is faithful and perfect though often reviled by we

Who ought to bow the knee and confess with ardent acclaim

The Saviour of Humanity who knows us all by name

He is loving and good, a world of wordless poems spells

His nature clearly understood by what creation tells

© Janet Martin

Beauty Pageant

 Wishing you a wow-run-wild kind of day!

This time of years is a salad-lover's paradise!!

snaring buds as I snip off faded peonies...

Beauty burgeons, brims and billows

Glints and glimmers, sweeps and sighs

Beauty spills hills; plumped green pillows

Perched against cerulean skies

Beauty is sweet bliss unshaken

Beauty startles, stirs and awes

Beauty is the kiss that wakens

Worship’s wild, off-guard applause

Beauty bursts bud-vaults with flowers

Wonder loosens longing’s noose

Beauty decks and drips from arbors

Periwinkle and chartreuse

Beauty sprawls in shadow-steeples

Mapping out the march of time

Beauty falls in faded petals

From the frond that held its prime

Beauty ignores human nature

Often blind to God at large

Beauty does not force the creature

To enjoy the show, no charge

Beauty flutters, flits and flickers

Filling hearts with my-oh-my

Beauty warbles, wafts and whispers

Bitty bird and butterfly

Beauty bids bards brave the battle

That the font does not disclose

Beauty helps hope cope with trouble

The thorn tempered by the rose

Beauty murmurs and meanders

Like a brook snared by a pen

As the poet tames to paper

Beauty to relive again

© Janet Martin

I was reminded of this verse below because counting all that God does and creates 

cannot be contained in all the books and poems ever written!

John 21:25

Jesus did many other things as well. 

If every one of them were written down,

 I suppose that even the whole world would not have room 

for the books that would be written.

As Long As Life Has Flowers We Will Never Un-kissed Be

 In Ontario it is iris, peony and lupine season...

...among others

Gerbera Daisies

Columbine

Spiderwort

Clematis

Every flower-lover is in constant awe at the myriad intricacies of each flower

designed by our Creator

The above beauties,

 plus Brenda's post,

plus this morning's devotion

...inspired today's poem

(it can be interpreted as written either about flowers or people.

God's love/beauty poured through us)

As long as life has flowers, we will never friendless be

God decorates earth’s bowers with such pleasant company

He stirs our hearts to leap with praise where oft a bloom beguiles

Us to marvel at countless ways that the Creator smiles

The loom within the bud unravels wonder, crease by crease

A miracle of fragile petals forms each masterpiece

Like symbols of kind pardon, beauty startles trouble’s plain

Glimpses of Eden’s Garden gild hill, hollow, field and lane

All things are possible with He who designs every fold

And strews to earth a starry sea of wonders to behold

Forbid one looks but misses mercy’s autographs of grace

God smiles and blows His kisses to us in each flower-face

© Janet Martin

Luke 12:27
Consider how the lilies grow: 

They do not labor or spin. 

Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory 

was adorned like one of these.

The Things That Don't Change...(never lose their wonder)

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things

like laughter and love as a child's childhood wings...

💖💖💖

Last night I dashed to a nearby farmer's field to

revel in the wonderful joy

of the heaven's declaring the glory of God!

While I ogled and ah-h-ed, the farmer who owns the field happened by with his tractor.

He hopped out to admire the view too.

Who knew that this burly, dirt-covered busy man and I shared in common

a sheer delight over nature's wonders...

that he too takes pictures every year of buds unfolding and barn swallows nesting etc.

that he thrills to the pink flood of daybreak as it rushes through his milking parlour.

We celebrated the fact that for all life's change and trouble

the things that never change, never lose their wonder💖

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that wrings Spring’s shower-bowers brings

Beauty to feed the soul’s ravenous hunger

A world unfurled with green and petaled things

Where the swallow swoops and the woodland rings

Heavens on fire with dawn and dusk glory

Tugging our gaze from earth’s cares for a bit

As if Someone bigger is writing love’s story

Where we are honored to be part of it

In spite of tests to Quest’s valor and grit

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills

Brook-laughter luring bare feet to its shimmer

Green is the valley and blue is the sky

Spread like a banquet-blanket heaped with dinner

Food for the spirit and feast for the eye

Tugging at tethers hinged to hearts, oh my

Mint tints in treetops long stripped of leaf-luster

First maple-plume is a daisy bouquet

Lark singing with all the might it can muster

While the dark arc of night turns to today

Stars fall, violet-strewn like noon’s Milky Way

Seeds fuel furrows, faith-jewels soft falling

Where sallow fallow will soon brim with hymns

Where Nature is like a kind mother calling

Where blithe breeze somersaults, where cobalt whims

Hum and strum yellow willow-cello limbs

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that authors them will never fail

To birth the beauty that feeds the soul’s hunger

Heaven and earth like a glorious grail

Tipped to wow us with creation’s regale

© Janet Martin

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles...

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills...

Psalm 136:1-9

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
3Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
4To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
5To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
6To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
7To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
8The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
9The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever...

click here to read the whole glorious chapter!

Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? 

Who is like You--majestic in holiness, 

revered with praises, 

performing wonders?

Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God,

 are the wonders You have done,

 and the plans You have for us--

none can compare to You--

if I proclaim and declare them, 

they are more than I can count.