Don't Wait (until it is too late)

 

His basket of peppers spilled over and over...

but he wanted to carry it,

so we picked them up, over and over

 and finally, with exhausted triumph

we made it to the goal!!!

SO, whatever our load happens to be today, peppers or otherwise, keep on!

Don't give up in despair...

Love 's care is worth every tear, every prayer

Someday (it could be as soon as today!)

We too with exhausted triumph will reach the goal! 

Our community has suffered a number of reminders

this year of the uncertainty of what a day may hold!

Don't wait to want what today still offers!!

***

Don’t wait to do the best you can

To love God first, then fellowman

To give thanks to the One who grants

His grace in every circumstance

Don’t wait to make the most of life

But, bury the hatchet of strife

Before we meet The Righteous Judge

Don’t nurse the wounds of bitter grudge

Don’t harbor anger in your heart

But with each breath, let’s do our part

Before today is history

To make a treasured memory

Don’t wait until it is too late

To linger at the soldered gate

Of a thousand longings untold

Thy lips still smile, thy arms still hold

Life is a gift, its curtain close

Only the Giver of it knows

Then do not wait to love, to pray

To wish for what God grants today

Take up love’s yoke of joy and grief

Plead God to turn blind unbelief

To faith, then trust love's nail-scarred Hand

With all we do not understand

Then live as if today could be

The gateway to eternity

Love God and fellowman, don't wait

Till it is forever too late

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.6:1-2

As God’s fellow workers,a then, 

we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

  2For He says:

“In the time of favor I heard you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.”b

Behold, now is the time of favor;

 now is the day of salvation!

Of Flower-Power and End Results

2 Thess.3:5

Now may the Lord direct your hearts 

into the love of God 

and into the patience of Christ.

Sometimes, whether intentionally or not,

 in misfortune, some bring salt to rub in the shoulda-wish-I-woulda-wound.

Others, like my sweet sister, bring hugs and flowers.

Thank-you, Lucy💗

(to you, my gentle readers; never underestimate the power

of a hug and flowers)

Little do we know what circumstance awaits 

to test the readiness of love's reply

But this we do; Emmanuel (God with us) does not fail

 to help the fumbling likes of you and I 

Above an altar fixed beneath our hands and feet, 

God's mercy, new each morning fills the earth and skies 

The sacrifice we bring to Him (or not) 

will prove without a word of explanation,

 what we dearly prize/ where our treasure lies

Last week's 'tests' drew me to scriptures of encouragement to be faithful no matter what!,

This morning (because I am forgetful)  I returned to reread a few posts 

to re-remind me of God's promises!

 Wealth Beyond Measure

Run!

Life, ultimately, is a series of tests, isn't it?!

The true test, in all we dream and seek 

is whether its getting is for the pleasing and benefit of Self

or to bring honour and glory to God, the giver of each life!

Lord, purify my goals, delights and desires today

And waken a more fervent longing to trust You and obey

Lord, forge within my stubborn bent a meeker heart, I pray

 For Thou, Lord, art the Potter, oh, and I, Lord, am the clay

If in the end, it draws a soul to Thee

Lord, let me not despise Thy chastening

But echo these words ‘be it unto me’

Where the day of Thy grace is hastening

If in the end it bears eternal fruit

For Thy Kingdom, power and glory, Lord

And stays me from this world’s deadly pursuit

And saves me from a death none can afford

Then, without regret, worry or complaint

Forbid I cling to what cannot defend

But walk worthy of the call of the saint

If it draws a soul to Thee, in the end

So that Thy love would abound more and more

Confound the beast that does not boast of Thee

And reprimand the pride that you abhor

If in the end it yields humility

© Janet Martin

Glorious reminders in my morning reading today!

Ah, Glorious Beginnings

if you're still looking for plants (or puppies?)

check out this stunning greenhouse and kennels!

A little promo to fulfill a promise to an old acquaintance 💖

Don't you love life's beginnings;

buds, babies/tots,

 spring and summer mornings?!!

...the blip before time's telling tales

of blooms, birthdays and betrothals 

bearing us breath by breath toward life's twilight?!!

ah, glorious beginnings

so lovely to behold

a bursting bud, a baby

a sunrise, blush and gold

ah, garden, freshly planted

harboring renewed hope

ah, young love, dream enchanted

before life replies 'nope'

ah, verdant June showcasing

green-gleaming countryside

ah, jubilant joy gracing

a beaming groom and bride

ah, glorious beginnings

before Time takes its toll

Before the crucial endings

that prove the heart and soul

Ah beauty, stooped and weathered

Duty and battle-taught

Ah, holy harvest gathered

(the planting long forgot)

Ah, glorious survival

No wishing can pretend

surpassing every rival

with 'faithful to the end'

Janet Martin

1 Cor.2:24-25

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,

 but only one receives the prize? 

Run in such a way as to take the prize.

 25Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. 

They do it for a crown that is perishable, 

but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.

Of This

Love enjoys and endures life's utter contrasts;

 utter joy and wonder

utter chaos and care...

The end will come of This;

This gift and groan of prayer

Love’s laughter and the traitor’s kiss

Will fade into thin air

This leap of live and learn

This thud of high to low

This day-by-daily no-return

Of grace whereby we go

This cross of loss and gain

This toss twixt dust-to-dust

This awesome albatross of pain

And pleasure, fear and trust

This sacred metronome

Of ever-dwindling day

This happy-sad of home-sweet-home

This brunt of gold-blue-gray

This innocence soon lost

Where time does not stand still

As hope begins to count the cost

Of growing older till...

The end will come of This;

This on and upward climb

This test of love and faithfulness

Till God replaces Time

© Janet Martin

Be very careful, then, how you live—

not as unwise but as wise,

Eph.5:15

Forge On, Fellow-Follower

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, 

before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,

 "I find no pleasure in them"--
Eccles.12:1

Christians are under attack worldwide but forge on, fellow-follower of Jesus,

if God is for us who can be against us?! Rom.8:31

Forge on, the framework of today will fill with what we do and say

The things that test this rebel clay nobody can foresee

But take heart, all who trust the name of He who bore our guilt and shame

In spite of what heretics claim; God WAS, IS and WILL BE

His Word, infallible and sure will keep the believer secure

And help the runner to endure the race until the end

Do not despair, the oaths of they who do not follow or obey

Are in fear of the judgement day, so pray and pray, my friend

Forge on, dear fellow-follower of He who is Deliverer

Defender and the succour-er of all who by faith, trust

Be not afraid, love will not fail no matter what storms may assail

Until death lowers the dark veil that returns dust to dust

…forge on, the flesh that cups the soul where none but God maintains control

Will not escape the sacred goal (not even atheists)

Remember, every knee will bow and every tongue confess Him, wow,

Then we should pay attention now, ere Silver Cord untwists 

 

© Janet Martin

Remember him--before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
 before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,

Eccles.12:6

Signs of the Times...

We are halfway through September...already!

It is Sunday night.

When/if we awake we will be one week away from the first day of fall! 

When I dropped hubby off at work tonight it was dark before 8:00!

The air is drenched with musky scent; the rain-cloud snuffs the sun

And nighttime drops its dusky tent before the day is done

The orchard lane is dappled where the ripened apple plops

And suddenly we miss the robin’s warble in treetops

The harvest moon is like a loonie set on velvet deep

The cricket-tune is waning its incessant cheep-cheep-cheep

Soybean sweeps flutter like a butterfly kaleidoscope

And suddenly we read between the lines on wild-bloomed slope

Orange pumpkins wink from tangled fretwork that was green before

The spider spins its spangled network of silk gossamer

Now russet hints begin to tint the coppice by the fence

And suddenly we feel the tug of farewell’s imminence

…where golden candle-halos warm the nooks of heart and home

Where mellow yellow afternoon dangles from azure dome

And everywhere we look the earth and its fullness thereof

Brims, beams and bursts from seams of field and garden’s treasure trove

The brook is flecked with leaf-shaped rafts that drift, eddy and surge

A blue baton strums woodlands in A Prelude to the Dirge

Where signs of time beckon and call ‘the end is near, dear friend’

For suddenly we sense that fall is just around the bend

© Janet Martin

There is another End nearing according to the somber signs of the times

 foretold by Jesus on the Mount of Olives... 

 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, 

the disciples came to him privately. 

"Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, 

and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

 Matt.24:3

(click link for refreshed awareness!)

Of Molded Strings

We sense it…

Long before the rifts

As

Love bends us

With lended gifts

While

Ordinary Disappears

Into a Blur

Of yester-years

Where

oft the kiss

Of This soft-rends

Beginnings through

With subtle ends

So

even while

We sense the tug

We smile and sing

And laugh and hug

For

 what good is

The hands that clings

To ribbons made of

Yester-things

And

what good is

The Cup we hold

If we are pining

For its mold

© Janet Martin