Room of Doors

How wonderfully heart-warming it is to recall a life well-lived, in faithfulness to God.

But how very common, unpopular and unglamorous is the living of such a life,

ignoring the lure of many a wink with eyes fixed on One Door (to eternity)

that once again God's mercy holds ajar in a new day of grace!

The grace of God implores 

with love that will not fail

Where life is like a room of doors where choice and onus hail

Where seasons rise and fall 

like wave rolls over wave

Until our final port of call is back to God who gave

We share in common this,

 kiss of humanity

As wail of earthly genesis births immortality

Where Mist of Mortal Must, 

is tethered to a toll

Beneath the sheath of dust to dust resides the deathless soul

Ah, it is not enough 

to do the best we can

Or confess that we love, but only by measure of man

For all love comes from He 

who alone authors life

Each breath flirts with eternity like thread skimming a knife

The grace of God implores 

where goodness and love brim

Behold! life’s little room of doors begins and ends with Him

Time’s wave of corridors 

where seasons rise and fall

 Rolls swiftly o'er grave-stubbled shores to the Soul’s port of call

The grace of God implores 

and wills a new day's toll

Ah, pity the one that ignores the Savior of the Soul

The Way, the Truth, The Life; 

there is no other Door

Save one; where remorse will run rife forever, evermore 

© Janet Martin

John 1:4
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. 

We have seen His glory, 

the glory of the one and only Son 

from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 10:9
I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. 

He will come in and go out and find pasture.

John 11:25
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. 

Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.

 No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Until Then...

The last line in today’s Our Daily Bread devotion is this:

Until then, we live, work, pray, and wait in hope.”

The prettiest 'pretty'

the most marvelous 'marvel'

the most beautiful 'beauty',

or most delightful 'delight' 

...pales profoundly in comparison with what

awaits believers after this life...

***

For believers this world is the worst they will ever see.

For unbelievers this world is the best they will ever see

Source for quote unknown

***

Until we lay our bodies down, we live, love, work and pray

For divine words to teach us so we do not drift away

Until the crown of life is won, we humbly hope and plead

For God so rich in grace and mercy to supply our need

Until we join the chorus of love’s everlasting hymn

The joy still set before us will not let faith’s light grow dim

Until the ‘twinkling of an eye’ transforms our point of view

We yield the agony of ‘why’ to God, faithful and true

Until we witness face to face what Time was all about

Pray, we commit to run life’s race with endurance, not doubt

But until we are serious about knowing God's word

Our logic will be sensuous and fickle feeling-blurred

Until we repent and believe, hell waits in every breath

No gift of everlasting life to receive after death

Until we stand in awe beneath the cross of Calvary

And wonder at the One who died to set doomed sinners free  

Until His Lamp unto our feet and Light unto our path

Guides and directs, we are by nature still children of wrath

Until we ask, God will not give, or seek, we cannot find

Or knock, He will not open eyes to darkness of the mind

Until we confess our sin then by His counsel live

No earthly effort can begin what only God can give

But, when by His stripes we are healed and by grace we are saved

While what has not yet been revealed, on our hearts is engraved

...we have His Word; He will equip us to withstand the foe

His rod and staff will comfort us and never let us go

Until we will be like Him and see Him just as He is

We work, pray, wait in hope and lean upon His Promises

© Janet Martin

1 John 3:1-10 BSB

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. 

And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 

2Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. 

We know that when Christ appears, a we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. 

3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.b

4Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.c

5But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.

  6No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning.

 No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.

7Little children,d let no one deceive you: 

The one who practices righteousness is righteous, 

just as Christ is righteous.e 

8The one who practices sin is of the devil,

 because the devil has been sinning from the very start. 

This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; 

he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

  10By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: 

Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God,

nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

What a hymn this will be!

"We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was [g]and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

18 The nations were angry, and Your [h]wrath has come,

And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,

And those who fear Your name, small and great,

And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Rom.11:17-18

Of Common and Sacred Sureness

Update: When I wrote today's poem I didn't dream that this would mark the day of

the death of  our Beloved Queen Elizabeth II 

No matter how we get there,

we sacredly and surely all will!

(and so nice to have helping hands along the way!)

One thing we have in common

No matter who we are

A sure and sacred summons

Will fling a Door ajar

That leads into a portal

Where Time will cease to be

From mortal to immortal

For all eternity

Farewell to all comparing

Where we dwell side by side

The tent of our bearing

The means of our ride

However high or lowly

Of sky and land and sea

All are bound for the holy

Gate of eternity

Ferrari, Lamborghini,

Bike, airplane, mule and cart

The wheels to infinity

Is not the crucial part

The mode of transportation

In death, disintegrates

When the God of salvation

Parts eternity’s gates

This world’s clutter and clatter

Is the fleeting façade

Of a most sacred matter

‘Prepare to meet Thy God’

For He alone is waiting

Where time no more will be

No more doubt or debating

For all eternity

…where what we have in common

Is Time’s sure curtain- close

Who next will hear death’s summons

Only life’s Giver knows

As Last Breath dooms or frees us 

Pray, which one will it be

Either Satan or Jesus

For all eternity

© Janet Martin

Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, 

but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Revelation 14:7
And he said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory,

 because the hour of His judgment has come.

 Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth 

and the sea and the springs of waters."

Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? 

For You alone are holy. 

All nations will come and worship before You, 

for Your righteous acts have been revealed."

Heb.2:1-4

Therefore we must give [a]the more earnest heed

 to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

 2For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, 

and every transgression and disobedience received a just [b]reward, 

3how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, 

which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, 

and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

 4God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders,

 with various miracles, and gifts[c] of the Holy Spirit, 

according to His own will?

Death's Grave Inevitable

 

2 Cor.5:9-10

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent,

to be well pleasing to Him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive the things done in the body,

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Death and Dying-Alistair Begg

Death can spring like a hidden trap; eternity unfurled

Without warning; light or darkness the soul’s forever-world

No in-between; one of two destinies, Heaven or hell

Waits at the Gates of Final Breath’s Grave Inevitable

Where we will all appear before the judgement seat of Christ

To receive just reward for deeds just as He has promised

Where time will roll up like a scroll, when God at last is seen

As Death’s Grave Inevitable rends the frail veil between

So, pray that we aspire to please Him, first and foremost

To make the God of our salvation our utter boast

Because He loves us so and has conquered Death so that we

At its Grave Inevitable will taste its victory

Death can spring like a hidden trap; eternity unfurled

Without warning it flings ajar the soul’s forever-world

Today we choose one of two destinies; Heaven or hell

Waits at the Gates of Final Breath’s Grave Inevitable

© Janet Martin

Awesome Anticipation...

Though this poem was inspired by daybreak it applies to every breath and step we take...

As the sun rose I was impacted by the profound realization of

One Day Nearer...

One day nearer to the coming

Of our Lord; and what will be

One day nearer to our going

From time to eternity

One day nearer to beholding

He who saves us by His grace

Each new daybreak is unfolding

One day nearer to His face

And the sacred understanding

Of all that we cannot tell

When the Truth will be unending

In either Heaven or hell

One day nearer to departure

From this world of toil and strife

From the woes of war and hunger

And the cares of love and life

From the hope of our salvation

To faith’s armor laid to rest

From the cross of tribulation

To the crown of righteousness

From this temporary running

To the everlasting Prize

When at last we shed the garment

Of faith’s living sacrifice

One day nearer to the hour

Of reckoning and reward

For man’s days are like a flower

Dust-to-dust, Soul to the Lord

One day nearer to forever

Then remember, while you may

Ere the silver cord is severed

And all but God falls away

One day nearer to the Awesome

Crossing of faith’s Finish Line

…the last petal of the blossom

Caught in nail-scarred hands, divine

© Janet Martin

2 Tim.4:8

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:

and not to me only,

but unto all them also that love his appearing.

1 Thess.5:1-10

Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.

  2For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 

3While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly,

 like labor pains on a pregnant woman, 

and they will not escape.

4But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.

  5For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; 

we do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 

6So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober. 

7For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

  8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, 

putting on the breastplate of faith and love,

and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

9For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, 

but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, 

we may live together with Him. 

11Therefore encourage and build one another up, 

just as you are already doing.

Still, Still with Thee

Glorious Day...

Let's Live Today In Such A Way (as if we could die of a heart attack)

Jim didn't know his out-of-the-blue-question last night

(after we had ceased chatting for a little while and I was snoozing

 between pages of the book The Gauntlet) 

would spark today's poem.

He suddenly asked 'what if tomorrow is the day when people say

 'did you hear?!! Jim died of a heart attack today!'

Maybe you're laughing a little but...

It's not an impossibility for any one of us 

and perhaps a prudent/valid question to contemplate before

' the dust returns to the ground it came from, 

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.'

Eccles.12:6-7

Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped

and the golden bowl is crushed,

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring

and the wheel is broken at the well,

7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Why does it matter so much?!

Because the soul is deathless with only one of two destinations

depending on the preparation we have made!

Salvation-heaven

Rejection-hell

I can't even remember if or what I answered 

but Jim's last words last night set the tone for my first thoughts this morning!

And inspired today's poem🙏💗

Take time to thoroughly appreciate life's simple, temporary joys

but first, address soul-sacred Eternity

(Grandson checking out gramma's birthday espresso)

Second-cousins sharing a swing...

(Photo used with permission💖💖💖)

My sister's grand-daughter pulled a goofy face just as I clicked😂

To live today in such a way, that it could be our last

Transforms our sighs and what we prize where morning hoists its mast

For none can tell how near farewell draws its finality

As we embark toward that mark, we know but cannot see

To live today as if we may not have another, wakes

A sacred sense of recompense in every breath one takes

And stirs us to a humbler view of time’s momentous fount

…moments become the holy sum of which we give account

To live today as if to say ‘thank-you’ to God, who grants

Its gift of grace, each lovely face we kiss, each ‘second chance’

Will help us weave the steps we leave behind into a prayer

For those still in the thick and thin of love and living’s care

To live today in such a way will beckon us to be

More mindful of the thinning glove that cups eternity

How sweet the flask that metes the task for loved ones near and dear

How fleet the feet that rush to greet the mists of yesteryear

Where sorrows surge and morrows merge with splurge of seasons spent

This is the toll that weans the Soul from mortal filament

Pray, let’s be kind and keep in mind what lies beyond yon past

And live today in such way, that it could be our last

And live today as if to say ‘I love you, you, and You’

And live today as if we may meet God when it is through

© Janet Martin

I remember wise words spoken by my dad years ago...

"live in such a way that if God told you today or tomorrow you will die,

you would carry on exactly as you would otherwise have.

Live life always ready to meet God!

Eccles.3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work

that God does from beginning to end.

Heb.9:27-28

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many;

and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin,

but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Matthew 1:21

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,

because He will save His people from their sins."

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind

by which we must be saved.”

Acts 16:30-34

Then he brought them out and asked,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,

you and your household.”

32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord

to him and to everyone in his house.

33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them

and washed their wounds.

And without delay, he and all his household were baptized

. 34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them.

So he and all his household rejoiced

that they had come to believe in God.

Of Ephemeral and Eternal...

This passage is part of what inspired today's poem...

as well as praying for those who are enduring terrible suffering

whether close to home or across the ocean... 

It the same God to whom all the heavens and earth belong

 who 'sets His affections' on us...

Deut.10:12-21 BSB

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you

 but to fear the LORD your God

 by walking in all His ways, to love Him,

 to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

  13and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD

 that I am giving you this day for your own good?

14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens,

 even the highest heavens,

 and the earth and everything in it.

  15Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. 

And He has chosen you, their descendants after them,

 above all the peoples, even to this day.

16Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.

  17For the LORD your God is God of gods 

and Lord of lords, 

the great, mighty, and awesome God, 

showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

  18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, 

and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

  19So you also must love the foreigner, 

since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. 

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

  21He is your praise and He is your God, 

who has done for you these great and awesome wonders 

that your eyes have seen.

Here's to a weekend of counting God's

'great and awesome wonders'!

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath...

Finally, spring is untwirling daffodils!

Sometimes life’s clime of dust-to-dust loses its luster, oh,

Where we wage wars of love and lust on shores of want and woe

Where rivalry of faith and fear tests how we heed life’s call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath

When everlasting due unfurls a world immune to death

Where no one can undo the gates that no appeal can budge

Where endless joy or sorrow waits where God alone is Judge

The threshing floor where grain from chaff has not been winnowed yet

Drenched with redemption’s autograph and blossom pirouette

Is mortal’s pilgrimage of dust, though lusterless sometimes

Its suffering is but the must that every Soul-dier climbs

…to the unveiling of the recompense of The Reward

Where we will reap the consequence eternally outpoured

Where the Staircase of Now and Here resonates with the call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Earth thunders as the great and awesome wonders of God brim

No other power can create but what belongs to Him

Where our eyes have seen the hemline of His majesty

As lusterless landscapes turn green where winter used to be 

© Janet Martin

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past

Little Life-Ladder

Psalm 143:8

Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning,

for I have put my trust in You.

Teach me the way I should walk, 

for to You I lift up my soul.

I have a few friends going through terribly difficult seasons!

Whether we are in the valley of the shadow of death

or enjoying a view from the heights of success

we are where we are by the grace of God

on our way to beholding Him!

I wish I had a picture of Tot yesterday,

standing at the bottom of this ladder

and looking up, up as if wondering

to what wonderland it leads...

 I identified with the wee one, as I too sometimes

look up, up beyond the Meanwhile...

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms- David Crowder

Through the thick and thin of laughter

‘Neath the rise and set of sun

Before turns to ever-after

Gold and gray mingle as one

In the grin and groan of earning

Wisdom’s wonder-wizened crown

We will never outgrow learning

Till we lay these bodies down

Where ways once keener/greener and younger

Kisses faces with lost youth

We, honed by hope’s sacred hunger

Cling all the more to God’s truth

Not forgotten, not forsaken

As He draws us to the shore

Where death’s sleep is but to waken

In His Presence evermore

Through the highs and lows of living

Flows the wellspring of Enough

Where God, gracious and forgiving

Lavishes us with His love

In the hearing and the calling

Until death collects its claim

We are climbing and yet falling

Up, yet back from whence we came

In the valley of death's shadow

Or on heights of sweet success

Life is like a little ladder

Leaning on/leading to Eternalness  

 

© Janet Martin

Oh, imagine if we had the visual of our little life-ladder

(wherever we happen to be in time's climb),

 leaning against Eternity

held by He who is from Everlasting to Everlasting!

Psalm 116:5

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

Yes, our God is compassionate.

So When Death's Solemn Shadows Fall

PAD challenge day 14: For today's prompt, write a scary poem.

Heb.10:26-31

The Just Live by Faith...

26For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth,

 there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

  27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, 

and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

  28Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law 

dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

29Of 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? 

30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” [g]says the Lord.

 And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 

31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; 

In Your presence is fullness of joy; 

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Jesus Paid It All/Old Rugged Cross Medley by Anthem Lights

How holy swells the wellspring where Time’s finite fathoms toll

Each breath subtly unraveling the mantle ‘round the soul

How fragile is the fleeting glove of man’s mortality

Where He who wove us with His love instilled eternity

…so when this little life is through, if we believe in Him

Death will be but the doorway to the place where pleasures brim

As all our tears are wiped away forevermore by He

Who stepped from Heaven’s throne to pay sin’s debt in agony

So when Death’s solemn shadows fall no terror fills its wave

Unless, still we refuse to call on He, mighty to save

Unless because of unbelief, pride scorned the blood grace spilled

And wakes to the eternal grief of rejection fulfilled

To all He pleads, come unto Me, sin's sentence to atone  

Salvation for humanity is found in Christ alone

Where, Holy God's mercy unfolds another day of grace 

Until faith's fulfillment beholds the glory of His face 

How holy swells the spring where Love's infinite fathoms roll 

Each breath softly unraveling the glove that veils the goal  

Pray, when Death's solemn shadows fall beneath the Reaper's knife

Tis but the the Saviour's tender call to everlasting life

© Janet Martin

Isa.53:4-5

Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.

Of Unrelenting Death

 

The bloom none can restore after its petals fade and fall...

It sweetens our senses to fleet moments as they meld

And stirs us to remember what we far too oft let slip

It reawakens us to notice love; a world beheld

With kinder eyes when Unrelenting Death makes known its grip

It readjusts the grasp on what we clasp and count most dear

It causes us to reevaluate goals we purse

How beautiful common responsibilities appear

When Unrelenting Death once more impacts us with its due

It leaves us gently smitten with life’s sheer vitality

The Other Side still hidden drawing nearer with each breath

It strikes the sacred chord that tunes us to eternity

For there is no relinquishment from Unrelenting Death

It solemnizes wish-lists with people rather than things

Love cannot be fulfilled without best words like ‘us’ and ‘we’

It keens us to the imminence of what the unknown brings

Where someday Unrelenting Death will come for you and me

It urges us to think beyond time’s splurge of dust-to-dust

Where the undying soul indwells shells of mortality

It bids us bow our heads and reaffirm the sacred trust

In He who anchors hope beyond Death’s unrelenting sea

The bloom none can restore after its petals fade and fall

Ah Death, thy unrelenting score rends ties 'neath touch unfurled  

But never love; life's fond and fairest flower of them all

Unveils a glimpse of Eden before sin entered the world  

© Janet Martin

Genesis 2:17
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; 

for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die."

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes,

 and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, 

she took the fruit and ate it. 

She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

James 1:15

Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; 

and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Is that Footsteps That I Hear? Redeemed Quartet