Showing posts with label grandchild. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandchild. Show all posts

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Darling Day (With Granddaughter) Memento


First thing this morning I had
a call from my daughter wondering
if I wanted the company of a grumpy little girl today,
and what would a grandma say to such a question but,
'of course! I would love that!'๐Ÿ’“
Just like a change of scenery can work cheerful wonders in us oldies at times,
so too in a child. ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ’–

Whether discussing crispy-egg-deliciousness, 


or, rules to learn (about mushrooms)


Whether it is pausing besides a glorious sweep of gold wheat seas
To revel in sweet summer bliss,...






It might be choosing the right cup for outdoor tea party for two...


Or floating on a pretend lake to practice for Real-Lake-Come-True


It might be strolling very slowly down a holy garden path
While footfalls slip into the echoes that waft in its aftermath


It might be picking lavender...


 to add to our lemon tea...


Before we sit beneath the arbor while making a memory



Whether discussing crispy-egg-deliciousness, or rules to learn (about mushrooms)
Or how a robin knows exactly where to find a juicy worm
Whether it is pausing besides a glorious sweep of gold wheat seas
To revel in sweet summer bliss, oh, we are making memories

Whether we give it second thought, or not, life rolls through Time and Place
And it is up to us to make the most and best of moment-grace
Because the afternoon is soon a bubble bobbing on the breeze
Bearing away the Little Day where we were making memories

It might be choosing the right cup for outdoor tea party for two
Or floating on a pretend lake to practice for Real-Lake-Come-True
It might be strolling very slowly down a holy garden path
While footfalls slip into the echoes that waft in its aftermath

It might be picking lavender to add to our lemon tea
Before we sit beneath the arbor while making a memory
It might be disregarding chore-lists just to sing a silly song
For little girls and boys are never very little very long

Life is much more than duty's doleful left-foot-right to growing old
Ah look, within our very grasp is a nugget of moment-gold
Then, because we never know when our final fond farewell may be
Let’s try to spend it on a precious, Best-we-could-make memory

© Janet Martin

Serving up some 'thtrawberry-shortcake oil tea'๐Ÿ˜‚
(after a five-star plastic lunch!!)





Monday, July 17, 2023

No Commonplace Charge (is parenting)

Baby is teething and objects loudly to being put down for long...
Mommy is so weary!๐Ÿ™

...with these two to keep her on her toes (and knees) besides!

I am no longer parenting little children but
I am grand-parenting little children 
which makes the messages below very relevant to my season of life as well!

***

To leave children without principles is
not to make them free but it is to render them helpless





We have within our keeping a very precious charge
of innocence soon reaping the harvest of its guards
no commonplace appointing from God, is parenthood
a baby the anointing of wonder, pure and good 

we have within our caring, besides child's sweet delight
the onus of preparing the soul-dier for the fight
no commonplace employment is the call they bestow
far more than mere enjoyment of watching Soul-dier grow  

we have within our reaching (for such a little time)
wide flung windows of teaching far more than nursery rhyme 
no commonplace vocation to all whom God assigns
the careful cultivation of very tender vines

What a priceless investment; the training of a child
how soon the world's resistance tests with lures, lie-defiled
no commonplace endurance, a parent's prayers outpoured
For wisdom and assurance established in God's Word

we have within our asking a very present Aid
Who tenders with love's tasking, commands to be obeyed
For this is no small gracing, a child, innocence-wrought
But a Soul-dier soon facing life, armed with what was taught  

© Janet Martin
Link to all four messages in this series below




Thursday, December 8, 2022

Book of Now or Where No Today is Commonplace (because of God's grace)


Now is a sequence of little love-letters
unfolding and folding in sacred synchronicity!


My granddaughter's grin yesterday as her mommy surprised her
 with an unexpected visit (aka break for momma) to gramma's house

This morning's poem was penned amidst much Now unfolding, such as
a frustrated and discouraged daughter asking for prayers 
for wisdom and patience as she parents, 
especially a three year old daughter whose endless curiosity and energy
 results in the most unpredictable episodes.
Yesterday said grand daughter watched ever-so-closely as gramma put in her contact lenses. 
This morning while her mommy was busy with baby brother 
she decided to try to clean mommy's contacts!! 
Last week after her mommy glazed some meatloaf for supper, and
was helping Big Brother with some reading,
this opened a window of opportunity
to slather leftover glaze on the stove burner!
Other recent episodes, often harmless but patience trying...
let's see how much toilet paper fits in a drain.
let's get out all my summer clothes because the snow melted!!!
let's use mom's real taco -seasoning in my toy kitchen while I'm cooking!
(and this gal moves faster than the Tasmanian devil in the old bugs bunny cartoons๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚)
These episodes are most often followed with a very penitent little girl saying
 "I'm thorry, mommy for'...
and then its hard for mommy to stay cross for very long after๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ’“

Dear mommies and daddies, don't give up.
After prayer-folded hands, a loving and firm hand 
is the best thing you can give your children!
(Dear older moms and dads, 
let's remember to pray faithfully for younger parents!
because, do you remember the unrelenting challenge 
of parenting little children?!!)
Let's pray they may have the wisdom, the patience
 and the courage to do the hard parenting!

Every stage of Now, no matter how old we are 
seems to run rife with life's challenges/lessons!
By God's goodness and mercy aka grace, we go...


Lessons learned through laughter and tears
Tune tides soon turned to yesteryears
How swift sterling sunrises set
The stage unfurling folds of ‘yet’
Where gold and gray-spun Granting sweeps
Each new today to Bygone’s deeps
With Now, the ink that pulses through
What first we think and then we do
Until we ford that final rift
To meet the Lord who gave life’s gift
Where time’s tatters of touching lie
In stilled splatters where ink drops dry

…in a love letter God will read
Prompting us to pay better heed
To what deed writes before we bow
And God recites our Book of Now
…where, pray above all He will see
The acquittal of Calvary
That began, with Now’s earnest try
Eternity’s thank-you reply
Where no today is commonplace
In hope’s hooray, because of grace
As step by step and prayer by prayer
God folds away time’s sacred stair

© Janet Martin


some 'nows' are as sweet as maple cream fudge, (see recipe below)
being sampled here...

others, not!



(Above, Miss Mischief's Baby Brother who seems to take up a LOT of mommy-time๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ’—)

Here is an annual Christmas treat favourite from my childhood;
Maple Cream Fudge recipe...



Proverbs 19:20
Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
 that you may be wise the rest of your days.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

This Masterpiece of Joy

 Wearying? Yes!


Wonderful? Oh. Yes.๐Ÿ’–


It rhymes with miss and kiss; this, masterpiece of joy
That can wear patience paper thin as we train girl and boy
This grin of have and hold always love’s primed prelude
To letting go, as seasons flow through prayers of gratitude

This visioning ahead soon turned to looking back
Time’s hand unraveling a thread that no hand can retract
This thrumming of bare feet and laughter-tickled soul
As innocence tries childhood’s skies until it finds a hole

This best of busyness; this test of push and pull
Of messy Mostly Happiness and Weary Wonderful
This yearning to preserve, from precious girl and boy
A remnant of the days that wove This Masterpiece of Joy

© Janet Martin





 

 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

This Is Not Role-play (prince and princess-training)

Grand-daughter (little princess) turns three today!
Her wish; a princess party! 


So on Sunday mommy, aunties and gramma enjoyed some princess role-play
(quite unlike the training of these little charges)





Let’s be gently kind and patient; let’s be diligent in prayer
For princes and princesses in training need our utmost care
Seems too soon the tender duel between right and wrong begins
Innocence is like a precious jewel; let’s guard it with angel-wings

This is not role-play; this higher calling than most calling is
Prince and princesses require constant correction and kiss
This is no small undertaking; title Mom and Dad imparts
This is Wisdom-in-the-making melting its way deep in hearts

Preconception under fire, fatigue-warped, sweet, would-be joy
Duty dominates desire, all for darling girl and boy
My, oh my, so much explaining; wisdom is a hard-earned crown
While Prince and Princess In Training strain at chains of featherdown

Let’s ask God to guide and bless us; lest we lay a stumbling block
Lest we trip prince and princesses at the mercy of the clock
Let’s love spills and stains and messes; what a gift each moment is
With prince and princesses in a sacred metamorphosis

© Janet Martin






Her sheer delight at her first glimpse of the eagerly anticipated birthday cake
made me wonder if perhaps this is how our faces
will look when at last princes and princesses in training will behold 
the eagerly-anticipated Day/King!๐Ÿ‘‘

a few more fond-moments memories...
Prince/Brother, who received a random-patches 'quilt/comforter' for his birthday 
made by great-gramma (my mom)
 was just as excited as Princess when she received hers
 because they were hoping she would get one too!




Train up a child in the way he should go,
[a]And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Prov.22:6



Wednesday, January 5, 2022

The Lily-Garb of Innocence...


Last night we celebrated Grand-sonny's 5th birthday!
We have been blessed with five swift years of cute,
curly-headed curiosity and sweetness,
and once again as I marvel at the way
moments meld into years before we know it,
it sure makes me want to make the most of here and now!




Eager little sister, watching on the sidelines, suddenly leaned in with a hefty 
(greatly unappreciated) huff to snuff the final stubborn candles
 (you can imagine the response from Big Brother)
while we adults heartily assured him that his huff got there before hers. ๐Ÿ˜…


Checking out the next Lego project
(the ice-cream truck)
 Reminiscent of sweet summer days



Childhood’s pure garb of precious, carefree innocence is brief
Soon human nature starts to test sweet darlings with its grief
As moments mete the tide that ebbs and flows, composing Time
Across four-season shorelines rolls the rhythm of its rhyme

Ahoy, the joy of boyhood bliss must soon become a man
We who shower their cheeks with kisses should do all we can
To train and equip hearts and hands for childhood’s aftermath
As morn imparts momentous sands pouring to life’s footpath

To make the most of here and now is all that we can do
To waken senses to the ‘wow’ of Today, always new
To take our thankful place in the embrace of common task
And trust God for the grace that He will give us if we ask

The lily garb of innocence we all wore in our youth
Is handed down to those who trust us to teach them the truth
Then pray we look to He who is the Way, the Truth and Life
Before the Child must leave sweet play to face time’s tides of strife

© Janet Martin

Deut.11:18-20
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; 
tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,…

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, 
bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.


Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, 
so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen,
 and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live.
 Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children
and speak of them when you sit at home 
and when you walk along the road, 
when you lie down and when you get up.

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children, 
but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD 
and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

Psalm 78:6
that the coming generation would know them--
even children yet to be born--
to arise and tell their own children
Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it











Wednesday, December 15, 2021

The Great Undoing...



Child-caring inevitably has some very hairy moments!
right? moms and all other child caregivers๐Ÿ˜…
And now and then in those wearying moments we are
tempted to say 'I can't do this!!!"
but then along come those moments that just melt our hearts
as joy trickles from our eyes in sweet surprise!
A reminder that in all of life, with the high comes the low and vise-versa!

When my grandaughter's 'pleath?' is accommodated with yes 
she is as sweet as sweet could possibly ever imagine being!
but if 'ple-e-e-ath' ith anthsered with 'no' the thweet thmile can turn upthide-down in a wink
and rather astonishing unpleasantness can ensue๐Ÿ˜‚
I uthed the lithp(lisp) becauthe right she steals my heart with hers.
Yesterday, except for one incident that partly inspired this train of thought,
it was pure sweetness๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’–

Helping gramma with the dishes...
(and wearing an apron that I wore when I was her size...)

Teatime on the deck in mid-December!!
(she prefers pouring it to drinking it)๐Ÿ˜‚

Trying to find 'auntie' Matt's shirts on the clothes line... 
(yes, she calls him auntie Matt)๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜…


The tapestry that moments weave achieves its work of art
By intertwining joy and grief from looms within the heart
Where subtle shuttles whir and bind time’s threads of gray and gold
Into a picture designed for retrospect to behold
Where we begin to learn, in warp and weft of lows and highs
That grin and groan and twist, turn into Beauty’s sweet surprise

...as startled senses waken to time’s ever-changing sway
Yesterday overtaken by the colours of today
Bidding us, with each gifted fray to always keep in mind
Swift, swift the tendrils of today with past are intertwined
And, never in life’s kiss and cuss should we forget The Whole
The shuttle that weaves This undoes the shroud around the soul

© Janet Martin

Delighted with a whole 'new angle' on playing house