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

Friday, March 14, 2025

To Think, Dear Day...

Today, the canvas of each and every lifetime!

Matt.6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 
for tomorrow will worry about itself. 
Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A stampede of Duty-dues assaulted my waking senses
threatening to thwart awareness to the whisper of mercy-renewed
and thus, reply of gratitude...

Yesterday I was visited by two little girls...

(dolls and outfits including shoes, handmade by local Talent)


oops, I mean four!! 😂
My granddaughter and my sister Lucy's granddaughter...
(where a few times I replied to the bittersweet title of Gram, um, Janet)









They giggled when I told them they made my dream come true...
a little home by the mountains and a lake!



Day...such a little word for all it unfurls
of troubles and triumphs and giggle of girls...


To think, I sometimes suppose you as common at first glance
Where opportunity is new, preceding consequence
Where the dictation of demands can consume praises owed
For it is not by human hands your favour is bestowed

To think I sometimes dare to state your mist as mine, somehow
And I am apt to underrate your mien of Here-and-Now
Where you are always caught between what was and waits to be
A sacred stage set with each scene that begets history

To think, sometimes the part I/eyes see can blind my finite gaze;
On the brink of eternity, the trail you blaze conveys
A fleeting caravan of fellowman from Here to Where
You yield your dust of Season-span to He who put it there

To think sometimes I rise without a rush of gratitude
For what none can surmise because of God’s mercy renewed
Where beauty you unfold is but a little foretaste of
The end of you, when we behold the Mystery of love

To think, I sometimes miss the wonder of your holy ground
Because the thunder of what is unfurls its sight and sound
To think, dear day, sometimes I suppose you as Duty’s toll
Rather than the highway hosting the carriage of the soul

© Janet Martin

a sacred stage set with each scene that begets history...


Roly-polies...leftover pie-pastry tradition! 


And today's devotion!






Saturday, April 13, 2024

Today Would Be Your Birthday...(or, Treasured Legacy)



For today's prompt, write a living poem.

Today and every day  is our
lifelong legacy in the making!
Let's make it treasure-able💝

This poem is about a Treasured Legacy I inherited
simply by being her granddaughter!!

Both of my gramma's birthdays were in April,
one on the 3rd, and one on the 13th!
(I hope a kind cousin or sibling corrects me if I got the dates confused...)

Today would be your birthday...

Caught by surprise...

I think if we would line up the stitches she sewed in her lifetime
they would reach to heaven and back
So many quilts and comforters for family and charity.
After her family was grown, so much mending
for her daughters and daughter-in-laws!
Her hands, when she was feeling well, were never idle!

My last 'family picture' of my grandparents.


She cared for our 'special Aunt' until she was no longer able
Then Special Aunt was welcomed into the homes of her siblings.


Today, would be your birthday
Dear Gramma, your legacy
Is the most treasured hand-me-down
That you have left for me
Life wasn’t always easy
Yet, your faithful un-complaint
Often made me wonder if you
Were a gram-disguised saint
Humble, frugal and generous
You treasured each grandchild (all forty-something of us!!)
And always made each one of us
Feel special when you smiled

Your sparkling eyes and helping hands
And wisdom-seasoned speech
Instilled within your precious ‘grands’
Sound truths for us to teach
Where now by time’s fleet sleight of hand
I am a gramma too
Trying to emulate the love-
-liness I learned from you
Trying to hand down memories
That, by God’s grace will be
In the heart of every grandchild
A treasured legacy

© Janet Martin

A few more Gramma mementos...




Waste not, want not
She said
as she shook the crumbs
from the bottom of a bread bag
for the birds
or her next casserole
placing the bag in a drawer for re-use
as she brought someone a freshly baked treat

Waste not, want not
She said
as she saved the yarn ends
to hang in trees
so the birds can have some color
in their nests too

Waste not, want not…
and rags were cut into strips
sewn together
and braided for mats (see picture above)
fabric scraps became comforters and quilts
for the needy
…or here and there perhaps a stuffed toy
Pie dough left-overs were scraped
from the counter-top and
put in a dish in the fridge
for next time
and seeds were collected from her garden
for next year
and empty spools were saved
for crafts and creations (see pictures above)
and she would tell me of their wedding
during the depression years
and how they had to choose
between either turnips or potatoes
for their meal
and how her aunt took a cherished vase
out of her china cupboard
and gave it to her
as a wedding gift
because there was no money
and then she would often repeat
‘He who does not value a penny
does not deserve a dollar’
She never heard
Reduce, reuse, and recycle
But she reminded me constantly
That no generation is immune
To hard times or want
As the root cellar was filled with
Preserves from her garden


I am glad to have known
This part of her
As I attempt to pass some of Grandma on
To the next generation
In waste not, want not

© Janet Martin

I am privileged to be living  in the house 
that belonged to one of the most beautiful people I ever knew;
 my Grandma.

And then, a new song uploaded today by two artists I LOVE,
fitting perfectly with today's prompt




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!'💓
Just like a change of scenery can work cheerful wonders in us oldies at times,
so too in a child. 😅💖

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'😂
(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!🙏

...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 cartoons😂😂)
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 after😅💓

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-time💞💗)

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.💖


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!👑

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