Measure of Mortality...

May and June are months for us, that include many milestone celebrations,

reminding us to cherish each other while we may,

and trust the Hands that measure out our

mortality...before immortality!

1 Cor.15:54

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,

 and the mortal with immortality, 

then the saying that is written will come true:

 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

I LOVE misty, minty-green June mornings

a-dazzle with dewdrops!

Our measure of mortality

Our sum of numbered days

Are not ordered by you or me

But by God's perfect ways

The author of each life ordains

Its beginning and end

The sacred part between remains

That for which we contend

Not for our own merit or worth

But by the grace of He

Who made the heavens and the earth

Who fashioned you and me

…and measures our mortality

With love beyond our ken

Whose thoughts and ways are trustworthy

Forevermore. Amen

Fleet measure of mortality

Frail veil of breath between

The entrance to eternity

And the part that is seen  

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.4:18

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, 

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Rom.11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God

! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has become His counselor?”

35 “Or who has first given to Him

And it shall be repaid to him?”

36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, 

to whom be glory forever.

 Amen.

Redemption's Second Best Hue...

Happy Ascension Day!

Acts 1:9-11

After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, 

and a cloud hid Him from their sight. 

10They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, 

when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

 11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?

 This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, 

will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

Isa.55:12

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; 

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, 

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Celebrating green, among other colors in today's post;

sharing a few shots from an excursion yesterday, with a friend and

kindred spirit, we oohed and aahed and squealed and sighed to our heart's content

at details we didn't need to explain...

Redemption’s flood is red that flowed/flows for all at Calvary

So that we who are/were dead in sin might live eternally

For, all who repent and believe by faith have been made whole

The grace of God through Christ achieves hope’s anchor for the soul

But, for the earth reborn in spring, redemption’s flood is green

A death-defying deluge thundering from founts unseen

A tidal wave of emerald as hallelujahs peal

Through fields and woodlands heralding their Orchestrator’s zeal

Trees clap their hands, grass-cushioned grandstands beckon everyone

The river’s wrinkled sashes twinkle silver in the sun

Tulips in bold profusion bloom, as bud after bud pops

On verdant, velvet banks are strewn pools of forget-me-nots

Fair nature celebrates redemption’s second-best hue; green

Regaling trees with melodies where bare branches had been

Unfettering a plush, lush splurge, surging from east to west

While rabbit hops from bush to bush, a nibble-happy guest/pest

© Janet Martin

Once Upon A Wistful Morrow (demands full attention now)

Woods are reinvigorated

Garbed in nature’s purest hues...

In Ontario we are in the thick of that swift and sacred planting season!

Hard work but so worth it as seeds and seedlings start to grow!

This plot doesn't look like much yet 

but hopefully in a few months it will be a vibrant dahlia garden!

The deluge of rain on Saturday halted my work before I got the stone-paths done...

One thing every bloom has in common:

it was planted!

Proverbs 20:4

The slacker does not plow in season; 

at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

It's that simple:

If we do not plant in planting season, 

there can be no goodly harvest

That is life's most solemn truth both literally and metaphorically!

Planting season is precious and fleeting!

Dear mothers, young parents, take heart as you till the soil of a tender soul!

Behold your sacred charge!

This is love's planting season!

Beyond the sweat and toil of tough love and training

waits the harvest!

And every day, entrust your cares

to your Heavenly Father 

who knows exactly what we need

and grants strength for the day.

No. There is no instant gratification

in planting.

It takes time and patience to grow a seed

to its full potential.

But, by the grace God gives,

endure!

Once-upon-a-wistful morrow

Brings no sweat upon the brow

Look; our feet stand on the furrow

Planting time is here and now

Sometimes as I admire someone's autumn garden

I will say, oh! I wish I would have remembered to plant

 such and such in the spring

but because I didn't I cannot harvest its fruit in the fall!

At almost 56 years old, I find myself in the autumn of life,

sometimes wishing for something I didn't plant in the 'spring',

but we look at the the spring of earth's season and are reminded of

a God of forgiveness and redemption

granting planting season once again! 

And we plant, even in the fall of life,

seeds for the harvest still to come! 

Woods are reinvigorated

Garbed in nature’s purest hues

Green in glory unabated

Saturates long-listless views

Once-upon-a-wistful-morrow

Demands full attention now

For dreams do not plant a furrow

Wishing does not push the plow

Morning spills momentous jewels

Awes us with mercies renewed

After slumber’s rest refuels

Diligence and gratitude

…and we beseech today’s Giver

For fresh fervor for life’s toil

For the field will soon deliver

Planting season’s foolproof spoil

Joy and sorrow’s measures mingle

Where birth’s showcase steals our breath

Where our zealous senses tingle

With the imminence of death

While we wonder at the favors

Of flower-font bound to fray

While we savor fleeting flavors

On earth’s bittersweet buffet

Where soon hues of first green languish

Where soon dues of planting chime

Where soon love and labour’s anguish

Turn to hues of harvest time

Once-upon-a-wistful morrow

Brings no sweat upon the brow

Look; our feet stand on the furrow

Planting time is here and now

© Janet Martin

Once upon a wistful morrow

this will be  flower garden!

Once upon a wistful morrow...

the planting dust will settle

 and

and they will be women and men

Bitty Worship Ditty

 

How grand to stand and gaze firsthand upon a land washed clean

Lackluster lea and tree reclad in filigree of green

How lovely to drink in the view renewed by hues, God-spun

And worship He whose majesty will never be outdone

© Janet Martin

Revelation 4:11

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, 

to receive glory and honor and power, 

for you created all things, 

and by your will they existed and were created.”

Bitty ditty today because to-do list keeps growing...

May has the most time-sensitive task list of all the months, I think!

...and i didn't put 'snuggle new baby' on the list because that's not a task😍💖

Glorious Green

Green hills and fields

Green lawns and glades

Green fronds and leaves

In countless shades

Green opens up

Its floodgates wide

And lavishes

The countryside

Ah, tell me

Who has ever seen

More hues and tints

Than glorious green

...where June is like 

a gallery

To showcase 

green's grand majesty

And earth is like

a beauty queen

Decked in a thousand

Shades of green

The train of glory's

gown unfurled

And trailing all

around the world

 

© Janet Martin

In Praise of Green

 Green and gold seem in sort of a duel for dominance these days but this poem is in praise of green

Green spreads its grace across a place that long was void of vim

The slumbering bud and seed wakens whispers to sod and limb

Where hallelujah songs of nature nurtures thankful gaze

As color-wheels of mercy thrill the humble heart with praise

God kisses earth with favor; where green sweeps were held at bay

He breaks the dam that wakes the land that long was brown and gray

Across the countryside a tide impeccable in shade

Most glorious, victorious, gilds mortal's promenade

Hope’s divine intervention renders living proof, green-spun

He never forgets to send spring when winter’s fling is done

Now blue sky is a timbrel and the golden sun a gong

And man a humble minstrel chiming amen to each song

Janet Martin