Dear Lucy, Where Death Has Left a (Deep and Temporary) Hole

This week holds the two-year anniversary of

Life without Lucy;

two years of lifting Lucy's family lovingly to God in prayer

and trusting Him,

*that they should seek the Lord, in the hope 

that they might grope for Him and find Him, 

though He is not far from each one of us; 

for in Him we live and move and have our being,...

(see reference below)

The heart-shaped rock, noticed and picked by her granddaughter, 

then painted by my daughter Victoria.

The sign from my niece-in-law Emma!

Precious mementos in memory of Lucy!

Because we never know what a week holds I am sharing

a tribute/poem that poured from my

slowly healing heart this mourning/morning...

partly due to how September's ambience sparks so many memories!

LUCY SO loved September's bittersweet scents and hues!

which, I'm sure she was drinking in on her (unbeknownst to her)

last bike ride to Heaven; to meet her Saviour

and the Creator of all she dearly loved! 

September hues and scents and sounds rouse a profound sense in the soul

Of life-scapes expanding around 'Ground-sorrow', where death left a hole

Nothing will fill, but Time persists with love, still very much alive

Its duty and labour insists on frameworks love and life contrive

The heart, where death has left a hole nothing will fill, still aches with grief 

The part that we cannot control we leave to God whose Way/will is Chief

Though mortal Want misunderstands Purposes that seem so unkind 

He reaches out His nail-scarred hands; scars that Calvary left/left Calvary behind 

...and bids us cast our care/grief on Him; He helps us bear/wear the hole death leaves 

He too has borne love's guerdon, grim, and shed real tears, wiped on God's sleeves

For He is not some far-off God, unable to commiserate

With our hurt; He too has trod the Mourner's Vale through Sorrow's Gate 

And suffered the climax of loss when He gave his life in our stead

Enduring death upon a cross to conquer death and crush death's head 

To break the curse that doomed us when first Eve, then Adam disobeyed

He scorned death's claim and rose again; the price for our redemption paid 

So, though the stroke of death may leave a deep and everlasting temporary hole

For all who repent and believe God grants to grief a glorious goal

And though nothing will fill the place where death has left its aching void

God, through the goodness of His grace, comforts grief with hope, overjoyed 

Janet Martin

1 Thess.4:13-14

Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed

 about those who sleep in death,

 so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 

we also believe that God will bring with Jesus

 those who have fallen asleep in Him.

Acts 17:26-31

He has made from one blood every nation of men

 to dwell on all the face of the earth,

and has determined their preappointed times 

and the boundaries of their dwellings,

so *that they should seek the Lord, in the hope 

that they might grope for Him and find Him, 

though He is not far from each one of us; 

for in Him we live and move and have our being,

as also some of your own poets have said,

 ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God,

 we ought not to think that the Divine Nature

 is like gold or silver or stone, 

something shaped by art and man’s devising. 

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, 

but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 

because He has appointed a day

 on which He will judge the world in righteousness 

by the Man whom He has ordained. 

He has given assurance of this to all 

by raising Him from the dead.”

(read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

I have also listened to this song countless times!

I Set My Hope on Jesus

Like Morning Comes, And Spring...

It's the end of February...

and so we begin to look more expectantly for signs of spring,

like more warmer sunshine...

to tickle  icicles into merry melting! 

Like gardens emerging...

Like sunny-deck coffee breaks ...

Like morning comes and spring, so too

We know joy waits beyond grief's due

The crushed seed that falls to earth's tomb

Runs rife with life waiting to bloom

💗🌷💚🌷💛🌷💜

John 12:24

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat

 falls to the ground and dies,

 it remains only a single seed. 

But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Ps.30:5

For His anger is but for a moment, 

His favor is for life;

 Weeping may endure for a night,

 But joy comes in the morning.

The night does not remain

Morning unveils yon hill

The sun breaks through after the rain

Spring follows winter’s chill

And wisdom, hard to earn

Is worth waits, fierce and hard

Rewarding all, willing to learn

With patience, battle-scarred

And though grief lets/lends the part

That love cannot elude

Joy returns and restores the heart

To gladder gratitude

For, though love suffers long

Morning is always near

Like a spring-after-winter-song

To plant the heart with cheer

Janet Martin

MORNING HAS BROKEN - Cat Stevens (Lyrics)

The Time We Had/Have (Dear Lucy)

Whenever we reach the 17th of a month my heart does a little jolt!

This day Jan. 17, 2026, marks 16 mos, since we lost dear Lucy💔.

The longevity of this reality is beginning to sink in!

This winter I am meandering through John Greenleaf Whittier's 

Snow Bound

A Winter Idyll

These stanzas struck a specially tender chord as round the fireside they recall

stories and memories from departed loved ones...

Some things will never change

We cannot turn back Time

Or reach its walls to rearrange

The pictures in its clime

Time cannot give back days

Or one moment when spent

The clock will never change its ways

Through laughter or lament 

To trust the Giver of 

Time's lease, as it unfolds

Helps us to make the most of love 

No matter what it holds

For love is worth the price

The heart is bound to pay

Grief is the sacred/solemn sacrifice

Love cannot hold at bay

Each tear a testament

And tender tribute to

The Time We Had to Paint Its Tent

Of air with 'I love you' 

For love, when life is through

Does not fade like a flow'r

The grave, though it must claim its due

Is Time's dust-and-ash bow'r

And though the heart may tear

And though the eye may brim

God, rich in mercy helps us bear

Love's grief for her or him

...until each loss we brave

Will deck departure's sod 

Time's inheritance is the grave

Love's inheritance, God 

The Time We Have To Spend

Is precious, but a glove/knife

The Giver of its lease, my friend

Is Everlasting Love/Life 

The clang of 'my' and 'me' 

Soon flies like worthless chaff

Only true love transcends Time's spree

God seals its autograph 

The Tree that spawns the limbs

Where leaf sojourn is brief/runs rife 

Offers comfort that never dims

As long as there is grief/life

Janet Martin

1 Cor.13:12

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:

Do you know the One who purchased, holds and anchors

the hope of Heaven/God?

Rev.21:4

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the old order of things has passed away.”

The Journey of Grief...a Reflection

The Journey of Grief 

As we face the journey of grief, no one hands us a map, 

clearly marked with when we must navigate what, or how, 

and no one hands those around us a map either,

with a distinctly highlighted path from starting point to finish line of grief’s journey.

On the journey of grief, each landscape varies; 

its hilltops and valleys uniquely individual,

uncharted, and ever so personal.

Sometimes, on its journey, grief grants pitstops where, 

for a glorious minute or hour

We forget that we are sad, 

forget bitter loss as we taste and treasure,

 if only for a little

a hint of sweeter days to come…

Then the weight of sadness rushes back in, 

its ebb and flow without cut and dry rhythms.

Some days sorrow almost overwhelms us with longing 

for what will never be again;

Longing to hear their voice, 

to see their smiles and tears and, feel their hugs.

Longing for new stories about him or her. 

But there are no new stories

So, we recall the old ones again 

and laugh or cry,

in a tender effort to keep 

precious memories alive!

In the journey of grief, we hurt for ourselves 

but we also hurt for fellow-travelers/mourners.

And in our human sorrow-tender nature 

we want to help them;

To ease suffering by easing their weight of sadness;

The very weight that God allows for us

 to discover firsthand the glorious power of Him;

His Very present Help, 

His comfort, 

His strength!

The very weight we want to eradicate 

is the weight that draws us to our knees!

To our personal Gethsemanes, 

to learn utter surrender 

and echo the prayer of Jesus

Not spared from pain and sorrow as He prayed

 ‘not my will but Thine’

And because of Jesus, the believer’s journey of grief

 is not traveled alone or without hope.

For the believer the promise in Rom.8:28, 

that God works all things for good to those who love Him,

 and are called according to His purpose, 

is truth,

 is hope, 

is reality 

on a timeline beyond our control or comprehension.

On the topic of Life’s burdens J.R. Miller wrote,

In every burden that God lays upon us

 there is a blessing for us if only we will take it.

Our pain and sorrow, 

endured with sweet trust and submission

leave us with life purified and enriched, 

with more of Christ in us.

Is there any greater good that God could work 

than ‘more of Christ in us’?

I treasure now, more than ever, 

the words of Jesus when He comforted Martha 

after the death of her brother Lazarus; in John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. 

He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. 

Do you believe this?”

What glorious comfort and hope 

transcends deepest grief, 

when we believe this!

Though grief is great, 

hope is greater.

Do you Believe This?

When Death, the Scythe that ceases Time, gathers a loved one beyond reach

Do you believe? Does Heaven’s clime become longing's lamenting roar

Though sorrow staggers 'neath the weight of lessons love must ever teach

Do you turn eyes toward a Gate that gleams far fairer than before

When Death delivers Farewell's rift and stuns the grasp of mortal ken

Do you believe? does God’s grace-gift fill sorrow with hope over-joyed

Because you know, though tears may flow, God keeps His promises. Amen

Though Death is a grim reaper, oh, how dear the hope that spans grief’s void

When Death reminds we who remain how small-swift-sacred is life's lease

When earthly loss is Heaven's gain does Heaven suddenly draw near?

Do we believe? with hurting hearts do we turn to the Prince of Peace

Trusting His will till sight imparts the face of God and loved ones dear

When Death, with one fell swoop subdues the Soul’s dust-to-dust vestibule

Then it will be to late to choose who we will trust or serve; oh pray

Do you believe in He who made the hope/home of Heaven possible

Are you prepared should Death’s swift blade cut your life to the quick today?

Do you believe and do you love He who does not leave or forsake

Is salvation’s solace enough to console sorrow’s weeping wail

For God so dearly loves and hears us; He draws nearer when hearts break

Through His Word He gently cheers us with goodness that will not fail

Janet Martin

Internal Exhale...

 "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Phil.4:4-6

(read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice!

5Let your [b]gentleness be known

 to all men.

 The Lord is at hand.

6Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything 

by prayer and supplication, 

with thanksgiving, 

let your requests 

be made known to God;

  7and the peace of God, 

which surpasses all understanding,

 will guard your hearts and minds 

through Christ Jesus.

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again...

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed...

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity...

(I would love if someone could ID this bird! It fluttered/ ran ahead of me,

a bit curious at the intruder 😅)

forgive my blurry zoom lens

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy...

'o-h--h! I can't wait till three o'clock, snack time!!!' sighed

Miss Sweet as sweet-can-be at two-thirty.

'Oh my! replied I, completely at a loss as how to live up to her anticipation/expectation.

'Do you like popcorn?' I asked, relieved I had one snack staple on hand.

Her pause suggested a 'no'. 

'Actually, what I am really wishing for is fresh bran muffins' 

(NOT what I was expecting at all, but so relieved. lol!)

'Guess what?!" I said. 'This very morning I was wishing for fresh bran muffins!!'

So, fresh bran muffins it was 💖😋

The day before our snack was breakfast cookies (click link)

 and Little Helper's verdict; so YUMMY!

They are the perfect mid-afternoon slump snack

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again

To light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity

To linger in November's dusk; brusque blush and blue-bathed countryside

O, I have ceased the futile quest of clinging to what none can claim

Content to let the gauze hemline of seasons slip through unclenched will

To be still and know He who fills boundless firmaments with His Name

Anoints each moment with His brush, as Today's Masterpieces spill 

O, I have ceased to Want for things, whose ownership death will destroy 

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy

As meeker gratitude enriches happiness beyond compare 

O, I have ceased to be encumbered by Bygones I cannot wrest 

Content to concentrate on faces and favours still within reach 

To let the sorrows of this world be comforted by Heaven's Best

And wonder at the holy pleasure only God, through grief, can teach

O, I have ceased to pursue answers for His higher thoughts and ways

Content to know that He is able to do exceedingly more

Than I can think to think; then, with nothing but humbler, purer praise 

To take up faith's cross like a child, and trust God for what lies before  

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the brush of dawn undo the darkness once again

And light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

© Janet Martin

While I was wrestling with the second last stanza of this poem 

my daughter, Victoria sent me a message, simply this;

Enjoying this collection of hymns this morning 😊

(and suddenly, as I listened, like a little miracle

the words fell into place!)

Tennessee Ernie Ford Hymns at Home

Thank-you God, for 'faces and favours still within reach' !

Thank-you for my family and friends, 

pouring out/in so many precious ways

to comfort me 🙏

Bless each one today! 

Grief-frames

Happy 82nd Birthday, dear Mom born Nov.1, 1942

(photo credit on this post goes to my sister Marlene)

Yesterday, at my mother's annual birthday tea-party

the presence of each other seemed more treasured,

 our love more tender than ever before,

in the light of grief...

My mom asked if she could host it

(for the first time ever) in what has been a tradition

for SO many years!

If Lucy were here I could count on her to remember

when it started, who hosted it

and maybe even what she was wearing and

if/who she was pregnant with...

😅😂💖

She had an incredible memory!! 

Because mom hosted it, Dad could enjoy the celebration too 💝

(although we have another one on Sunday that includes our men as well)

Grief ebbs, then rushes in like a billow, invisible

It rolls through heart and soul with staggering intensity

It strips us of all pretense; Love's most severe crucible

As God, who IS love, tries the Part that He alone can see

Grief sends us on a journey we would never choose to take

Around and 'round a gaping void, veiled by façades, skin-thin

It winds heartstrings through phantom frames where echoes tug and ache

Woven from moments not unlike the moments we are in

Grief moans like autumn's lonely wind through woodlands, leaf-bereft

It sobs, like summer, silenced by its sum of Season-sand

From detonated dreamlands, it examines what is left

Sifting through drifts of rubble diamond-dust, where once Love laughed and planned

Grief teaches us to live with an 'if the Lord wills' regard

To love as if Today could be the last for you or me  

It stirs holier handling of dawn's invitation card

Because Today does not come with a Morrow-guarantee  

Grief metes Love's Must; relentless thrust of waves, dash-crash-recede 

Then, with renewed velocity, returns with wrenching pains 

To wander rooms, once full of Innocence we did not heed

Where now his/her essence of presence, like a shadow remains

Grief takes us to the arms of friends and family so dear

And it is no coincidence, it drives us to our knees

To draw us to The Sacred Solace of God's list'ning ear 

*And glimpses to the Inner Room of Heaven's Mysteries/Sympathies

Janet 💔🙏

The verses below comfort me constantly,

as I lift my wordless groans to God's intercession

Rom.8:26-27

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

We do not know what we ought to pray for, 

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 

 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, 

because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people 

in accordance with the will of God.

Below, yesterday's timely and profound devotion

from the book Streams in the Desert, Vol.1

(* this devotion articulates splendidly, the last line in today's poem)

While I was working on this post

a friend sent me these words...

She is mourning the loss of a friend who passed away this week.

"God is so gracious and so tender,

 even though we might never get the ‘why’ on this side of heaven."

Thank-you, Joanne!

(Her friend was released from a brave battle with ALS)

And last but not least...

My mom with her salt and pepper shaker collection

200+ pairs!

Yesterday she invited each of us to choose a pair,

before she gives her grandchildren the opportunity to do the same

I chose these Siamese cats.

They have lived in my mother's china hutch since

before I was born.

From her friend Mary (Mrs. Abner Martin)

My two 'little sisters' enjoying their choices!

Lucy was the middle sister...

Momentous Memento

I helped to clean out Lucy's gardens yesterday...

(photos shared by permission)

While we collected flower seeds...

...picked her pears (how she loved these beauties!!)

 ...sailed through the air on swings

While they (her grandchildren) pulled my hands, eager to live, laugh and love

While they called "come and see' 

...while my heart almost collapsed within me

 I suddenly sensed in the tear-drenched dirt of hurt,

the innocent planting of seeds of Hope and Joy

Dear Lucy...

there are moments, grief numbs the part that ought to smart and sting

then, like a wave it comes; the heart wails like a wounded Thing

and there are times despair could haunt love's solemn sacrifice

and almost I am tempted to want love without its price

and, there are moments I feel stripped of all I once knew well

then without warning I am gripped with the sense of a Bell

still tolling, 'neath a Hand bestowing midst bereavement, bliss

of life still overflowing with Hand to Hold, Cheek to Kiss

then, although there are moments when grief deals a crushing blow

and longing reels as echoes peal from scenes I/we cherish/ed so

then, even when it feels like grief  grants love's mean reckoning 

I sense the turning of a leaf, tearstained, but beckoning 

there are moments I could not bear, but what love cannot lose

though every dream and wish and prayer has lost its dancing shoes

there are moments that steal my breath; joy and grief intertwined

in memories that feel like death left much of you behind

Janet 💔💞

there are moments that steal my breath; joy and grief intertwined

in memories that feel like death left much of you behind

Psalm 145: 13-14&17-20

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.[c]
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down....

...The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,...

Plea For Perseverance

To list all the ways today's poem was inspired, is difficult to encapsulate...

But it is a corralling of wonder wakened while pondering Heb.11 &12:1&2

By the showering of love, of sympathy,

from so many caring people, 

of comfort and encouragement shared from God's Word,

By devotions penned for such a time as this...

By the indescribable joy in sorrow 

through the Presence of peace God has promised if/as we trust Him,

through both the physical and spiritual storms and battles of faith/life! 

Let me not balk against faith’s test that I would never choose

Let me not fear what God deems best, nor His request refuse

Behold faith’s cloud of witnesses still surrounds you and me

The riches of God’s promises worth every wait-and-see

Let me not wallow in the why that tries the ties of love

But rather winnow my reply till worship is enough

As faith is drawn from shallows to the deeps of grief and loss

Let me be wholly hallowed by the power of the cross

Though the threshing fork pains me, may it drive away the chaff

Till only God sustains me, as I lean upon hope’s staff

For he who suffered in my stead, the uttermost of Grief

Will accomplish all He has said; ‘Lord, help mine unbelief’

For you have borne the bitter blows that prove who we most love

You grant the test faith undergoes to expose lack thereof

Then, help me not to falter beneath full surrender’s price

But let love be an altar laid with living sacrifice

Willing to suffer present loss for joy waiting to be

Counting it joy to bear the cross to faith’s maturity

Obedient, till Death’s Last Strife, that draws ajar the Door

That leads to everlasting life and joy forevermore

© Janet Martin

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,

 whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3 because you know that the testing of your faith 

produces perseverance.

4 Let perseverance finish its work 

so that you may be mature and complete, 

not lacking anything.

Only Trust Him-Alan Jackson