Of Large Estate

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;

keep watch at the door of my lips.

Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing

or take part in works of wickedness

with men who do iniquity;

let me not feast on their delicacies.

Let the righteous man strike me;

let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion.

It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it.

For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked. 

Psalm 141:3-5 

Lord, set a watch before, behind

With measure sound and stout

That large estate of heart and mind

So volatile without

For as a man thinks so he is

The mouth speaks from the heart

These establish the genesis

Of all that we impart

Then help us to hunger and thirst

After Your righteousness

Though spirit wills the flesh is cursed

With inherent weakness

....where pride always precedes the fall 

As we prove with vain jest

That without Your love we are all

Deplorable at best

Make us unwise in our own eyes

Forbid we walk by sight  

Help us to humbly recognize

How much we need your Light

…and how we need a watch designed

By Whom all things are known

The large estate of heart and mind

So cunning on its own

© Janet Martin

 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.

Prov.3:7

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:...

Prov.23:7

 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil?

 For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matt.12:34

What You Cannot Know (through no fault of your own)

'You didn’t know me then', I sometimes say to my now grown children

 when we talk about something I used to do before they were born, 

such as drive to work at 4:00 a.m. on slippery wintery roads.

 All they know me as is mom who looks after a family’s practical needs!

 (my sis texted me this afternoon about these pages above

and more but you'll have to buy or borrow the book for the rest)😀

The Shape of a Year by Jean Hersey

I think because we have the same mother and we both have daughters

we relate to certain parts of this book on a very mutual level! 

One of my top ten favs ever!

My dear, you cannot understand (by no fault of your own)

How much your mother’s heart expands to hold children full-grown

Or how the girl she was is still a part of who she is

(no matter what changes because Time keeps its promises)

The heart you cannot fathom until you are old as she

Will always still be learning how to hold while setting free

Twixt yester’s child and today’s woman, man her love is torn

Where thankfulness and longing spar in whispers heaven-borne

Yes, she’s been disappointed at love’s disappointments, oh

At how the future is nothing like she dreamed long ago

As God so rich in mercy grants breath-stealing more or less

And teaches her to look closer at ‘what is happiness’

I did not understand back then (through no fault of my own)

How oft my mother’s heart landed before her Father’s throne

Or how once upon long ago my mother used to be

A barefoot maiden filled with dreams foot-loose and fancy-free

Before the call and cares of life joined love and motherhood

And still through all the joy and strife she knew that it is good

How all we did not understand is what waited to be

Sweet thrills of surprise at age-old, newfound discovery

…she waits for passion to become astonished at time’s way

No one can seize the pendulum that dictates night and day

But as the heart expands to hold what soon is left behind

The girl she was will remind her to be patient and kind

© Janet Martin

Somehow A Heart...

 Cleaning out vegetable and flower gardens

is always bittersweet...

and part of my heart always seems to go with it.

 ...but I'm not pulling out all the veggies yet, until the threat of killer-frost

 so we can keep on enjoying fresh-from the garden rainbow-suppers!

oops, I was so excited to eat it when it was cooked I forgot to take a picture...

so picture a plate with chicken and veggie stir-fry, 

red tomato slices, green and red lettuce, 

white feta cheese and bits of wholewheat wrap.

Yum!

Somehow a heart repairs its wounds

And makes the bearer of it smile

When bud has borne its parting blooms

We mourn its plumes a little while

Then bind the season that we had

With brand new reasons to be glad

Somehow a heart restores its loss

With more of what first made it sing

For sorrow is love’s albatross

But love runs rife with life’s fresh fling

Where hearts hold threads that interlace

Both launching pad and resting place

Somehow a heart resists farewell

Where moments like links in a chain

Hinge to a fringe that tolls a bell

That tugs somewhere hard to explain

And yet, we cannot be too sad

Because of the good times we had

Somehow a heart resigns its ache

To burst with both bitter and sweet

Where the mercies of give and take

Will sometimes make it skip a beat

And wonder as its pieces fall

That there is a heart left at all

 (repeat first stanza at the end, optional)

Somehow a heart repairs its wounds

And makes the bearer of it smile

When bud has borne its parting blooms

We mourn its plumes a little while

Then bind the season that we had

With brand new reasons to be glad

© Janet Martin

oh!  you're still feeling a little peckish?
 how about one of the Apple-oatmeal muffins that Victoria made!

Echo-halls

I'm beginning to understand... when other people would say the week after a trip is bittersweet. 

Life just sort of picks up where we left it...(Lord willing) 

and sometimes one needs to stop and look at the pictures to relive it a bit! 

 (and remind ourselves 'we were there!':)

One of our main highlights of the trip was visiting (at long last) our son-in-law's family and home farm! Absolutely stunning...its backdrop the beautiful blue (and brown:) hues of the Bay of Fundy!

LOVED it!

Because arms cannot hold for long

The gifts that love imparts

Where farewell hugs and tugs are strong

God smiled and gave us hearts

Because He knew how Time would sketch

Frames of masterpiece art

He gave us walls that stretch and stretch

In halls within the heart

Because the wealth of take and give

Soon tunes Bygone’s ramparts

And echoes need a place to live

God smiled and gave us hearts

© Janet Martin

 Good memories! Thank-you.
(I wrote this while the 'so-long' hugs still tugged...)
Jim and I were thoroughly treated and spoiled by our 'east family'!