Your Common Sense...or Mine?

 If COVID-19 has revealed anything it's how very 

strongly we can disagree!

 ...granting all of us the opportunity to be a little humbler and kinder!

You say that you have common sense and I say you overreact

You think my common sense is strange; I say it is matter of fact

You tell me the right thing to do and I say absolutely NOT

You say more and I say less 

and you say no and I say yes

And we say what a noisy mess of diff’rences we’ve got

Some need to know ahead of time and some just wait and see

Some love white bread with butter; some live meat and gluten free

Variety, the spice of life can cause quite a kerfuffle

Unless we easy up a bit 

and settle down the dust of it

And sometimes just say nothing to save feathers we might ruffle

© Janet Martin


...inspired in part by some feathers strewn about the yard😏

Of Time We Have

Aha, it’s true; we have not always turned the other cheek

And kicked, rather than stooped to help the cast down or the weak

We’ve hurled stones; guilty then of equal or the greater sin

Ah, and we have failed to be kind; oh, where shall I begin

So then it seems to me we all are kindred sister-brother

And none has any merit save to simply love each other

Lest while we point out dust-flecks in a fellow-trav’ler’s eye

We miss the beam protruding from our forehead; my, oh, my

I wish we would remember when our fickle tempers flare

How much we need each other to be kind, and simply care

For in this journey forward not into but through the grave

We have so little time to make the most of time we have

© Janet Martin

Like Next of Kin...

Last night's supper; roasted vegetables, pulled pork and coleslaw!
(Buns, not pictured, were available for those who preferred pulled pork on a bun.)
 
I love the happiness that happens at meal-time when everyone is hungry!
Oh, how much we have to be thankful for! It reminds us of what we are here for, right?!
Not to over-indulge if we are blessed enough to entertain that thought...
but to live soberly and righteously in the present age/world,
where to whom much is given much will be required.
(For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, 
and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 
as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.…
Titus 2:11-13

The chords of a love song the Lord composed and wove within

Makes all of us together feel kind of like next of kin

For though we are like strangers living continents apart

We have so much in common in the matters of the heart

Man’s struggle to survive is this world’s universal quest

Where we all need each other to succeed and be our best

God gives to some to give to those who have no bread to share

(No one is more or less deserving of Mercy’s kind care )

My dear, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made

Though shapes, shades, sizes vary as the bloom that gilds the glade

We, oh, so very diff’rent are so much the same as well

Where hope-hurt-hunger-wonder tolls a keen and kindred bell

We all face challenges, oh yes, this is the way of life

We all need to kneel at the cross to gain eternal life

We all want to be loved; we all need to learn how to love

And all who trust the hand of God will find his grace enough

Who doesn’t like a hearty feast of food and fellowship

Who doesn’t need a hand to hold so our feet won’t slip

And who of us forever finds contentment all alone

Where there is so much more to us than forms of skin and bone

Time takes its toll until all that is left of you and me

Is living soul; for none can annul immortality

Then pray we make our calling sure in He who gave His all

Today is the day of salvation; pray we heed His call

Let’s live as though we’ve met before on some shore left behind

Make a collective effort to be more gracious and kind

Let’s live out the Great Love Song that our dear Lord wove within

So when we meet on yonder shore we’ll feel like next of kin

© Janet Martin

 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Psalm 23:5

On Sunday our church family enjoyed a meal cooked by kind, willing people

to be enjoyed along with an opportunity to help fund

a week of kid's camp in Eucuador!

When we got the report this week that thanks to the funds raised we/they

are able to bring many kids to camp,

suddenly Ecuadorians felt a bit like family!

Fault-(finder) Line

 How old is The Child when they cross 'the line' that takes them out of the safety-zone

I wondered yesterday as we oohed and aahed and cuddled and kissed

The Little One who has (gloriously and innocently) not yet crossed 'the line'...

then, still innocently, they do!

And suddenly the 'law of love' seems to change its tone (in some, anyway)

where we are all prone through human nature/aka Adam's curse

 to be guilty at some point in time

of this tone-change...(shame on us)

When do we start with meaner mind

To point fingers with cruel slight

When does the youngster cross the line

That opens them to verbal bite

Is it when they begin to learn

From a teacher none can ignore

Where life is full of twist-and-turn

On roads they never walked before

When are they no longer too young

To be spared from the critic’s grind

Or become fodder for the Tongue

That is untruthful and unkind

When, instead of encouragement

Do they become the scorner’s prize

Where once they gained The Compliment

Now words condemn and criticize

When does the law of love become

More like a cold betrayer’s kiss?

Is it just when they need someone

To remind them, ‘life is like this’

That it is our mistakes and such

That makes us wiser day by day

When, (when they need kindness so much)

 Do they become the gossip’s prey?

How old does someone have to be

To suffer that which none can tame

When they are beyond two or three

Do they start to become fair game?

Tell me, oh, thou of verbal skill

(Where we are all part of God’s choir)

When is the child ‘fit for the kill’

That puts them in Talk's line of fire

© Janet Martin

No one ever grows old enough
to be fit enough for the gossiper's firing squad

 but no human being can tame the tongue.
 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:8

 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph.4:32

Dear Lord of Loving Kindness

 Have you yielded your heart/life to Him?

Dear Lord of loving kindness

He knows our tendency

And how human-inclined-ness

Is prone to misery

Dear Lord, so rich in mercy

Because of His great love

Rather than leave us cursed, He

Died, love’s fullness to prove

Dear Lord, so slow to anger

Though we deserve His wrath

He forgives sinful languor

If we confess and ask

Dear Lord, He longs to gather

His brood beneath his wing

Yet sadly some would rather

Disdain His offering

Dear Lord, so kind and tender

Because of His great love

His mercy curbs the anger

That we justly deserve

Dear Lord, of loving kindness

No one escapes His gaze

He knows the dust that binds us

And cups our numbered days

© Janet Martin

Psalm 117:2

For His lovingkindness is great toward us,

 And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 63:3

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.

Psalm 36:7

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! 

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Psalm 103:8-14

 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

He will not always accuse us,

nor harbor His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are dust.