Trying to Take It All In

On Saturday at my nephew's wedding he commented in his speech 

how he and his wife were 'trying to take it all in'- 

this beautiful beginning to 'till death doth part'! 

This statement echoed a sentiment I seek to live by, 

but never more so as in the past year!! 

Death, esp. sudden death, which my family, church family and local community 

have experienced like never before in my recollection,

 has re-impacted me with the awareness of the sacred brevity of it all 

and how nothing stays the same for every long,

and how, because none of us knows the number of our ordained days,

we should endeavor daily to take to heart the humble, holy, whole duty of man.

The 'whole duty of man' is also a 'till death doth part ' undertaking! 

Eccles.12:13

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

 Fear God, and keep his commandments: 

for this is the whole duty of man.

After a week of vacation followed by Saturday's beautiful wedding 

I told my sister this morning that in today's poem

 'I'm trying to snare the bitter-sweetness of love

that always climaxes on days like Saturday',

 especially after a week of more-precious-than-ever family time.

One of vacation's highlights;  dock-breakfasts!

Beauty and brokenness sparkle and shatter

Rushing like waves across shorelines within

Trying The Conclusion of the Whole Matter

That Mortal shoulders beneath shrouds of skin

While we are trying to take it all in

College is not learning’s sole institution

Wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing

Wonder and sorrow, with clashing profusion

Author both worship and Want’s groan and grin

While we are trying to take it all in

Praise God whose thoughts and ways confound man’s reason

Praise God who grants all we hold and let go

Praise God who orchestrates time’s ordained seasons

Who is not mocked; we will reap what we sow

While bitter-sweetly Farewell braves Hello

...while we are weathering love’s grueling glories

Tasting the ink of its laughter and tears

Kicking its dust that soon settles in stories

Added to archives of fond yesteryears

While morning breaks that which soft disappears

Darling, the dew of dusk startles dream-dancers

Beauty and brokenness sparkle and spin

While some are armed with youth’s untested answers

Others renew seasoned vows to begin

To never stop trying to take it all in

© Janet Martin

In the Light of Letting Go...

Ps.145:10-14

The Lord is good to all;

he has compassion on all he has made.

10 All your works praise you, Lord;

your faithful people extol you.

11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,

12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures through all generations.

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...

(Read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

The road to life's highlights runs

rife with anticipation

The road from;

with fond memories

We spent a special weekend with some old and some new friends;

a weekend eagerly anticipated for some weeks then BLINK! and it's over!

Whether its outings, or a simple meal or seasons, 

as gifts of earthly pleasure slip through our bearing

as we touch, taste and treasure, while ever growing older 

we learn to expect and even cherish

the bittersweet pangs of letting go

that are bound to follow the embrace!

These bittersweet pangs hide in beaming pink peony-pom-poms,

...soon felled

in growing children and grandchildren

and in every fond fellowship/relationship God grants 

with people or nature!

Love imparts in profound measure, both pleasure and pain!

...like the pleasure of anticipating ice-cream

to celebrate the first day of summer

before the pain of disappointment.

Sorry guys!

The ice-cream shop is closed!

(we were informed of the closure ahead of this photo but

had to make sure) 😅

to respect privacy I won't share the kind of photos from the weekend

 most people most enjoy...of people!

but here are a few other pleasure-treasures.

Blue-heron dusk primping-routine

Canada geese on a leisurely paddle...

Sunset 

'ride' on The Big Chute (photo is the the boat ahead of us)

The chute is lowered into the water till boat/boats are properly boarded

then the chute via cables lifts the boats over the highway 

and lowers them into the water on the other side!

Summer's fresco

White Falls...

...and a poem-memento to remember to treasure what we hold

all the more because of the letting go! 

Love imparts in profound measure, portions of pleasure and pain  

As hearts overflow with treasure only farewells can sustain

Nothing in life lasts forever; tears and laughter ebb and flow

  As we learn to love with fervor, 

in the light of letting go

 Brave the fleeting bliss of flowers in spite of the kiss that waits

 Like a seal on Bygone's Bowers brimming with Delight's licked plates 

Let the music of love's moments rush the soul with holy 'ooh'    

For Love spills a sweeter cadence 

in the light of letting go

Love imparts with raw precision climaxes of joy and grief 

Suturing heartache's incision, bud by bud and leaf by leaf 

Meanwhile drawing ever nearer Heaven's reassuring glow 

While love's holding grows much dearer 

in the light of letting go  

© Janet Martin

I went in search of an oldie hymn (Lyrics below)

 this morning as I pondered the weekend and shed some tears

and prayed some prayers esp. for my brother-in-law and also friends 

who have bid (some very unexpected) farewells to their spouses in the past year,

and are suffering love's ultimate earthly letting go, 

no longer able share both love's profound pleasure or pain!!

Parting Hand

Author Anonymous

1 My dearest friends, in bonds of love,

Our hearts in sweetest union prove;

Your friendship's like a drawing band,

Yet we must take the parting hand.

Your presence sweet, your union dear,

Your words delightful to my ear;

And when I see that we must part,

You draw like cords around my heart.

2 How sweet the hours have passed away,

When we have met to sing and pray;

How loath I've been to leave the place

Where Jesus shows His smiling face.

Oh, could I stay with friends so kind,

How would it cheer my struggling mind!

But duty makes me understand

That we must take the parting hand.

3 And since it is God's holy will,

We must be parted for awhile,

In sweet submission all in one,

We'll say, "Our Father's will be done."

Dear fellow youth in Christian ties,

Who seek for mansions in the skies,

Fight on, you'll win the happy shore,

Where parting hands are known no more.

4 How oft I've seen the flowing tears,

And heard you tell your hopes and fears;

Your hearts with love have seemed to flame,

Which makes me hope we'll meet again.

Ye mourning souls, in sad surprise,

Jesus remembers all your cries;

Oh, taste His grace, in all that land

We'll no more take the parting hand.

While My Body Grins and Groans (I want to take nothing for granted)

Recently I have heard more than one person say they don't want to take anything for granted!

I echo this sentiment in today's reflection of birthday celebration weekend.

Ps.90:12

So teach us to number our days, 

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Thank-you God, for

 Fridge-foragers...

Father and son discussions (on the merits of certain hockey players etc.) 😅

Impromptu Sat. afternoon surprise coffee break... thank-you Emily and fam!

(Missed a pic of the delicious raspberry lemon scones, still oven-warm!)

Precious birthday-celebration dinner-guests...

 (my parents)

and Victoria...

 Dear Husband, May I never take you for granted

(too often, sadly, I do!)

esp. your hat-tossing habits 😐😏 which haven't changed

 since mentioned HERE on last year's anniversary poem...

Special sister time...

even more special in a peony garden !

Whistling Gardens near Brantford, ON

(below, a few of fifty+ pics of peonies)

Sister smelling the 'roses' while her hubby

scouts out ice-cream shops on homeward route 😊😂💖

I want to take nothing for granted in life's little Learn and Teach

Where soon each gifted day is planted in a garden out of reach

I want to wonder at God's grandeur; be mesmerized by His grace,

To be fine-tuned to tender splendour till nothing seems common place

Collecting through life's gains and losses, a much gladder gratitude   

Braving love's charge of shouldered crosses by trusting Mercy Renewed 

Contented in the Steadfast Knowing, come what may God never fails

His love is constantly bestowing winds to test and steer faith's sails

I want to take nothing for granted, where blooms briefly beam and nod 

But to be more humbly enchanted by the handiwork of God 

He, who attends both joy and sorrow maintains nature's threaded loom 

I want to live today without tomorrow's borrowed dread and doom 

I want to manifest His Presence in the peace of Letting Go

Where true happiness is, in essence, this; trusting His yes and no

Confident that the One who began a good work will see it through  

The Author of salvation's plan is faithful, trustworthy and true 

I want to take nothing for granted in life's leap from Him to Him 

Soon morning's newborn ray is slanted westward; soon Today grows dim

While epitaphs that time composes sets gasps in permanent ink

Like a storm of thorns and roses scattered, blood-red and blush-pink 

As breath-by-breath's brimming succession spills life's sacred, fleeting Toll

Wreathed by dust-to-dust's grim profession of death's claim of all but Soul 

So, before my hulled husk is planted in a garden of grave-stones

I want to take nothing for granted while my body grins and groans 

I do not want to take for granted the sheer wonder of it all

Or become dumbly disenchanted just because the petals fall

Or love's smile-and-tear weathered tether snaps; the ties that bind undone

By the Hand that brought us together; nothing new under the sun

Rousing us, Self-heady-prone dreamers to face raw reality

Time's transient flash of  vapour/paper streamers unhinges eternity 

So, while life's precious plot is planted with memories that love makes 

I do not want to take for granted that which God both gives... and takes 

© Janet Martin

I do not want to take for granted the sheer wonder of it all

Or become dumbly disenchanted just because the petals fall...

Thank-you God, for another birthday...

Thank-you for sisters/family and friends

 who showered me with beautiful birthday wishes

and flowers...

I came home yesterday, a bit peony-high

to find a new variety of peony (Dark Eyes) a deep burgundy-red

 at my door, from my friend's garden!

thank-you Kim 💖

I was also sweetly blessed by a begonia-planter 

in memory of the begonias Lucy gave all of us sisters last year,

from my sister Marlene 💗💔

Some flowers in the hue of the flowers Lucy gave us sisters last year

(because the peachy-coloured begonias were sold out)

From my sister Carolyn...we 'watered' them with a few mingled, tender tears;

Love's universal language

I'll admit it was an extra-teary birthday.

I miss Lucy with profound tenderness in times like these

so I took out the book she gave me in place of a card last year...