Sometimes I Miss The Bliss of Ignorance

This post began taking shape through some very precious get togethers

 with friends of Lucy's who have now become friends of mine.

What bittersweet joy these friendships hold...(for both sides)

as we near the 7 mo. mark since she left this world for the next.

Today marks a year since this community

mourned/mourns the loss of a dear wife, mother and friend...

This poem is written

In Loving Memory of Kelly and Lucy

These photos were lovingly composed mementos from a caring friend...

 

Sometimes I miss the bliss of ignorance borne happily

Till sorrow tore the front door from the hinges of my heart

And I welcomed in strangers who were friends waiting to be

To teach me lessons about love and friendship’s priceless part/art

Sometimes, in the raw longing of remembering Her face

I fear that I would trade them all for one more sacred chance/dance

To linger without looking at the clock, in the embrace

Between hello and the farewell that Time never recants

Sometimes goodness and mercy’s Tender Shepherd steals my breath

He comforts me; and crowns my grief with joy, words cannot spell

He draws my want beyond the somber outer folds of death

(Futile to lean upon the place where last Her shadow fell)

Beyond the somber outer folds of Death, I gaze because

The bitter cup of grief when tipped is like a curtain-rise

Then, sometimes when I miss the bliss of ignorance, I pause

And thank God for the unveiling of angels in disguise 

© Janet Martin

 

 

 

Dear Lucy, Though We Miss You So

Deut.29:29 (the theme verse for Lucy's funeral message)

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, 

but those things which are revealed belong to us 

and to our children forever, 

that we may do all the words of this law.

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.

 26And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. 

Do you believe this?”

Today Lucy would have turned 56...

Mom, my sisters and sister-in-laws who were free to come

as well as one of her closest friends,

had a precious time sharing a potluck lunch around her table.

The absence of Lucy bustling about the kitchen making sure

everyone had more than enough to eat or drink

was keenly felt by all💔🙏

Thank-you everyone, for your loving messages and prayers!

They truly make all the difference.

Dear Lucy...

You've slipped beyond the realm of days

And though we miss you so

And our hearts still ache in ways

Only love can bestow

We do not want to question He

Who grants each breath we draw

But rather, trust His Sov'reignty

With humble, thankful awe

You've slipped beyond the realm of years

But left behind the part

We cherish with laughter and tears; 

A memory-filled heart

And though love's scenes are bittersweet

Because we miss you, dear

We thank God, as grief and joy meet

For hope's unfailing cheer

You've slipped beyond the realm of Time

And though we miss you so

Faith grants us visions of a clime

Where no tears ever flow

No fear or pain can enter where

Your Soul has been set free

To worship God in perfect prayer/beyond earth's care

For all eternity

You've slipped beyond our touch and sight

But death is not in vain

For Jesus conquered death with Life

We die to live again

So, though we mourn, what joy to know

That death is not the end

Dear Lucy, though we miss you so

Soon we will meet again

Janet💕

Ps. 103:15-19

As for man, his days are like grass—

he blooms like a flower of the field;

16when the wind passes over, it vanishes,

and its place remembers it no more.

17But from everlasting to everlasting

the loving devotion of the LORD

extends to those who fear Him,

and His righteousness to their children’s children—

18to those who keep His covenant

and remember to obey His precepts.

19The LORD has established His throne in heaven,

and His kingdom rules over all.

Be Still, My Soul

Dear Lucy...Perfected At Last

After this poem was written, I realized that it was in a sense a reply to

some of the last words shared by Lucy on Instagram...

Today marks six months since she left this world.

(the photo was taken from her front porch)

Pen cannot fan to flame again,

 the span of spent Septembers

But it can kindle fires from tender tinder of thought

Where sanguine scenes still warm a heart-shaped hearth of glowing embers

And spill into the silence,

 bouquets of forget-me-not

Pen cannot lure to life again 

that which is dead and buried

But it can keep alive a memory that else would fade

I see you waving from your porch; and yet, your voice is carried

Not on Time’s winds of change

 but from a doorway Heaven-stayed

Pen cannot write/right away the wrongs

that love is bound to weather

But, like a splash of sunshine it can pen a hymn of cheer

To bind love’s wounds with syllables that weave a kind of tether

That draws us close together

 until Time’s mists disappear

Pen cannot press away the pangs

that sweeten joy with sorrow

Ten-thousand poems cannot write away the loss of one

You were a poem penned by God not to keep, but to borrow

Perfected at last; not by Time, 

but by faith's triumph won

Love forever,

Janet Martin

Ps.138:8 KJV

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;

 Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; 

Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

My heart still aches beyond words 

and our Heavenly Father still comforts with His words.

He is faithful.

Ps. 145:13-14 NIV

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

I Am Thinking of You, My Dear Lucy

Sister Mine...a treasure gifted to me from my youngest sister

There are no celebrations planned with others tonight

because many of 'us' that had planned to get together 

are under the weather, either with flu-bug or cold bug.

Mine was fever, achy bone but has turned into a cold.

Tonight I am reflecting on many a conversation Lucy and I had

on how we shared a sense of foreboding on New Year's Eve 

about who would not be here 'next year'.

Aren't you glad we don't know what lies in store

and aren't you thankful God is a faithful comforter if we lean on Him?!

(Below, glimpse of a card my oldest sister gave me on Saturday)

***

I am thinking of you, my dear Lucy

Passed beyond fond pleasure of sight

Where oft on the stroke of the New Year

Our eyes and our hearts would unite

In kindred and soulful reflection

As wondering what waits to be

Would meld minds in mutual connection

Of life's vulnerability

I am thinking of you, my dear Lucy

In the land where no  hours chime 

Where no sickness, pain or grief enters

Free from bonds and bearings of Time

How things we once dreaded, yet treasured

That come with accruing of age

Are gone for you, no longer measured

By sight's oh-so-fallible gauge

I am thinking of you, my dear Lucy

How I miss our chatter and fuss

A blending and clashing arrangement

Composing the music of 'us'

And though many comfort and bless me

(For their kind hearts are broken too)

I can't help but fill a bit empty

This New Year's Eve, without you

I am thinking of you, my dear Lucy

And cherish like never before

The dances we shared as life's music

Played a most precious repertoire 

Of highs and lows, flying and falling

While honing quadrilles in my heart

Till it seems I can hear you soft-calling 

'Forever, yet never apart'

© Janet Martin

Dear Lucy, I'm Learning Things I Thought I Knew...

Lucy and I loved this song

I'm sending it out to her family, and mine, from both of us.

I remember her telling me she wants to share this song with her children

till it drives them crazy 😅...and I said, 'me too!' 

You Are Loved

We chose to interpret this song as God singing to His children

One of the blogs I subscribe to is Barnstorming, click HERE

after Lucy suggested to me a number of years ago 'that she thinks I would love it'. 

And I do!

OH, one of things that has left a gargantuan hole in my life 

are our sister-soulmate loves and being able to share them with each other.

 How I miss the unexpected surprises of 'you would love this, Janet!

and visa-versa. 

How often I still whisper' you would love this, Lucy'

 though I know she is in a place of unimaginable wonder and beauty

 in the presence of our Beloved Savior-King forever!

On today's post HERE, about grief, 

the author, Emily Gibson, shares some words of timeless wisdom;

'We don’t have control over the amount of time,

 but we do have control over how extensively

 our love for others is heard and spread.'

Barnstorming~

And those words inspired today's poem...

Dear Lucy

I'm learning things I thought I knew before the sudden loss of you

Before I understood how tears can mark days turned to months then years

After what I now realize I thought I did, but didn't, prize

Of time I thought we had until you donned wings to where Time stands still 

 

I thought that you and I would weather the 'joys' of growing old together

Where I would blaze a trail and find you following, not far behind

And in its grin-groan-grunting art we'd keep each other young at heart

I never thought I'd turn to see only frames, where you used to be 

I'm learning, as I vainly rue the things no wishing can undo

To take each opportunity that comes without time's guarantee 

To wear love's second-mile-grade shoes as if I had no time to lose

And not to be unduly vexed, but love/live as if I could be next

I'm learning to revere love's role as I advance toward the goal

(where none of use can see how far from its eternity we are)

But all of us should take to heart the privilege to do our part

To consider our fellowman and love each other while we can

I'm learning to fully embrace the gift of looking, face-to-face

Of cherishing both high and low of holding on and letting go

And never minding quite so much the humour of Father Time's touch

As I learn what I thought I knew, dear Lucy, before missing you

Janet💔

Years ago, the chorus to the song below was a prayer

Lucy and I shared...to live till our children are grown, if God wills!

God willed her/our prayer to be answered.

Moe Bandy Till I'm Too Old To Die Young 1987

And this, straight from the Word of God...

Jer.31:3

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

 I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

After You...

Yesterday and today's beauty beg for a Dear Lucy bit o' poem...

Dear Lucy💔💖

How bittersweet to sit at your kitchen table

without you bustling about,

pouring tea and serving far more food

 than one could possibly eat!!

But, seeing you in your daughter

sweetened the bitter ache of missing you so...

Lucy's kitchen window yesterday,

like a framed work of God-art!

Dear Lucy

There will still be love and laughter

Time will still fling wide dawn's door

But death leaves life, ever after

Never like it was before

There will still be hills/thrills and hollows

Much to chase and much to choose

But no matter what still follows

No one will quite fill your shoes

There will still be dreams and dances

Across Mercy's ballroom floor

But a lifetime of fresh chances

Cannot grant what was before

There will still be grace-bent gladness

Memories, precious and new

But, not without pangs of sadness

That death left in place of you

There will still be love and laughter

Hopes to seize and joys to claim

But no matter what comes after

Nothing will be quite the same

Love always,

Janet

View from your driveway...

Oh, Glorious Pangs of Love

So many of us have loved ones not within arms or quick car-ride's reach...

Oh, what a gift to love enough to suffer its glorious pangs!

Our grand-kiddos other set of grandparents live an airplane flight away

so needless to say, they suffer the kind of pangs

possible only by beautiful love!

We miss our Nova Scotia family too💕

The 'other gramma' has become a dear friend of mine

so this poem was inspired by the Afterward of her recent visit💖💘

(Pics used with permission. photo credit: Emily Curry)

Oh, glorious pangs of love

No sorrow is so sweet

The heart is like a treasure trove

As smiles and tears compete

Where, though our paths may part

It holds in its embrace

Love’s everlasting works of art

That nothing can erase

Oh, glorious pangs of love

What tender weight to bear

The bitter-sweetest banter of

Echoes upon the air

Where once upon a day

The joy of you and me

Became what none can steal away

A cherished memory

Oh, glorious pangs of love

May we all be so blessed

As to never get quite enough

Time with those we love best

Then, though farewells must be

As you and I must part

May memory’s kind company

Soothe sorrow’s stinging smart

How oft it warms my heart

To picture God above

And how He too must ache and smart

With glorious pangs of love

While counting down The Toll

That draws us through the Door

Where He unveils love’s sweetest goal

Together Evermore

© Janet Martin

....like pearls flung across fields of snow

 One daughter came home for what felt like far too little time together,

Another daughter is gone with her hubby and children to visit his family...

So these little smile-makers are making the other grandparent's Christmas super-special!

Hubby, because of the line of work he is in is 'on the road again'...

Makes 'missing you' feel like something to revere, doesn't it?

Having people we love so dearly it hurts but in a good way!

Missing you, sweet, sweet pangs of desire

Where having held grants a tender reply

Heart glowing with embers of a fire

Kindled before hello turned to good-bye

Missing you leaves an invisible lesion

Where letting go means that oh, once I held

Longing is sacred when love is the reason

Priceless the art where sweet and bitter meld

Missing you, but with the hope of tomorrow

Not with the sorrow that some must endure  

Darling, echoes are the sparkles I borrow

While I am waiting to hold you once more

Missing you makes moments worth their measure

Priceless as pearls flung across fields of snow

Where counting hours is like counting treasure

Arranging steppingstones back to hello

© Janet Martin

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'!

Not Too Late To Say I Love You....

 

I had begun another theme for today then this song was in my in-box this morning because

I subscribe to The Piano Guys channel...

Last year tragedy rocked the family of Piano Guys musician John Schmidt.

We all know someone who is missing someone this Christmas.

 May this stir us to treasure life's loves still within reach! 

Not too late to say I love you

Touch your face and kiss your cheek

Not too late to say I’m sorry

To find words we ought to speak

Love, life’s best blessing is waiting

To give someone’s heart a lift

This year, while we’re celebrating

Let’s make love our greatest gift

Walk the mile that makes us humble

Stop to listen while we may

Make a memory worth keeping

Who knows what fills morrow’s tray?

Hug each other, hold with wonder

We who need each other so

Thank the Creator of Heaven

For its glimpses here below

Darling, let’s not take for granted

What slips through our hearts and hands

Take a moment, be enchanted

By the music of the dance

Not too late to say I love you

Cherish cares that love will bring

For we never know for certain

When death changes everything

© Janet Martin