Poetic Fulfillment

 Rom.1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—

his eternal power and divine nature—

have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

We shall not want for wonder where the font of nature spills

In fine four-season splendor, to woodlands and fields and hills

The Author of the poetry from which earth’s poets drink

Transcends human periphery confined to page and ink

Without a word He quiets us, without a word He pens

The poetry that silences pride’s pompous clucking hens

We shall not want for wisdom in the prose of Deity

The birds are fed, the lily clothes the field in royalty

The penmanship of earth and sky births reverence unflawed

By mortal boast; our worth the offspring of love’s breath of God

While we dip quills into a wellspring rife with the design

Of branches learning how to cling to the Life-giving Vine

We shall not want for worship while we read the works of He

Who is faithful and perfect though often reviled by we

Who ought to bow the knee and confess with ardent acclaim

The Saviour of Humanity who knows us all by name

He is loving and good, a world of wordless poems spells

His nature clearly understood by what creation tells

© Janet Martin

Of Original, Age-old Hymns (or Bloom of Hymns)

Happy, Happy October!

Today's hymns have never been heard before

in this new day the Lord has made,

and yet, they are as old as Time!

Come, let us adore Him

Let's rejoice and be glad!

For soon the hymn that spills the hour

will fade like petals from the flower

Oh, what a pity if we miss

The bloom of hymns that Today Is!

We celebrated the last supper of September 2022

with quickly dwindling garden-fare

Fresh garden-slaw with stuffed red peppers!

Then, though this was all I could see of the spectacular sunset

it was enough.

 September's Last Love Song...

This is the (first October 2022) day the Lord has made

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

The earth is like a fount that brims

With woodland, field and garden hymns

The Author of its melodies

Instills His praise in hills and trees/ (and skies and seas)

In notes that dazzle through the dell

Where, not by chance, Darling Brook fell

To draw us from the pressing gait

Of hurried traffic, always late

To theaters with grassy banks

Where we may pause in humbled thanks

To He who does not cease to write

Masterpieces of sheer delight

Woven through thorns that hold the rose

To soothe the wounds that thorn bestows

And heal the hunger of the heart

With songs that nature’s throngs impart

Until we too lift our voice

Reminded simply to rejoice

In this, ‘the day the Lord has made’

The glory of His love displayed

As mercy fills the fount that brims

With original, age-old hymns

© Janet Martin

I wanted to meander home from a few errands yesterday

until aghast, I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see a line of traffic piled up behind me...

The hill and curve thoroughfare, woven enchantingly through first-autumn vistas, 

made it impossible to pass😅😜

Oops! I was both apologetic and vexed!

I guess that's what back roads are for 

but then we end up with a dirty vehicle

and vexed Hubby!

Reminds me of last weekend when Father asked Daughter how

she could get such a dirty car when all the roads from point A to Be are paved!!

'Well,', confessed Daughter, 'I took a different way,

 Because the sideroad looked so pretty!'

Her father chided. Vexed!

Her mother beamed with pride

(For) what are a few mud-flecks compared

To dirt-road countryside! 💓😍😅

This Is the Day- CityAlight

Beauty Pageant

 Wishing you a wow-run-wild kind of day!

This time of years is a salad-lover's paradise!!

snaring buds as I snip off faded peonies...

Beauty burgeons, brims and billows

Glints and glimmers, sweeps and sighs

Beauty spills hills; plumped green pillows

Perched against cerulean skies

Beauty is sweet bliss unshaken

Beauty startles, stirs and awes

Beauty is the kiss that wakens

Worship’s wild, off-guard applause

Beauty bursts bud-vaults with flowers

Wonder loosens longing’s noose

Beauty decks and drips from arbors

Periwinkle and chartreuse

Beauty sprawls in shadow-steeples

Mapping out the march of time

Beauty falls in faded petals

From the frond that held its prime

Beauty ignores human nature

Often blind to God at large

Beauty does not force the creature

To enjoy the show, no charge

Beauty flutters, flits and flickers

Filling hearts with my-oh-my

Beauty warbles, wafts and whispers

Bitty bird and butterfly

Beauty bids bards brave the battle

That the font does not disclose

Beauty helps hope cope with trouble

The thorn tempered by the rose

Beauty murmurs and meanders

Like a brook snared by a pen

As the poet tames to paper

Beauty to relive again

© Janet Martin

I was reminded of this verse below because counting all that God does and creates 

cannot be contained in all the books and poems ever written!

John 21:25

Jesus did many other things as well. 

If every one of them were written down,

 I suppose that even the whole world would not have room 

for the books that would be written.

May Day

These are the days that disappear into thin air in what feels like no time at all!

A glimpse at today's sparkle of bliss...

This morning's air was a bit cool and drizzle-dazzled. 

This afternoon the sun's warmth and 'bright, blue skies' returned in fine friendliness

immediately making me feel very busy and a bit behind!

Worked in the garden until it was too dark to see...(no pics)😐

this morning every bloom was frosted with diamonds!

New Grandson's first visit to Grandma's house...

Happy 1 week old!

He has a very keen and cute admirer!

Pumpkin-Raisin muffin snack...

Picked a pot o' posies...

These are the days winter-dreams are made of

Green grass beneath and bright blue sky above

Afternoon air flares with happiest joys/noise

Birdsong and chat of carefree girls and boys

Flowers flaunt glitter of raindrop rhinestones

Bowers a-twitter with myriad tones

Apple tree blushes, blossom-ecstasy

Lilacs burst into a star-symphony

Gardens are playgrounds for dreams and bare feet

Duty is sacred and labour is sweet

Hope is a river that runs through the heart

Each day of May like a work of fine art

Nature's inheritance humbles the meek

These are the days of God's kiss on earth's cheek 

© Janet Martin

Female rose-breasted Grosbeak (identified by my Birder-friends on FB)

This male caught my eye (it's okay. it's a bird) 😅😉

because its back-feathers seemed more variegated than some

Turns out its cause he's young!😇

The Things That Don't Change...(never lose their wonder)

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things

like laughter and love as a child's childhood wings...

💖💖💖

Last night I dashed to a nearby farmer's field to

revel in the wonderful joy

of the heaven's declaring the glory of God!

While I ogled and ah-h-ed, the farmer who owns the field happened by with his tractor.

He hopped out to admire the view too.

Who knew that this burly, dirt-covered busy man and I shared in common

a sheer delight over nature's wonders...

that he too takes pictures every year of buds unfolding and barn swallows nesting etc.

that he thrills to the pink flood of daybreak as it rushes through his milking parlour.

We celebrated the fact that for all life's change and trouble

the things that never change, never lose their wonder💖

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that wrings Spring’s shower-bowers brings

Beauty to feed the soul’s ravenous hunger

A world unfurled with green and petaled things

Where the swallow swoops and the woodland rings

Heavens on fire with dawn and dusk glory

Tugging our gaze from earth’s cares for a bit

As if Someone bigger is writing love’s story

Where we are honored to be part of it

In spite of tests to Quest’s valor and grit

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills

Brook-laughter luring bare feet to its shimmer

Green is the valley and blue is the sky

Spread like a banquet-blanket heaped with dinner

Food for the spirit and feast for the eye

Tugging at tethers hinged to hearts, oh my

Mint tints in treetops long stripped of leaf-luster

First maple-plume is a daisy bouquet

Lark singing with all the might it can muster

While the dark arc of night turns to today

Stars fall, violet-strewn like noon’s Milky Way

Seeds fuel furrows, faith-jewels soft falling

Where sallow fallow will soon brim with hymns

Where Nature is like a kind mother calling

Where blithe breeze somersaults, where cobalt whims

Hum and strum yellow willow-cello limbs

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that authors them will never fail

To birth the beauty that feeds the soul’s hunger

Heaven and earth like a glorious grail

Tipped to wow us with creation’s regale

© Janet Martin

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles...

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills...

Psalm 136:1-9

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
3Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
4To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
5To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
6To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
7To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
8The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
9The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever...

click here to read the whole glorious chapter!

Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? 

Who is like You--majestic in holiness, 

revered with praises, 

performing wonders?

Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God,

 are the wonders You have done,

 and the plans You have for us--

none can compare to You--

if I proclaim and declare them, 

they are more than I can count.

While Faithfully He Parts the Gates...

April mornings in Ontario, Canada serve up a salad-bowl of seasons...

Spring sunshine,

Inspiring picnics...

Picnic lunch: fresh homemade bread, fresh farm-made cheese, zucchini relish canned last summer,

locally made summer sausage, and cucumber slices!

In the fresh air it was a five-star meal in a top-notch setting

of quilt table-tops and no-shoes service!

THEN whoa, back to winter woolies,

...and today?

Raindrop rhinestones and ringlets!

Grand-daughter sighs ecstatically as she counts 'all thothe puddlthe'💖

(but, no puddle splashing today. They are simply too frigid to be healthy!

Warmer puddle-days are just around the corner!)

Creation swells with goodness; wellsprings brim that none can drain

Life’s Giver keeps His promises; He grants the sun and rain

Where nature heeds its father’s rules and trust its father’s lead

Where miracles burst from capsules of bud and bulb and seed

The crux from which earth’s deluxe wonders seep, thrills mortal gaze

The cradle from which birth thunders in silence, leaps with praise

Awe authors humble worship to He who some dare deny

From the fringe of eternity mercy and grace reply

Love lavishes this creature place with glorious majesty

Although the beauty of His face we cannot clearly see

We glimpse Him in the seasons as they toll from shore to shore

Frilled field and flower oceans rolling past our very door

The thankless creature shakes a fist; the grateful creature bows

As gray, or gold and amethyst bends daybreak's gleaming prows

Where whether unawares or not each precious creatures stands

Not only on a foot-width plot, but in God’s gracious hands

Morning’s welcome mat shimmers as it unveils land and sea

Creation swells with glimmers of the Giver’s majesty

Oh, God forgive, greed claws, hate desecrates and bombs destroy

While faithfully He parts the gates where nature rings with joy

© Janet Martin

Something about the gory scenes of war 

bleeding

beneath trees bursting into blossom 

on hills 

steeped in virgin green

tugs at the crux of one's 

soul! 

🙏😢

Psalm 89:11
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: 

as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

This Is My Father's World

This Is My Father's World Lyrics

(so comforting for the times we are in as we lift our prayers

for all the hurting to Him)

This is my father's world

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres

This is my father's world

The birds their carols raise

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their maker's praise

This is my father's world

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas

His hand the wonders wrought

This is my father's world

Oh, let me never forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the ruler yet

This is my father's world

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is king, let the heavens ring

God reigns, let the earth be glad

This is my father's world

He shines in all that's fair

In the rustling grass, I hear him pass

He speaks to me everywhere

Songwriters: C. Barny Robertson / Dp / Maltbie Babcock