Preludes to Amen... or, Today

Happy, Happy green, gold and blossom-pink

month of May!

This cheery. warbling songster enticed me from my cozy slumber to greet the day and May!

Have you ever longed to rush the ways

 of wisdom or nature;

to become wise overnight

instead of weathering/suffering growth

like a tree or a child?

In order for a flower

to mature into full bloom

it cannot skip one step of the development

and unfolding;

so too with faith and wisdom

***

Last fall my cousin  gave me some money as a gift to buy

a keepsake plant in memory of Lucy.

I chose a few 'special' peonies.

(in memory of my peony/flower-loving sister)

I wish I could hurry them into

big, beautiful bushes of full bloom,

but I cannot.

\

we cannot hasten growing things..

a tree,

a child,

the wisdom

that experience brings

better to live with patience then

rather 

than push

or try to rush

God's gracious hand

*Amen~

© Janet Martin

God does not give us surplus strength

we can store up for tomorrow,

nor knowledge that usurps faith,

nor detours, shortcuts or bypasses

to His commands in his Word

in an attempt to hurry the gain of His blessing...

...and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

Deut.33:25

 

*My, how very special and sacred then, is Today

because by each 'amen' lifetimes are born! 

Sometimes, in the heat of hello 

and farewell's beck and call

Of morn-to-eve-tides ebb and flow 

in seamless rise and fall

Where sun and shadow ups and downs 

Like friends and strangers meet

And bittersweet, its artwork crowns

Both triumph and defeat

...sometimes we tend to overlook

or undermine the way

These fill the pages of life's book

Entitled thus, Today

And, how each Good we wish would be

is worth the work/wait, though hard

 As faith believes, but does not see

As love learns no holds barred 

So, better, than to analyze

details of dust-to-dust

 Or air the grievances of 'why's

better turned into trust

Pray, we press on with humbler heed

to what we do and say

Because the fruit of scattered seed

begins again, Today 

What universal, noble cause

anoints each morn-to-morn

Hark! mercy breaks dawn's seal of gauze

As new Today is borne/born

From God to man and back again

filled with responses, where 

Pray, preludes to today's 'amen'

are filled with thankful prayer 

© Janet Martin

Rom.13:8-14

8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, 

for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 

9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,”

 “You shall not murder,” 

“You shall not steal,” 

[b]“You shall not bear false witness,”

 “You shall not covet,” 

and if there is any other commandment, 

are all summed up in this saying, namely, 

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor;

 therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

11 And do this, knowing the time, 

that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; 

for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. 

Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, 

and let us put on the armor of light. 13 

Let us walk [c]properly, as in the day, 

not in revelry and drunkenness, 

not in lewdness and lust, 

not in strife and envy. 

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 

and make no provision for the flesh, 

to fulfill its lusts.

Barge of Today...

On Mercy's Ocean

 Barge of Today

sets sail...

***

Life/love is heavy!

Handle with prayer

***

James 1:3-4

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces [a]patience. 

4But let patience have its perfect work, 

that you may be [b]perfect and complete, 

lacking nothing. 

Luke 12:24-25

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap,

they have no storehouse or barn;

yet God feeds them.

How much more valuable you are than the birds!

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Sometimes life sends challenges 

that seem bound and determined

to turn into worry!

But, praise God, he invites us to turn our worry into prayer!

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Above us night's dark awning thins and dissolves, star by star

A Warden in soft moccasins draws Today's door ajar

And beckons to the waking world to rise and shine, re-awed 

By Mercy's ocean re-unfurled fresh from the Hand of God    

Barge of Today is laden with unnumbered *hopes and pleas 

Each ordained voyage, maiden, east to west on welkin seas 

Where we, both passenger and crew, have much to do; ahoy

As the kind Captain steers us through uncharted grief and joy

He tries our faith with Circumstances we would never choose 

But also, by the grace He grants us, patience learns its dues 

A far more kind and humble poise in what we ask and seek

As we discover the scarred joys of 'blessed are the meek'

Above us night's dark awning thins; a fleet of souls once more  

Embarks; Barge of Today begins its crossing to dusk's shore  

Ah pray, come whatsoever may, love and faith will not fail

If perchance the Barge of Today should hoist its final sail 

© Janet Martin 

*A family I love very much has been searching since the summer, for a new home to rent,

after being notified that they need to be out of their current home

by Feb. 2025. The search has been super-discouraging and fruitless, so far!

 Can you join our prayers that God will help them find a house they can afford,

large enough for 2 adults and four children?! 

It is has turned into a testing of faith producing

a bumper-crop of prayers on their behalf!

Please join! 

update January 2025: a home has been found!

thank-you and praise God for His provision.

 

Internal Exhale...

 "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Phil.4:4-6

(read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice!

5Let your [b]gentleness be known

 to all men.

 The Lord is at hand.

6Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything 

by prayer and supplication, 

with thanksgiving, 

let your requests 

be made known to God;

  7and the peace of God, 

which surpasses all understanding,

 will guard your hearts and minds 

through Christ Jesus.

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again...

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed...

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity...

(I would love if someone could ID this bird! It fluttered/ ran ahead of me,

a bit curious at the intruder 😅)

forgive my blurry zoom lens

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy...

'o-h--h! I can't wait till three o'clock, snack time!!!' sighed

Miss Sweet as sweet-can-be at two-thirty.

'Oh my! replied I, completely at a loss as how to live up to her anticipation/expectation.

'Do you like popcorn?' I asked, relieved I had one snack staple on hand.

Her pause suggested a 'no'. 

'Actually, what I am really wishing for is fresh bran muffins' 

(NOT what I was expecting at all, but so relieved. lol!)

'Guess what?!" I said. 'This very morning I was wishing for fresh bran muffins!!'

So, fresh bran muffins it was 💖😋

The day before our snack was breakfast cookies (click link)

 and Little Helper's verdict; so YUMMY!

They are the perfect mid-afternoon slump snack

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the hush of dawn dissolve the darkness once again

To light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

O, I have ceased to strain on reins that once vexed youth's audacity

Content to bask in the delight of little children, starry-eyed

To marvel at a world a-thunder with God's creativity

To linger in November's dusk; brusque blush and blue-bathed countryside

O, I have ceased the futile quest of clinging to what none can claim

Content to let the gauze hemline of seasons slip through unclenched will

To be still and know He who fills boundless firmaments with His Name

Anoints each moment with His brush, as Today's Masterpieces spill 

O, I have ceased to Want for things, whose ownership death will destroy 

Content to learn from weightless wings, unhindered by tomorrow's care

To be taught by Child's innocence is to be astonished by joy

As meeker gratitude enriches happiness beyond compare 

O, I have ceased to be encumbered by Bygones I cannot wrest 

Content to concentrate on faces and favours still within reach 

To let the sorrows of this world be comforted by Heaven's Best

And wonder at the holy pleasure only God, through grief, can teach

O, I have ceased to pursue answers for His higher thoughts and ways

Content to know that He is able to do exceedingly more

Than I can think to think; then, with nothing but humbler, purer praise 

To take up faith's cross like a child, and trust God for what lies before  

O, I have ceased the need to rush as if my life depends on it

Content to watch the brush of dawn undo the darkness once again

And light Time's face with God's kind grace outpoured for our benefit

To tune the countenance of hope with love and joy and peace. Amen

© Janet Martin

While I was wrestling with the second last stanza of this poem 

my daughter, Victoria sent me a message, simply this;

Enjoying this collection of hymns this morning 😊

(and suddenly, as I listened, like a little miracle

the words fell into place!)

Tennessee Ernie Ford Hymns at Home

Thank-you God, for 'faces and favours still within reach' !

Thank-you for my family and friends, 

pouring out/in so many precious ways

to comfort me 🙏

Bless each one today! 

Of Best Laid Plan

One thing we learn over and over is

no matter how important planning is,

and no matter how meticulously each detail is addressed,

or each prospect visualized,

plans, at best, are extremely volatile!

The 'best laid plan' therefore, with humble 'Thy will be done'

should always be entrusted to the Higher Hand

who orchestrates Purpose far beyond the frames we peer through

to hopes and dreams not accomplished yet!

With all the unexpected snow days this winter it seems like possibly

 I am being conditioned for the childcare break coming up.

...or, at least that is the plan😅🙏

Sometimes it feels like life is simply a constant sequence

 of changed plans/ misplaced puzzle pieces!

I'm trying to decide if today is the day 

I commit to starting a puzzle and if so, which one?!

Plans are like phantom pieces to a puzzle thought perceives

Of panoramic vistas wafting on volatile breeze

Where soon, even a child begins to learn the simple fact

How plans at best, are pictures that we cannot keep intact

No matter how meticulously we try to arrange

The pieces to fit perfectly; still, often plans will change

Teaching us to be patient as we reconcile the art

Of relinquishing pictures that change-of-plans pulls apart

How often heart shaped tatters scatter where no one can see

Save we who bear the brunt of Planning’s altered scenery

How often, as we grapple with the pictures we release

We are reminded of the Hand beneath each puzzle piece

© Janet Martin

James 4:13-15

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Faith-forge...

This poem is inspired in part by a few stories I recently read or am reading...

the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and now, Moses!!

Also, the story of George Mueller

(the excerpt below esp.)

Heb.12:1

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

 and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

The beautiful 'cloud of faithful witnesses' that encompass us

 challenge, inspire and encourage

 the ongoing stories of our own lives/faith still being written!

Take heart, fellow-friend!

Stories of faithfulness cannot be written in a hurry!

I began this poem yesterday morning, but it was not a poem

that could be quickly spilled....then tot-care gobbled up the day!

Last night my energy and concentration tank was so completely depleted

to the point of feeling like I was getting sick (but a good night's sleep resolved)

so this is yesterday and today's poem!

Below: a Celebrate-the-Very-Brief-Splash-of-Sunshine-with-a-Hot Chocolate-'Picnic'!

The answers that we seek in our hurry oft seem slow

When faith’s posture is weak, not meek but impatient to know

Doubt and desire wrestle as God tests love’s utmost part

(To be His chosen vessel is not for the faint of heart)

The high call of surrender grants no accolades unearned

Faith’s Author and Perfecter leaves no stumbling block unturned

But moves in ways contrary to sight’s acumen and whim

God’s rebuke necessary to expose wants not of Him

Encompassed by a cloud of witnesses, faith’s legions shine

As God fulfilled/revealed His promises and purposes divine

While waiting-seasons refined trust and taught them to endure

And be obedient because God’s Word is just and pure/sure

What sometimes seems like pleas ignored or forgotten by God

Or futile ‘waiting on the Lord,’ is oft discipline’s rod

To dredge the depth of the heart’s measure where His Word should be

To test the timbre of the treasure only He can see

What masters of disaster mortal’s lack of patience proves

When we choose to move faster than God's higher way behooves

When foolishly we plunder gates still barred to our request

Blind to redemption’s wonder waiting to reveal His best

God's providence instilling/fulfilling holiness, makes no mistakes

He tugs at ties unwilling until pride's resistance breaks 

And probes the hold that still denies Supreme Authority

Until faith's utter boast replies 'not I, but Christ in me'  

© Janet Martin

2 Tim2:3

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Life; a Rollercoaster Poster

Happy Labour Day!

(Here's hoping mine will soon taste like tomato soup, salsa etc.! )

For this Labour Day I chose these two passages below to remind us to

serve with gladness while letting patience have its perfect work!

SO much easier said than done!!

Psalm 100:2

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, [a]all you lands!

2Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and [b]not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

James1:4

... let patience have its perfect work,

that you may be [b]perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Oh! The labor pains of patience

before we are perfectly complete and lacking nothing🙏😥💔🙏

Jim's patience is being tested right out of the gates this week!

His high hopes for Happy Labour Day 

 have already taken a plunge; truck troubles

changing 'early start' to 'turn back' !! 😓

If life had to be portrayed with one image 

it would have to be a roller-coaster, right?!

(an image used in yesterday morning's message at WBC)

We can go from being on top of the world to a spiraling plunge in an instant!

and SO many unexpected twists, turns and tunnels!

Aren't you thankful God is steadfast, changeless and faithful no matter what?!

Rollercoaster...

The ups and downs and smiles and frowns of love and life persist

The ebb and flow of boon and blow and high and low repeat

The perfect work of patience lurks at every turn and twist

To teach us how to reach and bow and ‘wash each other’s feet’

Where faith and fear, laughter and tears, dismay and cheers conflict

Where serving God with humble laud makes every task esteemed

Where thick and thin of loss and win and groan and grin’s edict

In due time earns wisdom’s returns in ways we never dreamed

The fruit of toil and root of spoil in close proximity

Tests vim and verve and who we serve; The Apple of our eye

With age-old art reveals the heart with startling clarity

No trick or fence thwarts consequence; no truth can ever lie

Hope and defeat clash and compete; bittersweet battleground

Love’s push and pull not beautiful when felled in broken dreams

Where faith refined appears unkind, where bold doubters abound

Where ‘to serve God with gladness’ is madness to most, it seems

Where ups and downs and smiles and frowns of love and life repeat

Where ebb and flow of boon and blow and highs and lows persist

To teach us how to reach and bow and ‘wash each other’s feet’

The perfect work of patience holds refined gold in its fist

Do not despair; the work of prayer is oft invisible

While we who see in part and He who sees the heart entreat  

Until the awesome consummation of Love's Miracle 

So brutally refined, bows heart, soul and mind at God's feet 

© Janet Martin

What God Hath Promised...

God's Fingerprints

Now I see His (God's) fingerprints all over this experience. '

wrote my friend as she looks back on 3 years 

filled with tumultuous tests of searching for God's will 

and waiting on His timing...

It made me think of all of us in the middle of

a finished frame...

Some waiting/hoping to find their one true love

Some who have found and married their one true love

and are weathering the challenges/disappointments

that marriage is bound to bring

and some whose marriages are broken

Couples who would love to be parents but that dream is withheld,

Parents whose wisdom, energy and patience are stretched to the max

by 'dreams' not withheld...

Many of us find ourselves in some kind of 'frame' of waiting.

What good cheer to visualize God's fingerprints

putting what looks to us like broken or forgotten pieces, in perfect place

if we trust, seek and wait on Him...

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Sometimes in the middle

Of a broken heart

We can't grasp the goodness 

In God's works of art

In dark disappointment

Of dreams not come true

We can't see the glory

Waiting to shine through

Sometimes in the middle

Of 'Remember When?'

God is gently drawing

Wonder's awed 'amen'

Sometimes colors baffle

Sometimes pages crease

Living in the middle

Of the masterpiece

Sometimes God's kind whisper

Transfigures pied glints

Unveiling a picture

Of His fingerprints

Janet Martin

Waiting on God's Timing part 1

Waiting on God's Timing, Part 2

For Fishermen of Line and Pen

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matt.4:19

The lake we were at a few weeks ago

was dotted with fishing-boats for hours at a time

from first light till dark...

As they trolled for fish I watched from the dock with pen in hand 

and it dawned on me that writing and fishing have a lot in common; 

both require learning patience as we troll the deeps...

This sea gull had a better luck than a few of the fishermen I chatted with...

Time is a little like a pond teeming with want and wish

We, perched on banks of Great Beyond are learning how to fish

The hooks we bait then cast into the deep end of today

Require learning how to wait while we work, watch and pray

Sometimes we get impatient and we start to fret and fuss

Forgetting He who made us often has to wait for us

While we waste ‘bait’ He granted and intended for our good

Because we didn’t have the faith to trust Him like we should

The fish of conquered fears can be as slippery as an eel

And often disappears into a fog of faded zeal

As we dream of The Big One and bait and rebait the hook

Fixated on a vision of just how this fish will look

Lord, make us patient as we troll but never feel a pull

A fisherman tuned to the goal in spite of dreary lull

To bide the placid guise, not disillusioned by desires

But, recognize The Prize is worth the wait ‘fishing’ requires

…until you draw to shore the barge that sailed the seas of Time

Help us be faithful to the charge of hook and bit ‘o line/rhyme

And as you help us from the dinghy, pray you grant this wish

An offering fit for a King; a little string of fish

© Janet Martin

a few more early morning 'passengers'

Mink, I think...

Canada Geese

Dragon Fly

Worth The Wait

I was about to post this poem of two stanzas when I received a text from my daughter!

Grandsonny FINALLY had 7 checkmarks;

one for each day he did not rebel tantrum-ishly when the answer to a want was 'no'.

 7 checkmarks earned him the reward of a bag of Lego 

Grandma gave him at the end of March, but his reaction to

'no, you may not open it tonight because it's bedtime' was not nice (to put it mildly)

so, we decided this might be a good motivation to weigh consequences when reacting!

How sweeter the Lego after the waiting, inspiring one more stanza to the poem😊

PAD Challenge day 17: For today's prompt, write a waiting poem.

Wait; a word with which we struggle

Wait; the gate to faith-hope-grace

Wait; for better days or trouble

Wait to take This Present Place

Wait without doubting or fretting

Wait with love’s humility

Wait without blindly forgetting

Who waits on us faithfully

Wait tests restless human mettle

But the beauty of the bloom

Must unfold, petal by petal

From dark, bud-shaped waiting room

So then wait with patient biding

Do not rush the soldered gate

For The Masterpiece still hiding

In a little word called Wait

Sweeter then will be the After

And the holding oh, so dear

When our tears are turned to laughter

In the wake of waiting's Here

We do not wait without reason

Test of time precedes the goal

Waiting is the growing season

For the faith that makes us whole

 

© Janet Martin

Oh, The Longer The Waiting...Josh Turner

To Live/Love Without Reserve...

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.

Samuel Johnson~

May we be a Son-flower/sunflower in the garden of life!

Happy last-day-of-July

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.

1 Cor.13:4-8

The best we have to live

Exists right now, right here

All we may keep is what we give

It is enough my dear

To love without reserve

To brush insult aside

For we have more than we deserve

Hope lives because He died

Then daily death of pride

Should be our wholesome quest

To live a life of self-denied

To give our humble best

With kind and utter thanks

For all that He has won

And trust Him to fill in the blanks

Still gaping with undone

The sting of verbal slights

Of love misunderstood

Cannot distract He who delights

To work for our good

Love, long-suff’ring and meek

Does not ‘settle the score’

But rather turns the other cheek

To author peace, not war

…to honour He who gave

Himself to manifest

The way true love ought to behave

When it is put to test

Love is more walk than talk

It speaks evil of none

But turns a would-be stumbling block

Into a stepping stone

© Janet Martin