Pure Delight

1 John 2: 15-17

Do not love the world or anything in the world. 

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, 

the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—

is not from the Father but from the world.

  17The world is passing away, along with its desires;

 but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Col.3:1

If then you were raised with Christ,

seek those things which are above,

where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

When it comes to 'stuff' much wants more,

and yet is never satisfied!

When it comes to the things of God He has enough

to satisfy all of us for all eternity!

No need to want what the other one has

(unlike two little boys playing with tractors! 😅💓)

Love brings no satisfaction to devotion and delight

If its primal attraction is to seek and serve by sight

If what we long and strive for here, is temporal at best

If fulfillment we live for, dear, is not Supremely blessed

…by He who made and loves us and who knows us, heart and soul

Who placed within the glove of us a Faith-in-Him shaped hole

A love-the-Lord-thy-God-with-all-thy-heart-soul-strength-and-mind

-abyss; that, though we gain the world, we are Heaven-designed

And thus, to find true happiness, true hope, joy, peace and love

We first must pursue righteousness/godliness and seek Those Things Above

With uttermost humility and thankfulness, and then

We will find more delight than we thought possible. Amen

© Janet Martin

From Streams in the Desert Vol.2

Love's Law Of...(First things First)

While the layout of each lesson-book may vary

the requirement and result are universal because

we reap what we sow

and God is not mocked! Gal.6:7

I've been on a stretch of demanding days and

half-sleep nights. During the night, last night

the electricity must have blinked off and since I don't

have a battery back-up in my alarm clock

and since I had the blind and room-darkening curtains pulled

and since I had a sound sleep last night, I was appalled when

I looked at my phone and it was... 8:48?!! 😭😬

The tempter was there instantly with 'you over-slept!

no time for devotions today! you must hurry! hurry!"

What a most terrible way, (I have learned from experience)

to hurry, hurry into the day without first thanking and praising God for his mercies renewed,

and then lifting up our 'broken' to Him, our sick, sorrowing and lost loved ones.

Then drinking from the wellspring of His word to have our spirit refreshed and strengthened

because the flesh is weak and prone to fall prey to what it sees...

Circumstance changes constantly...

Last night, snow and ice-ensconced world...

This morning, sunshine drenched world beneath rising temps!

Tis an art the heart must master for life's story to be sweet

Success can lead to disaster if we do not learn its creed

Where the spirit oft is willing but the wanting flesh is weak

Where sight oft seems more fulfilling than ‘faith as a mustard seed’

Tis a test the best of scholars and teachers cannot evade

Nor the tribe that wears blue collars nor miners, nor astronauts

In the end we all will answer for the choices we have made

Be it maestro, merchant, dancer, five-star chef, scrubber of pots

Tis a law of awe and wonder, impossible to detail

Where wellsprings of blessing thunder from each breath no longer cursed

It will enrich dream and duty, a rubric that will not fail

As we marvel at the beauty of love’s law of First things first

© Janet Martin

One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”26“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’c and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’d”

28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”

29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Read Jesus answer HERE...v.30-37

Take Time to be Holy

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Heb.13:8

...leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matt. 5:24

Lest in the Thick of Here and Now...

Ps.18:1-2

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold.

3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;

so shall I be saved from my enemies.

Is it not a wonderful thing,

To know as we kneel/bow to pray

we are essentially slipping our hand

into God's hand?!

God, by Whom all things were made

and are lent save Him alone!!

He is eternal.

Does this not bring fresh courage 

to face today?!

Lest in the quick of (circum) stance

Or in the thick of sight

We overlook the One who grants

The armour for the fight

The refuge from the foe

The rock that will not move

The blood-bought grace whereby we go

The greatest of these; love

The Life, from death's curse raised

The Saviour of the soul

The Name most worthy to be praised

Who makes the broken whole

Whose will is undeterred

Who keeps his promises

Who leads us by his righteous Word

In paths of righteousness

Who is holy and just

Who forgives confessed sin

Who is faithful (knows we are dust)

Who bids us trust in Him

Who keeps in perfect peace

Hearts and minds on Him stayed

Whose purposes will never cease

Whose joy is unafraid 

The Way, the Truth, the Life

Creator of all things

(Though doubt and argument run rife

Against the King of kings)

Who IS love without end

Supremacy unfazed

Whose thoughts no thought can comprehend

Nor understand His ways

Oh, lest with faithless glance

We haste to meet the day

Lest in the quick of circumstance

We never pause to pray

Let us first humbly bow

And seek Love's kind command

Lest in the thick of Here and Now

We miss His outstretched Hand   

© Janet Martin

I Need Thee Every Hour

Did You Think to Pray?

Order of Priorities

2 Thess.3:1-5

...pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly 

and be held in honor, just as it was with you.

  2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men;

 for not everyone holds to the faith.

  3But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you 

and guard you from the evil one.a 

4And we have confidence in the Lord that you are doing 

and will continue to do what we command. 

5May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

***

Day breaks; responsibility rouses mankind from slumber’s cot...

I began this poem last Saturday, as I juggled demands

where 'cares (and duties) of this world tug and weigh'...

On Monday I stayed with my (ever-growing-frailer) mother-in-law as she listened

to the funeral message as another of her dear friends

was laid to rest; a 93 yr. old mother of 13! 

(side note; my mother-in-law will turn 93, if the Lord wills, on Aug.2)

During the funeral service

one of the ministers shared a story he read about a farmer

who was building a new milk house.

When the building inspector asked to see his permit he confessed that he forgot to get one.

The Inspector asked him if he remembered to order gravel. 'yes' said the farmer.

And cement? again, the farmer answered yes. And did you remember to

line up help for this project, the inspector pressed.

Yes, said the farmer once more.

 Then the inspector said to him,

Now I know, you did not forget to get a building permit.

You just didn't deem it important!

The minister was seeking to impress on the listener

the importance of recognizing what is truly important and preparing for it; 

preparing the Soul to meet God is life's most dire urgency

for no one knows when 'dust-to-dust’s mandate will appease'

all earthly priorities.

What is important to us we remember!

What is important to us takes its place in our order of priorities!

Below, a few beautiful paragraphs from the book

George Muller of Bristol 

The order of priorities is sometimes hard to reconcile

So many tasks of ‘me first, please’, where weeds abound and flowers smile

Where happiness and heartache meet and mingle in the human breast

Where weariness and work compete and put will power to the test

Where souls to tend and bills to pay keep us on our knees and toes

Where cares of this world tug and weigh and what yet waits God only knows

The order of priorities reveals the hierarchy within

Where a most sacred diocese exists beneath our cloak of skin

No matter who or where we are, God sees the hearts of you and me

Where who we worship sets the bar for what will take priority

And, holy is the consequence of what is just as it appears

As precedence yields evidence by what Priority reveres

Day breaks; responsibility rouses mankind from slumber’s cot

Where instantly Priority beckons in the throne-room of Thought

Oh Lord, how great Thou art; oh, guard us from the evil one today

Let Thy word in our minds and hearts equip us to trust and obey

Before this boon of beckoning, dust-to-dust’s mandate will appease

And then will be the reckoning for order of priorities

© Janet Martin

2 Pet.1:3-9

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness

 through the knowledge of Him who called us by His owna glory and excellence. 

4Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises,

 so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,

 now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue;

 and to virtue, knowledge;

  6and to knowledge, self-control; 

and to self-control, perseverance; 

and to perseverance, godliness;

  7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; 

and to brotherly kindness, love.

  8For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, 

they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive

 in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, 

having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Galatians 6:10
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, 

especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Yesterday I spent a while tackling

 'where weeds were abounding!

(and flowers smiling!)

Nothing But This...

Happy First-Friday-in-February!

F- is for Forgiveness!

***

To hold a grudge is such a heavy weight to carry through the day

Forgiveness frees us from its spite and lets it gently slip away 

Ah, life is much too brief to mar it with the bitter grief of hate

Forgiveness melts its iron bar and flings ajar love's glorious gate 

***

A friend and I decided to bring a splash of 'sunshine'

to February's dreary debut by hitting a few thrift stores

with Extreme Leisure!😂

I found the treasure below to hang in our kitchen dining area

as a gentle reminder of what I/we can quite quickly forget!

Have we nothing but this to bring

To God when shadows fall

To be a gift, fit for a king

Though it may seem so small

Have we nothing but this to prove

The flower from faith’s seed

It is enough. A word of love

A kind and thoughtful deed

Have we nothing to leave behind

When death its due will claim

It is enough, to love, be kind

In Jesus precious Name

Enough to see in every face

The scarred hand-print of He

Who helps us to mirror His grace

With kind humility

Lord, let the Name we utter/cherish most

Because of Calvary

Grant nothing but love's greatest boast

'Not I, but Christ in me'

© Janet Martin

This is (one of) my daily devotionals for this year.

January's 'pathway' focused on God's will

February's pathway focuses on Forgiveness

Forgiven!!-David Crowder

Come as You Are- David Crowder

Because Actions Speak Louder Than Words...

Originally I entitled this poem

Sermon to Poets and Silver-tongued Scribes

but that felt a bit harsh 

and its connotation a bit off the mark

so I changed it😅

(all that to say, words ring hollow

without rubber-meets-road corroboration!)

Bit of satire to self today, as well as

all of us struggling with easier talked than walked!

Below, is a glimpse of the scenery of general muddled mayhem 

of many hours of mental workouts,

frustrated/vexed scribbles 

and mumbled prayer-stumble!!

Yet all of this can never take the place of

a single step to aid/accompany a fellow-traveler! 

(lest I/we forget)

My hope is that here and there a poem hits home 

like a hug that needs no explanation

and an act of kindness tendered in ink!

I’d take a stumbling sermon lived

Over a smooth rehearsal, talked

And if I had to choose a gift

I’d take mercy’s second mile, walked

I’d take the ink of honest toil

Over spouted theology

And if I had to choose love’s spoil

I’d take a friendly cup of tea

I’d take the smallest gentle deed

Above intent, pious and grand

And if I had to choose my need

I’d take an earnest helping hand

The pen, though mightier than sword

Is not a supple substitute

For living out God’s Holy Word

Until the branch is bent with fruit

Sermons are not misunderstood

When preached in meek obedience

Better than pulpits carved of wood

Are stepping stones of reverence

And in the thick and thin of cost

Midst love’s ado of This and That

Better a kindness-buoy tossed

Than a poetic lariat

The fine art of rhythm and rhyme

Can kindle senses with delight

But cannot take the place of Time

Spent on knees in the dead of night

And, lest words miss the sacred mark

Of pure religion undefiled

Better prayer’s closet in the dark

Than podiums where crowds go wild

© Janet Martin

1 John 3:18 ESV

Little children, let us not love in word or talk

but in deed and in truth.

The Glorious Goal

The glorious gift of a new day gleams!

What is our goal?

The scripture in today's Daily Bread devotion

helped to inspire today's poem...

2 Cor.5:6-10

So we are always confident, knowing that 

while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body 

and to be present with the Lord.

9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, 

to be well pleasing to Him. 

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 

that each one may receive the things done in the body, 

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Repeating a portion of Scripture from Monday's post

What will our life collage, as we reach the goal,

 look like as it is analyzed frame by frame?

Will it be, by the grace of God a testimony of loving service to Him

or will it be, to our shame a futile fling of Self-serving?

Below a collage of a week or two of only a glint of moments...

The glorious goal of pleasing God makes every day full worth its while

Where souls that brim with hymnal laud, and walk by faith though sights beguile

And tune the heart and mind with kindness even when things may go wrong

Will find within the common grind of love and life, a happy song

The glorious goal of pleasing God fills every hour with intent

To serve Him with feet gospel shod, and worship’s awestruck wonderment

That God so loved the world He gave His Son to take my/our rightful place

Upon the cross; He died to save us not by works but by His grace

The glorious goal of pleasing God seems far too small a price to pay

As we behold the thwarted rod where death and hell are done away

For all who repent and believe; no longer victims of sin’s curse

But who, through faith alone receive redemption none can reimburse

Then, with heart and soul, humbly awed, pray we aspire to obey

And make the goal of pleasing God, our true desire every day

For someday we will all appear before His holy judgement seat

To give account of our life here; flight to the glorious goal complete

© Janet Martin

Heaven-bent...

 

Not so enlightened, as to be

Careless with hope’s security

Not so engrossed in earthliness  

I do not prize faith's promises

Not so prosperous I forget

The hungry poor who have no bread

Not so successful as to slide

Into subtle pitfalls of pride

Not so consumed with avarice 

I snub salvation's purchase-price

Not so ingenious I ignore

The One who said ‘I am the Door’

Not so comfortable that I

Am loathe to bid this world good-bye

Not so intent on things below

I have no heaven-wealth to show

No living proof, by quiet deed

Of compassion for those in need

No legacy of self outpoured

As evidence of Christ as Lord

No desire to be poor enough

To treasure most His grace and love

And count all worldly gain as loss

To marvel daily at the cross

To keep in mind, earth's lease is lent

And live each moment, heaven-bent  

© Janet Martin

Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, 

strive for the things above, 

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

 2Set your minds on things above,

 not on earthly things. 

Col.3:1-2

Where Your Treasure Is

For Fence-Crowders

I'm trying to keep 'my eye on the furrow 

and my hand on the plow'

but wow, not an easy task 

while poem-breakers surge 

 where leaf ballerinas twirl 

and wanna-be-ballads waltz !

Sometimes duty feels like a fence

Where obligation bars

The gate between toil's diligence

And pastures full of stars

Sometimes responsibility

And ballad-bearers clash

As seasons throb with poetry

Where hands of time are brash

But in a world so full of ways

To amaze and enthrall

It is enough to sing the praise

Of He who authors all

And should a breath or two perchance

Be wrangled into word

Pray it will stir the heart to dance

In worship to our Lord

Then, though duty does not resign

Where obligation bars

The gate, may thankfulness outshine

Yon pasture full of stars

Because the One so full of love

Where hope and mercy brim

Will overflow joy's treasure-trove

With the wonder of Him

© Janet Martin

Isa.25:1

O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You,

 I will praise Your name,

 For You have done wonderful things;

 Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

How Great Thou Art

A Morning/Today Mantra

Sometimes it easy to drag yesterday's baggage into New-day/Today!

Sometimes it hard to cast all our care upon Him, 

for He cares for you/us...1 Peter 5:7

and leave them there!

And proceed with renewed ambition in what... 

He has shown you/us, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you/us?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your/our God.

Micah 6:8

Dawn’s door, once more has swung ajar

Eyes turn toward the east

Where mercy spreads on welkin bar

A lavish beauty-feast

And bids the sojourner of care

To trust the Artist of the air

Soon pink ink pales, gold fringes fade

Blue heavens crown the world

As this new day the Lord has made

Is furthermore unfurled

Where His hand cups each stepping stone

Poised on the crux of The Unknown

Then, pray we cast our cares on He

Who cares for one and all

May we with renewed fervency

Proceed and heed His call

To act justly with loving laud

And to walk humbly with our God

© Janet Martin

Well, it's off to the races graces once more!

Last night's finish-line, 

midst much background action-attraction-distraction-music...

...boasted fresh applesauce, finally!

On my need-to-do list all week!

Beggar's Legacy

I beg for fresh reason and rhyme

As we weather seasons of time...

I beg, but not for milk or bread

Rather, for ink-drops not yet bled

For panoramic views to spill

To the mind’s eye from fluent quill

To feel you near, though miles apart

Through Poem, dear, to cheer the heart

I beg for fresh reason and rhyme

As we weather seasons of time

For font to translate into word

Wonder; when wont to be deterred

By duty; blinded by its rod

While Beauty brims with hymns to God

For eyes to see and ears to hear

The melody borne on time’s tear

Where the veneer of here and now

Is always on the move somehow

I beg to learn to want for less

And then, in turn find happiness

...to recognize the luxury

Of phrases such as 'you and me'

To view nothing as commonplace

In today's God-made gift of grace

I beg for wishes to be awed

By the kind faithfulness of God

I beg for Brushstrokes of fine art

By He who sees my heart of heart

The Tender and the Terrible

He knows both Bard and Beast full well

Then, lest I be a fickle fool

I beg for faith, not fear to rule

I beg for joy when Circumstance

Changes the tempo of the dance

And all the steps that I rehearsed

Dismissed in light of ‘others first’

I beg for love’s ink to run rife

And pen the poetry of life

© Janet Martin

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; 

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

 At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 21:4
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, 

even length of days for ever and ever.

Psalm 17:15
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:

 I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.