Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts

Thursday, July 18, 2019

To Know...


My sister-in-law now waits to see her dear mom again in 'land that is fairer than day'...
after they laid her to rest last week.
To live well is...
To know we did the best we could with kind humility
To know God works for our good no matter what may be
To know that soon we too will follow those whose footsteps cease
Into the faithful arms of God…to know this kind of peace
Brings courage to the harder parts that we are called to bear
Brings comfort to our heart of hearts and sweetness to the tear
Brings purpose to the passage that runs through the great unknown
Until we all will gather before God around His throne

© Janet Martin

2 Tim. 1: 12
…for I know whom I have believed, 
and am persuaded that he is able 
to keep that which I have committed 
unto him against that day.


Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Sole/Soul-purpose of Life



May is a month etched in hearts and minds of Nova Scotians who lost loved ones in the


if life were simply sea and sky
and sod beneath our feet
and hills and dells of low and high
or hard or easy street
if you and I were all there was
without the hope for more
then joy would be a joke because
what would this life be for?

if wake and sleep and work and eat
and struggle to survive
would be the sole goal of this fete
to keep ourselves alive
if sum of what a clock can coax
is all that we could claim
then happiness would a hoax
and life a cruel game

but life is so much more than days
blazing trails to a grave
much more than meted moment-haze 
that we are born to brave
life is a gift from from loving God
a rift that seasons skim
while breath by breath we scale the rod
that draws us back to Him

for we are more than accidents
that fell from who knows where
To try the ways of providence
then fade into thin air
We are the workmanship of He
who sparks each mortal flame
on Wick of Immortality
that none but God can claim


Janet Martin







Saturday, May 4, 2019

What Makes a Man


 This would have been posted on May 2nd
(Matt's Birthday poem)

Happy 21st Birthday, Matt!



It is the mind that makes the man
Not his physique, his health- wealth- tan
Who Table of Thought entertains
The output of the man explains
…where every action (swift or not)
Is first the dinner-guest of Thought

It is the mind that makes the man
It feeds the thought that feeds the plan
Where plan fosters then fathers deed
Its fruit exposing hidden seed
…where no one can fight sin and win
Without the might of God within

It is the mind that makes the man
Wise then, is he who seeks God’s plan
How else can he keep his way pure?
Or taunts of the Tempter endure?
And how can he be ‘man enough’?
Be strong, yet kind, tender, yet tough

How can he face the foe of Truth?
Or find the right path in his youth?
How can his steps fall undeterred?
By keeping in his heart, God’s Word
Because without this, pity then
The mind that makes beasts out of men

© Janet Martin

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your Word.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees.
Psalm 119: 9-12

Monday, April 22, 2019

Sacred Sketch-pad

PAD Challenge say 21: For today’s prompt, write a sketch poem. 

Yesterday's 'sketch-pad' groaned with laden tables 
lovingly furnished by a fantastic cook; my sister-in-law! 
Easter celebrations included much precious family time
celebrating Something/Someone nothing/no one can erase;

 "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. 
Let nothing move you. 
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
 because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
1 Cor.15:58 
Today's sketch-pad wears more modest Musts but with Sacred Purpose.
Praying His wonder to thunder through our blunders today!




Soft, as darkness dims to gray
Spreads the canvas of new day
Lend-ed to this earthy race
From a splendid hand of grace
Where dawn’s orchestra of Light
Fills these frames of faith with sight

Creator and creature meet
On Time’s featured music-sheet
Thought and deed’s intrinsic font
Wakes the war of will and want
Where the page soon wears love’s voice
God within unveiled through choice

Soft, on crofts of borrowed Here
Mingles dust of trust and tear
Where the artist and the art
Wrangle, torn twixt head and heart
Aware of the dye that flows
Through Time’s Certain Curtain Close

© Janet Martin



Friday, March 15, 2019

Hope's Bugle-call


Foolish me! Trying to delay the inevitable by hitting snooze
hoping nine more minutes of oblivion will somehow
make it easier to switch from the horizontal position to the vertical,
but never does!

Foolish, foolish everyone who tries to thwart The Inevitable by ignoring it!

 This morning the sun broke through stunning hues of blue like a brass-bugle call...


Pry thy Soul-ship from Thy berth
Creature-care awaits
Love in flawless forms of worth
Storms through eastern gates

Rise and shine and take thy place
In life’s line of thanks
God extends his divine grace
To earth’s chosen ranks

Left foot-right-foot-left-foot-right
Mercy’s sacred charge
Bids us onward as we fight
Enemies at large

Don the Armor God designed
Without it we fall
Keep thy Victory in mind
Heed Hope’s bugle call

Forbid we, with foolish heart
Satan’s darts ignore
Soon we will see, not in part
Who we’re fighting for

© Janet Martin

There's no doubt about it; we are in a fight of our lives!
Only the true believer survives!

 Eph.6:10-18

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  
 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  
 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  
 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, 
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. 
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Love the words to this song to 'rally the troops' to persevere

 

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Coping 'Mechanism'



...after a few *milk-bag boots-in-the-garden mornings...(story below)
dawn's coral jewel is back!


 (For a few minutes yesterday morning the sun 
popped through a band of dark rain-blue clouds
turning plain puddles into polished gold)


That coral gem on far-east hem soft-chimes; time’s gong turns gold and grins
It washes from earth’s girth the brume of birth and a new day begins
Where what waits next, ah, who can guess; for care has many shoes to fill
But how we cope, ah, steadfast hope; God’s grace sufficient for all, still

That well-laid ‘plan’ so dear to man is subject to a Higher Hand
And if He wills for man's good, ills, then surely He will help us stand
For He who draws from Mercy’s laws morn’s misted gauze of blush and blue
Does not leave us to fret and fuss without His hope to help us through

That sash of dew on splash of ‘new’ soon trades its diamonds for plain dirt
Where sweat and toil is the grand spoil of health; a common wealth of hurt
But, what a gift, the bend and lift and grunt-heave-ho of work to do
Where Steadfast Hope will help us cope as God grants strength to me and you


© Janet Martin

Where Morning Prayer is often a plea for God to bless and guide and keep
Night’s prayer is often a humble ‘thank-you for strength for the day’ before we fall asleep


  *where did I get the idea for milk-bag boots?

From a woman in North Carolina featured on The Weather Network.
One day when the camera-crew dropped by for a visit. 
she was mowing her lawn with a riding mower at quite a speed!
Wow! they exclaimed, You are amazing for a woman of...70-ish?!
"92!", she replied in an emphatic make-no-mistake voice!
... they decided on another surprise-visit.
This time when they knocked she wasn't in the house so they followed the sound of an engine and found her tilling her garden!!! on a hot Carolina day (and this is where the milk-bags come in!)
She covered her good-support shoes with milk-bags so when, (after she showed them her substantial garden which she had no plans of stopping as long as she was able) she invited them into the house, 
and all she had to do was slip the bags off her feet and step into her immaculate kitchen 
where fresh-baked pecan pies were cooling on the counter.
(she insisted they take one) The camera-crew was speechless!
When they asked, as they sat with her on her sprawling front-porch 'how do you do it?!"
 the 92 year-old woman replied after thinking for a little as she rocked slowly back and forth,
"Well, I don't worry much. I do what I can and leave the rest to God"

That line has become my mantra!