Look At Me!

Look at me! Look at me! they call, countless times a day, eager to impress their care-giver!

Oh, imagine if we did that to our Caregiver who is always watching over us

even though we cannot see Him!

(We/ I tend to plead the opposite, embarrassed/ guilty at our/my often less-than-eager efforts)

Imagine if we lived for our Creator with this mindset...

Look at me! look at me

Did you see? did you see?

How I gave willingly, without bound

How I put others first

Rather than, self-immersed

Paid no heed to the need all around

Look at me! Look at me

Did you see? did you see?

How, without jealousy I rejoiced

In the great happiness

Of another's success 

Leaving my disappointments unvoiced

Look at me! look at me!

Did you see? Did you see?

How I walked second miles for the weak

How, in the face of spite

I did not choose to smite

My opponent, but turned the other cheek

How, not stubborn and proud

I submissively bowed

 Beneath Mercy's Higher Command

Trusting Your promises

Rather than fuss and stress

Over ways I do not understand

Look at me! look at me!

I'm a sinner set freed

From the debt that I owed but You paid

Now all I want to do

Is love and honour You

In this beautiful day you have made

Oh, imagine if we

With true humility

Loved each other, how happy our cries,

'Look at me, look at me

Did you see? did you see

It is You that my life glorifies'

Janet Martin

 Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works 

and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matt.5:16

This constant contest of trying to 'shine the brightest'

reminds me how we are all created differently

with unique gifts and strengths

to allow all of us to shine the brightest

with the light God has instilled.

Let's try to twist ourselves inside out

with goodness for God's glory!

Because all goodness is but a reflection of You, oh God!

 

To Live For Thee, Oh God

When we dissect the moments of a day, 

do we find a life lived for Self or God?

This was a sobering challenge to me recently.

Oh God, let my love be more

than an acknowledgment of Your existence,

whilst harbouring a heart of prideful resistance

Have Thine Own Way, Lord-Jim Reeves

To live for Thee, oh God

Affects all that we do

It keens the heart to do our part

To serve and honour You

To live for Thee, oh Lord

Is more than pious nod

To testify with mouthed reply

The existence of God

To truly live for Thee

Means self must be denied

Love’s price is always sacrifice

All else is selfish pride

To live for Thee, oh God

Nobody can ignore

For we all prove who we most love

By who we’re living for

…then when death comes to claim

Soul’s cloak back to the sod

Heaven or hell will surely tell

Life lived for Self or God

For who we love we serve

Life, not lips testify

If we believe, and thus conceive

The fruit of love's reply

© Janet Martin

Matt.6:24

“No one can serve two masters. 

Either you will hate the one and love the other, 

or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve both God and money.

Joshua 24:14-15

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. 

Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped 

beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 

15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, 

then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 

whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, 

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 

But as for me and my household, 

we will serve the Lord.”

Gal.1:10

Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? 

 am I striving to please men? 

If I were still trying to please men, 

I would not be a servant of Christ

I posted the above post before church...

then, lo and behold, our scripture passage for 

this morning's message was;

1 Thess. 4

Living to please God...

verse 1: As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 

we instructed you how to live in order to please God, 

as in fact you are living. 

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus 

to do this more and more.

Always and All For God

 

The fruit of our labour is sometimes strawberries.

The fruit of our faith, ah, who can fathom?!

This poem was inspired first by a glorious wave of morning-tide

rolling over the rain-washed countryside...

...before heading out for a berry delightful morning

 at a nearby pick-your-own strawberry patch!

Always, and all for God who gives, may our motive be

Each moment-metered life one lives leads to eternity

All that we have, by time is tried; a sacred sea that pours

In waves of morn-to-eventide, awash twixt Eon’s shores

In waves of morn to eventide awash twixt Eon’s shores

Across still gaping graves, time flies, in season-repertoires

While we must choose who we will serve and thus the Soul’s reward

Some never look beyond Self-worth, some live to please the Lord

Some never look beyond Self-worth, some live to please the Lord

Some set their sights upon this earth as if they can afford

To ignore what some cling to like a lifeline sure and keen;

The substance of things hoped for and its evidence unseen

The substance of things hoped for and its evidence unseen

Instills with awesome purpose what would oft seem harsh and mean

Aware while moments dance and race we owe their no return

Always and all for God who grants the grace that none can earn

Always and all for God who grants the grace that none can earn

Where mercy meets us face to face as surely as the morn

Where wealth accrued cannot provide that which will save the soul

When waves of morn to eventide no longer swell and roll

© Janet Martin

And whatever you do, do it heartily, 

as to the Lord and not to men,

Col.3:23

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 

the evidence of things not seen.

Heb.11:1

On Finding Fulfillment

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, 

as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 

 since you know that you will receive an inheritance 

from the Lord as a reward. 

It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

Col.3: 23-24

It's not as much what we are doing

as who we are doing it for

that brings contentment/fulfillment

So it begs the question;

What are we doing for Who?

This gal is working at next Christmas's wish-list...

(only 11 mos. less a day to go!!😊😉)

We all have wish-lists, don't we?!

How far are we willing to go for who?

The ladder to success and happiness 

Is foiled by flaws and failures of the flesh 

Enmeshed in plans and dreams so dearly plied 

Is a force to be reckoned with, called pride 

And no matter how high our hopes might climb 

Or where our dreams may lead if given time 

The chase that we embrace is not enough 

To fill that place God reserved for His Love... 

…to love Him with heart, soul and strength and mind 

So few it seems, life truest success find 

For He does not cater to wish and whim 

The Creator made us to honor Him 

And so, until we do the heart will cry 

And nothing will fulfill or satisfy 

This world will seem a feckless trek to death 

Until we learn to rev’rence ev’ry breath 

And recognize life’s sacred gift from He 

Who lends its lease of brief mortality 

Where we will find fulfillment only when 

We labour for the Lord and not for men

Sooner or later everyone must choose

Who they will serve and thus, who they refuse

If we choose God then all we do will be

An expression of awed humility 

© Janet Martin 

Test-Run

This test-run offers no 'test-run'!

We are all first-timers to each day

and its come-what-may.

Let's be kind.

The success of life's tests

depend greatly on the attitude/gratitude

 of the 'Student'.

How often life's greatest tests are wrapped in

the common cloth of day-to-day!

Pray, on our Pilgrim-progress, we press with reverence 

'toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 

of God in Christ Jesus.'

Phil.3:14

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. 

But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; 

rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Gal.5:13

Everything is a test 

Weighed on a scale of love 

The way we treat our fellowman 

Is the law that will prove 

By how we spend our time 

The heart of you and I 

With what we have and what we do 

And who we serve and why 

Everything is a test

Our onus of reply

That may seem small is always hinged

To more than meets the eye

And presents everyone

With a subtle exam

Where often the way we respond

Reveals the hidden man

 

Everything is a test 

This moment-marathon

Runs rife with 'second-miles' where life

And time wait for no one

Thus, it is up to us

To choose right here, right now

Who we will serve and worship with

Today's momentous How

 

Everything is God’s grace 

All that we have is lent 

And in case we forget our place 

We all are called and sent 

Not to earn Heaven’s pass 

But humbly do our best 

To honour He who grants each day 

Where everything is a test 

© Janet Martin

The Futility of Poetry/Words Alone...

Better to walk than talk it 

For who we serve shines through 

And words will often mock it 

If they spar with what we do 

Better to live love’s token 

Than write them in a song 

Love that is simply spoken 

Is like a clanging gong 

Better to be a sermon 

Rather than just sit by 

For words can weave a poem 

But second miles don’t lie 

Better to serve God wholly 

With kind humility 

For all our boasts are lowly 

Compared to Calvary

Better to guard heart-lockets

Than paint a fine façade 

Better to walk than talk it

And leave the rest to God

Fear God; keep His commandments

This whole duty of man

Speaks louder through obedience

Than any fine speech can

© Janet Martin

Ecles.12:13-14 NKJV

 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter;

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.

Luke 6:45

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, 

and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. 

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Life's Great Masterpiece...

By The Rivers of Babylon

Psalm 137:1-3
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

2There on the willowsa
we hung our harps,
3for there our captors requested a song;
our tormentors demanded songs of joy:

 

Sometimes when I see the sparse masked attenders at church

(due to covid restrictions)
and as we meet masked shoppers and we hear of old people
literally dying of loneliness I pine deeply for a pre-Covid world and
I wonder if this is a teeniest glimpse what the Israelites felt like as they
hung their harps/instruments of praise on the willows
by the river of Babylon
and wept for the old days/Zion...

Let's not hang up the instrument He has given us to play
but no matter what play to praise Him!!

What has the master lent to thee thy calling to fulfill
In life’s great orchestra, what instrument did He instill
What gift, what tool, what trade did He entrust to His increase
Where we all have a part to play in Life’s Great Masterpiece

No matter where we stand or sit or lie, the Lord is near
He keeps careful account with watchful eye and listening ear
Then oh, take heart; He makes us able to master the skill
It takes to learn to play our part according to His will

Sometimes our fingers get so sore and oh, we get so tired
Sometimes the ‘music’ feels like war, its order undesired
Sometimes the composition seems to make no sense at all
And then sometimes we try to rearrange His sacred call

Forgive us when the Melody is nothing like You planned
Because we shift our focus from the Baton in command
Where no one is too high or low to love our fellowman
And heed its call whereby we go in Life’s Great Masterplan

We ought not hang our harps upon a willow tree and weep
And pine for days gone by; we have an awesome charge to keep
Then pray we do not wish for someone else’s tool or quest
But humbly seek His purpose and honour Him with our best

What has He lent to you and me, to serve with perfect joy
No instrument is insignificant in His employ
Then oh, take heart and do not long for exchange or release
For we all play an awesome part in Life’s Great Masterpiece

…where God hears every lisp and lilt, each minor syllable
In life’s great orchestra no player is invisible
Then oh take heart; let’s play our part without reserve because
Soon our tools will fade into faith’s thundering applause

© Janet Martin

Can't find your instrument?

Get on thy knees...

 

The devotions of the past 3 days convicted/encouraged me to give Him my all

 no matter what!!

Honour-bound...

 As we witness the proof of God's mercy renewed

(aka morning) what frames our first thoughts; faith or fear?

Matt never knows what his mom will say as he heads out the door to work

usually it's 'I hope you have a good day!' or something like it.

This morning for some reason I was moved with the words that inspired today's poem;

"I hope you have a day filled with the honour of serving God"

He replied with his usual morning dialogue of least-words-required "uh-huh" 😊

Doesn't it transform our outlook when honour, not duty drives us?!

I heard this stunning song written in 1855 by Harriet B. Stowe

 for the first time only recently!!

From eastward fringe

Dawn’s faint first tinge

Expands until darkness dissolves

As Unknown wafts

In gleaming lofts

While what is constantly evolves

Involving us

In fret and fuss

Of all that comes along to pass

Where none can will

What time will spill

In heaven-to-earth’s hour-glass

Where fear and dread

Can weigh like lead

If we forget to trust in He

Who knows full well

What time will tell

And when the end of This will be

We are not bound

By sight and sound

As hostages of Duty’s law

But by God’s grace

To human race

We may serve with honour and awe

Recipients of

The greatest love

Mere mortal cannot comprehend

While unknown groans

Where skin and bones

Harbours a deathless dividend

Thus, we press on

Behold the dawn!

That testifies Mercy renewed

As grace imparts

And moves our hearts

To serve with humble gratitude

© Janet Martin

 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lam.3:22-23