Sorrow's Sweet Surprise

I came across this photo of us sisters in much care-freer childhood days...

From left to right...

Marlene, Carolyn, Cheryl, Lucy and Janet 💝

Because today marks four months since Lucy's death,

it also marks four months of God's abiding comfort and strength,

and four months of being drawn ever nearer to His

everlasting love...

I'm sharing today and tomorrow's devotion 

from the book Consolation by Mrs. Chas E. Cowman

because they minister profoundly to all who are traveling

through trouble and sorrow...

I shared the verses below on yesterday's post but I didn't 'unpack' them...

Matt. 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our troubles,

so that we can comfort those in any trouble

with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Often in ways we would not choose

When love unfolds grief's solemn hues

We find, in sorrow's somber length

The God of all comfort and strength

Often, when disappointments test

The hopes and dreams now laid to rest

We find in sorrow's bitter tear

The God of all comfort is near

And often when (lest we despair)

We pour out broken hearts in prayer 

We find to sorrow's sweet surprise

The God of all comfort replies

We find  'no longer I, but Christ'

As hopes and dreams are sacrificed

We find, as sorrow bows the head 

The God of all comfort instead 

Whose compassion is new each morn

Who comforts mourners, sorrow-worn

Through troubles we would never choose

God ministers with Heaven's hues

© Janet Martin 

And a BIG P.S.

Prayer updates!

Remember the people you prayed for HERE

and HERE?

Our friends had a wonderful trip in spite of the initial disappointment;

not as originally planned but in place of original plans 💖🙏

...and thanks be to God,

 the family who was looking for a home has found one!

Thank-you all for your help and prayers!

In Loving Memory of my Sister, Lucy

This is the bitter-sweetest poem I have ever written...

Dear Lucy,

Your garden shoes at the back door

Your jacket on the hook

Your beautiful flowers galore

Your latest favourite book

Your mementos of such and such

You thoughtfully arranged

All leave behind your tender touch

Death suddenly estranged

The datebook you kept in your mind

How we would marvel, dear

At the methods you used to find

The day, the month, the year

With ‘I remember this because

We picked the pears before…

We went to…(then) how the weather was

And what outfit you wore’

While we would laugh and marvel at

Your sentimental trove

You turned to gifts of this and that

To touch someone with love

And shape part of the thing that Death

Both takes and leaves, in sync

The life we lived; as gifted breath

Spills in permanent ink

Dear Lucy, daughter, sister, wife

Mother, grandmother, friend

Your legacy of love in life

Was faithful to the end

Where part of you is silenced now

Yet much of you lives on

Love never fails, no matter how

We wish you were not gone

Our God who ordained all your days

Before one came to be

Though we cannot fathom His ways

Will help love (us) faithfully

To bear all things, believe all things

To hope all things, endure

His pardon that salvation brings

Holds living hope secure

Thus, we have no cause to rebel

Against His perfect plan

But rather, to live each day well

And love while we still can

Dear all of us who yet remain

Who only see in part

God never fails; He knows our pain

He heals the broken heart

Yes. I know we will dearly miss

Dear Lucy’s smiling face

Her cards and notes, signed, love, your sis

Her words of cheer and grace

Her questions, oh, her questions, and

Her quirky observance

Her always ready helping hand

Her lovely compliments

But, as we contemplate our store

Of precious memories

We cannot help but thank God for

Love’s favours, such as these

Farewell for now, dear sister-friend

Although our teardrops flow

We know that this is not the end

But just farewell, for now

In loving memory of my sweet sister, Lucy

Janet Martin

Lucy took a kind and generous interest in my writing and poetry blog,

often checking in to see if everything is okay

if for some reason a few days passed without a poem!

I will really, really miss writing, in part, for her!

Love… bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

1 Cor.13:7-8

Sorrowful Blog Break

Dear readers, near and far 💔🙏

I will be away from this blog for a bit.

Last evening my dearly beloved, sweet sister Lucy 

was struck and lost her life, while riding her bike,

two and a half weeks before their son's wedding.

 Needless to say we are heartbroken.

Please pray for her immediate family 

and all of her family and many, many friends!

She lived to love and nurture and I know if I could ask her 

what she would like me to say it would be this.

If you have not already done so, 

put your faith in Jesus, 

then live each day as a gift of love, 

to shine for Him!

Dearest Lucy,

 how could I know when I wrote this poem in March

on your birthday, the meaning it would take

What a beautiful legacy you leave

 for all who knew and loved you

to treasure

 forever 

Gift of Today

photo below, Lucy is the sister on the right

me in the middle and my youngest sister on the left

Taken on her 55th birthday, Mar.27, 2024

Our sister-circle is broken, but only for now...

1 Thess.4:13-18

Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,

c so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

 we also believe that God will bring with Jesus

 those who have fallen asleep in Him.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, 

that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord 

will by no means precede those who are [d]asleep. 

16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, 

with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. 

And the dead in Christ will rise first. 

17Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together 

with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 

And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 

18Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Ps.23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

 he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: 

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; 

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: 

thou anointest my head with oil; 

my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

 and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Love isn’t perfect, but, oh it is precious

Each opportunity broken like bread

Tasted and savored, bitter and delicious

Aware that love's sorrow is joy’s sacred dread

Then love while you may, giving each day your all

For we never know when our Lord will call

Janet 🙏

 

The Picture of November's Twilight

 Because nothing slips out of the reach of a poem...

This one is for my sister. 

She called before supper and wondered if the evening captured my attention too

and did I write a poem?

 Dear, sweet sister, often calls if only to ask 'What did you write today?'

I answered her kindred-spirit question tonight with "yes, I stood there soaking it in for a minute and even dared to wish for a moment of Quiet To Write, but then was immediately convicted with 'careful what you wish for' and that no, there is no poem, 

but there is extra guests for supper and Grandson etc. 

and we chatted a bit about why the colorless colours were so captivating tonight

then each returned to our own supper-chores etc.

The sky has been shedding its softness ever since she called...

(this photo was taken the other 'less-lively' evening😉)

The moment passed.

The air, like smoky flannel fell, 

then blue

Then black

And snuffed the images 

of dying day from view

But could not steal 

from wonder’s reel

God’s tender work of art

The picture of 

November’s twilight

Wrapped around the heart

…and so is life.

Its moments rife with heaven’s 

emptied jars

And such

Where touch is quick to cool

 but not its aftermath of stars

That brush the air 

and places where

Only Thought’s Owner sees

The frame filled with 

soft shimmers

Of love’s precious memories

© Janet Martin

Estimable Entreaty...or, Of Growing Old

A simple sonnet for my sister Lucy's Birthday today...
Happy Birthday Lucy!
Wishing you God's gift of joy in the year (Lord willing years) ahead!

The nearest, dearest gift of growing old

Time weaves with threads we sometimes overlook

Life’s sacred spoil of love and toil unfold

Fond pages in a phantom picture book

A panoramic spread of scenes forsook

Bids us revere a year’s moment-ous lease

Where fingers through which sands of time are shook

Siphons from stars and scars, a masterpiece

…as daily death grants the subtle increase

Of seasons splayed before our shut-eye gaze

Its startling art of kind simplicities

Soft-weaves with common sheaves Life’s Best of Days

Where it seems that we learn and then relearn

The value of time’s treasured No-return

© Janet Martin

Last night while chopping colorful veggies for supper I was struck again

how life's simplest gifts are its sweetest marvels! 

The older we get the more we realize the Prize of The Moment!

Sisters are one of love's/life's greatest gifts!

I know I shared the photo below here, (on another sister get-together)

but its a precious shot on a simple summer's day long ago...of sisters

From left to right...

Marlene, Carolyn, Cheryl, Lucy, Janet

Slow erosion

Where an ocean

Of emotion

Sweeps a shore

Where a moment

Seals a moment

To moments

That are no more

Tender splendor

Steals the vendor

To a younger

You and me

Where sleek surges

Swell in dirges

For splurges

Washed out to sea

© Janet Martin

Better The House of Mourning

 Yesterday we attended the funeral of another one of my mother-in-law's sisters. 

She was in her 88th year, spending most of them in quiet, humble service to her family and fellowman.

This verse was read in her funeral message of comfort and caution...

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: 

for that(death) is the end of all men; 

and the living will lay it to his heart.

Eccles.7:2

Better the house of mourning

Its meeting to attend

Than to ignore the warning

‘Soon life’s short stint will end’

Better the house of mourning

Where solemn heed is paid

To an orbit adorning

Life's dust-to-dust parade

Better the house of mourning

Than wine and feast's embrace

Lest we fall prey to scorning

The gravity of grace

Better the house of mourning

For there meek thought is bowed

Beneath Love’s tender awning

Resisted by the proud

Better the house of mourning

As mankind lays to heart

The crux of this sojourning

Where flesh and soul will part

© Janet Martin

While chatting with my oldest sister at the luncheon after the service, I mentioned that when I get home I need to tend to 2 Bu. of beans waiting to be preserved.

Guess who showed up at my house as soon as she could?!! Yep, Cheryl, my oldest sister.

Sometimes secretly I think her name might be Tabitha and this verse(Acts 9:36) 

in modern day could read something like this;
In Wallenstein there is a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Cheryl); 

she is always doing good and helping the poor.

SO glad Sat. night's picking is preserved...

  ...before we begin today's batch.