Thought-thoughts

 

As December's full moon climbs

over dusk's pink sill

Thought becomes happy to pause

and be perfectly still...

As the mind thinks, so we become;

Like babies in perception’s womb

Like children in a classroom taught

By a lifelong lector of Thought

Guard well the guests Thought entertains

The conquests toward which Thought strains

Because the person we become

Is shaped through Thought’s collective sum

For all the progress change may boast

It cannot thwart what matters most

Whether we regard it or not

We are the workmanship of Thought

If Thought is lazy, greedy, vain

Pity the one who gleans its gain

If Thought is prudent, humble, wise

It benefits its enterprise

Whatever then, is excellent

Praiseworthy and of noble bent

And true and just, without selfdom

Think on these things, and so become

Janet Martin

Phil.4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, 

whatever is honorable, 

whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think on these things.

Thought-scope/scape

 

 PAD Challenge 25: For today's prompt, write a thought poem. 

A thought can be...a bloom bouquet

(first fresh-picked bouquet from my garden)

I love these cheery little pansy-pixies 

that wander at will through my flower-border

and eagerly burst into smiles as soon as the snow is gone!

A thought can try to fool us into trusting our own eyes

Or not; a thought can climb above complaint, or criticize

A thought can be a candle in the dark, a bloom bouquet

A blow below the beltline or a high-five hip-hooray

A noose around the neck of dreams or hope and trust’s lifeline

A labyrinth of vengeful schemes, both trellis and the vine

A lavish wander-land of want, a ladder to the stars

A dungeon where dark demons taunt, a cart that bumps and jars

A thought, intangible at first, but if indulged at length

Can be an unquenchable thirst, great weakness or great strength

A thought can be a comrade or a bitter enemy

A playground or a battlefield, it’s up to you and me

© Janet Martin

Only God/Love

In the Court of Thought

do you sometimes feel like shouting,

'Order in the house, please!'

That's when hopefully

Humble Prayer rises up

and orders Thought

to 'be still and know 

that He is God/love'!

 (Ps.46:10)

What a power-house for good or evil every single one of us

 carries on our shoulders, right?!

Around a table full of people

there is always so much more than

meets the eye...

so much more than

Sunday-night supper at Gramma's House...

Some after-homemade-pizza and carrot cake-reflection/digestion😋😊

As we shed innocence, we all struggle at times with that hidden world of thought!

Here's hoping, nay, here's praying we do not try to order thought's steps on our own!

Thought can be a darksome dungeon wrought with dangers in disguise 

Carving warpaths through assumption with the razor-edge of sighs 

Mercy meets us in the moment if we reach beyond the noose 

That inflicts its guarded torment and that only God/love can loose 

Thought can rage, a cage of demons bent on carnage of good cheer 

Who knows what can brim unbidden, havoc hidden in a tear 

Consequence’s score is settled on a stage none can outsmart 

Only God/love can melt the mettle of a cold and bitter heart 

Thought can threaten course of action it ought not to contemplate 

Only God/love can break the pattern wrought by thoughts of spite and hate 

Lest stones heaped for easy access in a quick slip of the tongue 

Hones a hotbed of responses often rude and rashly flung 

Thought can set a deadly snare and snuff the flame the love would fan

Who can bear for long the brute that shakes its fist at fellowman

Hosting a cruel slew of reasons for vengeance to vindicate

Only God/love is fully qualified to set the record straight

Thought can be a harsh task master, sarcastic, heartless and mean 

Authoring certain disaster without God/love to intervene 

Thought alone can never conquer what thought ought not to resound

Only God/love can overcome the foe that rushes Holy Ground

Thought can rise on wings of worship from the belly of despair 

Turn discouragement to courage as hope’s feathers beat the air 

Not by sudden surge of honor as noble logic gives chase 

But by God/love alone who offers and authors goodness and grace

© Janet Martin 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 

whatsoever things are honest, 

whatsoever things are just, 

whatsoever things are pure, 

whatsoever things are lovely, 

whatsoever things are of good report; 

if there be any virtue, 

and if there be any praise, 

think on these things.

Phil.4:8

For the word of God is living and powerful, 

and sharper than any two-edged sword, 

piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, 

and of joints and marrow, 

and is a discerner of the thoughts 

and intents of the heart.

Heb.4:12

Trickle Effect or Tsunami

 

Oh, the sacred runnel 

that runs through channels

 where its trickle effect

sets the course of  lives 

that are not even born yet!

The trickle is fed by a source

It courses from, into

a force far greater than the crater

that it first ran through... 

  Somewhere the thundering power of Niagara Falls 

is fed by a trickle...

It seems invisible at first; The progeny Thought breeds 

In an arena that hosts entertainment and neglect 

But Evidence is soon unveiled in the bold font of deeds 

A virile force that sets the course of thought’s trickle effect 

The guests we host, of good or ill soon spill seeds of its kind 

Where what we do and say begins in thought’s ivory cell 

With how we satisfy the howling hunger of the mind 

And prove who we love best by what quest and interest tell 

Thought is a battlefield; the wars twixt enemy and Friend 

(Though we brandish no weapons to expose its crucial spree) 

Are fought where we are prone to forget aftermaths that wend 

In striking trickle effects of pride or humility 

Thought is the control-tower of the body that displays 

The Trickle Effect of Influence; what a sacred spring 

That feeds the Fount that bleeds into the voice that choice obeys 

And makes what seemed invisible the Most Apparent Thing 

The Trickle Effect may seem unassuming at first glance 

A gathering tsunami veiled in Equilibrium 

That cannot long contain the force that roars with allegiance 

To stay or change the course of generations yet to come 

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.10:5

...and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Phil.4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, 

whatever is noble, whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable--

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--

think about such things.

Sinking Ships Without God's 'Quick'

The other day a friend gifted this book to me: (insert a happy jig😊)

...and though most of the layers of his poetry are over my middle-aged

housewife-head, every poem sparks Something...

Beneath our skin base villains vie for vict’ry’s seat of honor, oh

Loud, loud, around the throne they crowd, always eager to overthrow

The virtue of a gentle answer for retaliations, rash

They seek the chink in noble intent; tempt Opinion’s quick backlash

How much is veiled beneath facades; how cool a body can belie

Thought’s bloody battlefield not revealed to the study of the eye

Where jealousy and pride are poised to pounce upon the easy prey

Of Selfish Lust when by enticement Humble Trust is drawn away

The riots that ensue beneath quiet-embossed exterior

Are nothing to be scoffed at where pitiless pirates storm the core

Of barges that ferry a Charge more precious than Want’s gleaming dross

Where, if the Guard is lax, attacks will weaken to the point of loss

The cargo that feet carry beneath very common decoupage

If Mortal is not wary, is subject to scary sabotage

Desire’s treason needs no reason to defraud, trick and mislead

Where beneath skin Will cannot win without God’s ‘Quick’ to intercede

© Janet Martin

Heb.4:12 KJV

For the word of God is quick, and powerful,

 and sharper than any twoedged sword, 

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 

and of the joints and marrow, 

and is a discerner of the thoughts 

and intents of the heart.

 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, 

and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, 

but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:21-25

Free Reign/Rein

 PAD Challenge day 17: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Free (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

When thought breaks bounds of order and is given full, free rein/reign

It finds our greatest weakness glaring like a crack of light

The lure of feeling’s fancy trolls a dark and dangerous vein

Craving's belly growls with an insatiable appetite

When want, the author of Excuse’s Fine Soliloquy

Stamps longing with approval, driving discernment amuck

The mastermind of mayhem, dressed in fool’s-gold finery

Seduces us with images of opulence and luck

When thought, ungoverned roams footloose and feckless as the dust

It leads us into places even angels fear to tread

The idle mind, a playground for the lawlessness of lust

The hunger in its hollow raving mad, though fed and fed

When thought, not taken captive wanders where it should not go

It falls prey to the enemy bent on ruin and loss

Where we all would be finished, but for He who loves us so

And guards thought through subjection to the power of the cross

© Janet Martin

 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world.

 Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

 We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God;

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Cor.10:4-5

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

On The Army of Thought...

 Thought is an army, veiled, we think

Behind our eyes and such

But always revealed by the chink

in its armour, called Touch

 (Above paragraph from the book Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Thought covers eons in a wink

And weighs nary a mite

But meters far more than we think

In fear, hope and hindsight

Thought is a rover and force

That scales what none can see

Save in the very certain course

To which touch will agree

Thought masterminds all kinds of woes

Exceeds the bounds of law

It breeds the seeds that deeds expose

And nothing can withdraw

Thought makes the man; its cravings feast

On what is in the trough

Where Thought must tame and hone the beast

That never gets enough

Thought is perception’s quintessence

An army in a cup

That wrangles with each circumstance

By how we fill it up

© Janet Martin

 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, existing in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but emptied Himself,

taking the form of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross. 

Phil.2:5-8