Let's Talk Today About Good News

Some Good News songs and a poem to kick off the week leading to

The manger, the cross and the empty tomb!

Leading us from despair to hope,

from darkness to Light

from hell to Heaven!

 Noel, Noel-(2022 remake)

Agnus Dei-Michael Smith

 

God Made Low

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:4

Note of 'non-apology'!: 

it was really hard to reign in the Good News surge of pure joy!💖🙏

Let’s talk today about the things that bring us hope and joy

The song the angels sang still rings with truth none can destroy

Where unto us was born that day, a Saviour, Christ the Lord

And nothing in the world can sway the soundness of God’s Word

And nothing can annul the gift that gladdens death’s dark toll

Time cannot change nor tempest shift the anchor of the soul

Nor dim the Light of men that darkness cannot overcome

In Him is life and that life is the Rock of Christendom

The breath of the believer and the faith that makes us whole

The bane of the deceiver and the beauty of love's goal

The Good News of salvation is greater than headline gloom

The Author of creation did not leave us in sin’s doom

But gave His Son to save us from a debt we could not pay

The precious blood of Jesus Christ washes our guilt away

And cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we confess

God fits us for faith’s fight with his abiding promises

He leads us not into temptation but delivers us

From awful condemnation for all those in Christ Jesus

Let’s walk the Way He taught, faith’s humble devotion to prove

Let’s talk today about God and His everlasting love

Let’s count with grateful gladness all the blessings grace bestows

And counter this world’s madness full of wolves dressed in sheep’s clothes

Wise in their own eyes they deny the cross that faith must bear

And reason truth into a lie and pride into a prayer

Without repentance and belief; oh, pray they see the Light

And weep because  joy crowns our grief, for He gave us the right

To become His dear children, if we believe in His name

No longer slaves of Satan but heirs of Christ's glorious claim

Thus faith abounds with hope and joy, through the power of He

Whose Spirit, grace and truth’s alloy, secures death’s victory

Let’s talk about Emmanuel; God with us constantly

His goodness and mercy the wellspring of eternity

His perfect peace to all whose minds and hearts are stayed on Him

Let’s talk about the Good News and drink from fountains that brim

With glad tidings that bad news cannot keep from coming true

Let’s talk about God’s love and choose to love Him through and through

Because no matter what betide, God works for our good

He knows our need and will provide, though oft misunderstood

Because of what faith’s testing brings while trouble has its day

Ah, let’s talk about heav’nly things that never fade away

© Janet Martin

Prepare Him Room

The Awful (Terrifying) Truth

Why this poem?!!

Because whoever and wherever we are,

God so loved us that He gave his only begotten son

that whosoever believes in Him

will not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

...and we all need to be reminded

 this sacred prelude, this day of grace

is leading to Forever and ever. either with God

or without!

🙏

We love to think about and praise God for his love, hallelujah!!

but His love would be a mockery

without judgement's wrath against all injustice and evil!

We don't hear the word hell much, used

in the context of its awful truth, do we?

And small wonder! 

There is no more sobering topic in the whole world.

But on the other hand, if this is so,

 why are we so afraid to speak of it

and perhaps snatch someone from a fiery grave?!!

Not everyone goes to Heaven,...

"“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ 

shall enter the kingdom of heaven,

but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

said Jesus in

Matt.7:21

While we are saved not by works, but by the gift of God's grace

through  His son, Jesus

works will always testify who we truly believe, honour and love above all!

Rescue the Perishing

Don’t buff truth with a lie

Don’t sugarcoat hell’s lair

Don’t wink and think the sin will die

Without confession’s prayer

The Word of God is just

And absolute and whole

The Word of God transcends the dust

That clothes the deathless soul

When God joins him and her

No lawyer can undo

Or sever with a signature 

One, turned back into two

Beware, lest lies take root

Be careful lest you fall

The tree will be known by its fruit

God’s Word, infallible

Fall on your knees and pray

The hope God calls us to

Commands us to love and obey

In everything we do

Be on guard where deceit

Gains popularity

Because its laws seem kind and sweet

-er than God’s fixed decree

The Tempter’s cunning guile

Harkens back to that day

When he deceived Eve with a smile

And ‘did God really say?

There is a Promised Land

There is a lake of fire

One, for the Faithful to the End

The other for the liar

The want of man will fight

And fight and fight until

He sees God in dawn’s breaking light

And yields his stubborn will

Then, wanting above all

A life that God can bless

By honoring the sacred call

Of holy righteousness

Don’t buff the truth with lies

And think no one can tell

The Word of God does not disguise

The awful truth of hell

There is a way that seems

Right in the eyes of man

Beware, beware, the devil schemes

To seduce all he can

Forbid that we become

Wise in our own eyes

Untroubled by the condition 

Of truth exchanged for lies

It is a fearful thing

To live bold and unbowed

Far worse, the awful reckoning

To die, still cold and proud  

God's grace will intercede

And help us bear the cross

That guards against the lies that lead

To hell and endless loss

Forbid that we become

Emboldened by a lie

Until the conscience becomes numb

To what will never die

© Janet Martin

Luke 16:17-18

It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear 

than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,

and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV /

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? 

Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters,

 nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves,

 nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified,

 you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Rev.20:15

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8 ESV /

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, 

the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,

 their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, 

which is the second death.”

When we are struggling to know if something is right or wrong

don't ask of someone 'what do you think??'

What we think is irrelevant!

Go to God's word and seek what He commands!

The Hands of God

D.H. Lawrence (1882-1930)

The Hands of God

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But it is a much more fearful thing to fall out of them.

Did Lucifer fall through knowledge?

oh, then, pity him, pity him that plunge!

Save me, O God, from falling into the ungodly knowledge

of myself as I am without God.

Let me never know, O God

let me never know what I am or should be

when I have fallen out of your hands, the hands of the living God.

That awful and sickening endless sinking, sinking

through the slow, corruptive levels of disintegrative knowledge

when the self has fallen from the hands of God,

and sinks, seething and sinking, corrupt

and sinking still, in depth after depth of disintegrative consciousness

sinking in the endless undoing, the awful katabolism into the abyss!

even of the soul, fallen from the hands of God!

Save me from that, O God!

Let me never know myself apart from the living God!

Because of God Who Loves Us Faithfully

 With glory, pouring out the morning sky...

Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

 therefore He rises to show you compassion, 

for the LORD is a just God. 

Blessed are all who wait for Him.

After a stretch of no sunrises,

the glorious colours of today's dawn 

were welcomed and beheld with eager joy!

Because of God who loves us faithfully

And hems us in with Hands no foe can wend

With Knowledge far too wonderful for me

With mercy, more than thought can comprehend

With glory pouring out the morning sky

With goodness spread like a lavish buffet

Before the sorry likes of you and I

With steadfast joy no sorrow can dismay

With grace, the only grace that breaks death’s curse

With hope that anchors the immortal soul

With awe that He who tends the universe

Indwells us with the faith that makes us whole

Compelling us to love’s devout reply

With deeds that bear faith’s witness undeterred

With self-surrender’s humble ‘here am I’

With earnest heed to all that we have heard

Without reserve, to let our longing be

Fulfilled by what the cross of Christ has won

Because of God who loves us faithfully

And in our sorry stead, offered His Son

To be the sacrifice for our sins

To pay its debt no mortal could defeat

To prove hate, death and darkness never wins

To rise again, salvation’s work complete

…and nothing can annul what He has done

While generations rise and fall like waves

The Mighty Cornerstone of Christendom

Abides, astride earth’s girth stippled with graves

That harbor dust and ash of toil and strife

But not the Soul, returned with tender care

To He whose love will search the Book of Life

To see if the soul’s name is written there

...Because of God who loves us faithfully

Because of the cruel cost/cross His dear Son braved

We need not dread Death’s dismal certainty

If we have called upon Him to be saved

© Janet Martin

Isaiah 25:9

And in that day it will be said, "Surely this is our God; 

we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. 

This is the LORD for whom we have waited. 

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness,

 but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish

 but everyone to come to repentance.

John 3:14-19

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

I Love You, Lord

From This Time Forth, Forevermore

The Psalm I keep on our refrigerator door

was this mornings Bible Reading in Our Daily Bread Devotion.

Though I have read this Psalm many times this morning

the last line confounded my comprehension!

From this time forth, forevermore

What joy and peace to know

Our loving God behind, before

Above us and below

Greater is He within us than

He that is in the world

No evil can frustrate the span

Of hope’s banner unfurled

Above, beneath and all around

Goodness and mercy pour

Where nothing can God’s plan confound

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Compassion without end

A kind Advocate to restore

What sin alone would rend

But God’s atoning sacrifice

His pardon once for all

By faith’s confession will suffice

To save us from The Fall

And by His all-sufficient grace

Where doubt’s dark demons roar

Naught can love’s finished work erase

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Oh Lord, renew our minds

Through humble eyes of faith restore

Our sight, where this world blinds

Where unbelieving scads applaud

Sin’s godless diocese

Yet none can thwart the love of God

Who grants faith perfect peace

Whose will it is that none die, lost

Spurning the cross He bore

To pay sin’s overwhelming cost

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Thought cannot comprehend

The vastness of love’s reservoir

Abounding without end

Who sits enthroned above the earth

And stretches out the sky

Like grasshoppers filled with His worth

We wait on his reply

As the perfected love of God

Commands us to obey

His Truth established on a Rock

That does not shift or sway

From this time forth forevermore

Oh pray, in Him we trust

Earth’s nations like a droplet's score

Or like a speck of dust

But our God is not like these

He holds earth’s basket-land

He cups the waters of the seas

In hollows of His Hand

He tends His flock with staff and rod

Of comfort; come, adore

Him, our everlasting God

Both now and evermore

© Janet Martin

1 John 2:1-6 (BSB)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin.

 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—

Christ, the Righteous One. Himself is the atoning sacrificea for our sins, 

and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

3By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.

4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments,

he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

5But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. 

By this we know that we are in Him:

6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.

Who is our God?!!

Isa. 40!

Sometimes, In This Present Culture

Isaiah 11:2

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him-

-the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and strength,

the Spirit of knowledge

and fear of the LORD.

(this verse below fills my heart and prayers these day...)

Ephesians 1:17-19

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit ^f of wisdom and revelation,

 so that you may know him better. 

18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 

in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, 

the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 

19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

If we want something to grow we feed it.

What is fed will grow...

Spiritual growth or the hunger for spiritual blessing

happens as we feed on 'spiritual bread'!

John 6:35

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. 

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, 

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Sometimes in this present culture

We could fall prey to despair

Where evil is like a vulture

And people don't seem to care

Or fall before God in prayer

Present culture's satisfaction

Fosters lies and unbelief

 Numbed by cyberspace-distraction

The god of opinion, chief

Dumb to God in heaven's grief 

Seems as if Spiritual Blessing

Is a treasure few esteem

Focused rather on possessing

Fortunes, fickle as a dream

While eternal riches stream

Seems as if mankind's redemption

 Purchased through God's only Son

Is the bull's eye of rejection

Though He died for everyone

Though He cried 'Thy will be done'

...to bring many sons to glory!

To lay down hope's solid rock

Seems as if God's Great Love story

Has become a laughing stock

Culture hails the stumbling block 

Fearless in the face of Mercy

Fearless, though death and hell wait

Scorning Christ with jeers and curses

Or with doubt's fruitless debate

Fearless in their dire state/strait

Blinded by the tempter's logic

Lured by sight's defeated stride

Seems this present culture's rock is

But the shifting sands of pride

Or the boast of God denied

Seems as if Spiritual Blessing

Is an odd and foreign phrase

Not a treasure worth confessing

And pursuing all our days

By denying self-bent ways  

Seems as if the fickle aweing 

Of excess, not sacrifice

Veils the subtle serpent drawing

The attention from the price

With enticements, 'fun' and 'nice'

Seems as if this present culture

Does not grasp the sacred Thence

Of heaven or hell, of judgement 

And the certain recompense 

Of the soul's inheritance

Seems as if 'riches in glory'

Falls on head-phone deafened ears

And the grace of God's love story

Is met with hate's bold-faced sneers 

Or Indifference-Veneers

As if the best we inherit

Is Something gold-silver-pearled

And as if life's Crowning Merit

Is This Fleeting Warp unfurled

Not riches beyond this world

Sometimes, in this present culture

Love weeps beneath faith's scorned cross

Hell's lord is a gilded vulture

Heaven's God tests us with loss

 And prayer's groaning albatross

God, open Faith's eyes within us

Tune us to truth's cunning foes

You are not slack in Your promise

Of wealth time cannot disclose

Of inheritance You chose

© Janet Martin

Psalm 47:4
He chooses our inheritance for us, 

the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. 

Selah

1 Pet.1:3-5

A Heavenly Inheritance

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope 

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4to an inheritance [b]incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, 

reserved in heaven for you,

  5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation 

ready to be revealed in the last time.

***

We only progress in sound living

as we progress in sound understanding

Charles Spurgeon~

***

Surviving our Present Culture

 

...and if after you listen to the first message you are hungry for more...

Satan's Strategy to Defeat Us – Dr. Charles Stanley

Thankfulness and Praise

1 Pet.1:17-19

And if you call on the Father,

who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, 

conduct yourselves throughout the time of your [e]stay here in fear;

 knowing that you were not redeemed with [f]corruptible things, like silver or gold, 

from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

 but with the precious blood of Christ,...

Imagine if every Sunday morning the minister would,

with trembling hands open a letter of encouragement

such as Peter wrote to remind the early church,

the first Christians facing opposition and persecution,

of the believer's living hope, so they/we would

'rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you

 at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 'v.13

Oh joy, we have that letter not only for Sunday morning but every single day!

v.20-21

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, 

but was [g]manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, 

who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, 

so that your faith and hope are in God.

Then as we think on these things 

may our lives overflow with humble thankfulness and praise!

When Joseph was thrown into prison after Potiphar's lie

he did not seek to vindicate himself but trusted God and served Him, even in prison!

'because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.'

Gen.39:23

Lord, help us strive to live our days in such a humble, trusting way...

As this morning's much needed rain is a plant's 'living hope'

so is God's Word/truth to the one who puts their trust in Him!

Lord, help us strive to live our days

With hearts of thankfulness and praise

Remind us of faith’s recompense

A heavenly inheritance

Lord, make the motive of life’s call

To glorify You above all

Lord, in the dark thick of the fight

Help us to be a shining light

Lord, let the kindness of Your grace

Equip, encourage and embrace

Let holy conduct testify

Of the hope on which we rely

Lord, lest some deadly vice creep in

Convict us of each subtle sin

Lord, then as we discern Your ways

Fill us thankfulness and praise

Amaze us with the end that tolls

With the salvation of our souls

Bought, not with world-wealth sacrificed

But with the precious blood of Christ

Lord, keep us from spite's ready snare

Stir in us Gethsemane's prayer

Then, help us strive to live our days

With hearts of thankfulness and praise

Forever and Always,

Amen

© Janet Martin

Matt.5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

 that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Father, what we know not

Teach us

What we have not

Give us

What we are not

Make us,

For Your Son's sake,

amen

(excerpt from message below)

Another excerpt: sometimes a bad thing happens for a good reason!

(Listen around and after the 30 min. mark for very vital, somber, relevant caution!)

The Need for Prayer

Do you love your pastor/s?

Do you pray for them so their

preaching may be the gathered result of our prayers?!!

Does a Sunday morning sermon bring fruit of 'their labour' or 'our labour'

as fellow-labourers for our Lord!?

Thoughts About Tots (and their Teachers)

A row of  little shoes, 

Father's Day on Sunday,

...and late last night, tripping over Edison who shouted into the quiet kitchen,

'Hi, I'm Edison, let's sing along with Alphabet Pal!' 

are all part of what inspired this poem.

By the way, thanks to Edison and other alphabet-repeating gizmos

 Tots can belt out the abc's long before they go to school!

Imagine if we drilled them in eternal things the way we do the temporal...

Deut.11:18-21

Remember God’s Words

18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds;

 tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

  19Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home

 and when you walk along the road, 

when you lie down and when you get up. 

20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, 

21so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, 

your days and those of your children may be multiplied 

in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; 

instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

It takes a village of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles,

 teachers, neighbors, childcare providers, etc.

to raise a child, but to train up a child in the way they should go (Prov.22:6) 

is mostly up to parents (*and grandparents)!

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, 

so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen,

 and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. 

*Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

They trust us not to lead them into ways they should not go

They look to us to teach them so much that they want to know

This is no small or simple charge that follows you and I

These tots, so full of innocence and never-ending ‘why’

This is no brief commission we can annul when we choose

Once donned we cannot nonchalantly kick off parent-shoes

Tots are not little long; the stars they are trying to reach

Reflected in their eager eyes, see far more than we teach

The agelessness of truth is a beacon that does not dim

It is no shifting shadow that adapts to wish and whim

The manual for moms and dads is pure and undeterred

The sound and supreme counsel and instruction in God’s Word

To grasp astronomy, ecology, geologic worth/girth

Begins with knowing Who created the heavens and earth

The One who designed galaxies and rolling seas and bugs

Creates each little child we shower with kisses and hugs

The abc’s and one-two-threes are important to learn

But better far than shiny stars these tender triumphs earn

Is the sacred retelling of the One who made us all

No nursery rhyme is He who sees all creatures great and small

Children grow up so fast; Past echoes with the strange replay

Of scenes, that in a child’s childhood, we think, are far away

The feet outgrowing shoes, the boo-boos on elbows and knees

Soon fade into the fond, fine fabric work of memories

Children trust us to lead them; oh, forbid we teach a lie

To tots, so full of innocence and never-ending ‘why’

Who look to us to tell about so much they want to know

Tis no small charge to teach them about God who loves them/us so

© Janet Martin

Teaching children is a moment-ous charge

Small choices can make a big difference!

For instance, what books we choose to read to them.

Yesterday was HOT! 

A great opportunity to enjoy the shade with books

while a child delighted and astounded me with her

intuitive innocence!!

I forgot about photos till we were leaving to tackle other important tasks

on her to-do list; like trike😂💖

Sacred, Fleeting Season

Suddenly, as I worked on this post, I couldn't stop weeping

for all the precious children of the world!

(How often it is the innocent who suffer

where innocence untaught 

grows up not knowing 

what they know not)

How sacred is the virgin soil

Of childhood's innocence ...

It is no mere coincidence that a child loves to hear about Jesus!

Every child in my childcare has shown me unbridled delight as we pause

before lunch to thank God for our food with this little prayer

God is great, God is good

Let us thank Him for our food

By His hands we all are fed

Thank-you Lord, for daily bread

Amen

From wide-eyed curiosity of a one-year old to eventually joining in,

 their faces beam with pure joy from pure hearts

as we thank God!

(and oh, the glorious conversations this little prayer sparks💗🙏)

On the inside cover of  a vintage version of The Pilgrim's Progress

 is this certificate of acknowledgement to honor the recipient of the reward.

Imagine if we still handed out such noble literature in our public schools

 as rewards to students!

Today students in this system,  

as tender as 5 years old 

(if the teacher chooses to comply)

are taught/groomed to dispute the indisputable...

He created them male and female, 

and blessed them 

and called them Mankind 

in the day they were created. 

Gen.5:2

Matthew 19:4

Jesus answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning 

the Creator 'made them male and female,'

Mark 10:6

However, from the beginning of creation,

 'God made them male and female.'

...and we wonder at the chaos and confusion of this age?!!

where by and large, the world has turned its back on God?!!

and ignores His everlasting Word?!!

Where defiled hearts defile innocence?!!

Evil as surely as good 

recognizes the sacred, fleeting season of childhood!

How sacred is the virgin soil

Of childhood's innocence  

How terribly accountable

Each one who tills and plants

Where evil as surely as Good

Recognizes this truth;

The fleeting season of childhood 

Soon sheds its tender youth

How then, we ought to sift the seeds 

That fall, so they will sprout 

A goodly crop, to choke the weeds

Of heresy and doubt 

Before planting time, brief and fair

Slips from the supple limb   

Remember the Creator, ere

They find no joy in Him

Janet Martin

"H-m-m! He's got one too!"

exclaimed Innocent Granddaughter at her observation

during little boy's diaper-change.

"Just like my baby brother!"

'Yes' I replied.

'that means he's a boy! 

If you 'got one' you're a boy!

If you don't, you are a girl!

God made it that simple and easy to figure out

and don't ever let anyone tell you any different!'

(Believe it or not, these unthinkable conversations are important today!!)

Eccles. 12 NASB

Remember God in Your Youth

12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, 

before the evil days come and the years approach 

when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”

; 2 before the sun and the light,

 the moon and the stars are darkened, 

and clouds return after the rain; 

3 on the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, 

and strong men are bent over, 

the grinders stop working because they are few, 

and those who look through [a]windows grow [b]dim; 

4 and the doors on the street are shut 

as the sound of the grinding mill is low, 

and one will arise at the sound of the bird, 

and all the daughters of song will [c]sing softly. 

5 Furthermore, people are afraid of a high place 

and of terrors on the road; 

the almond tree blossoms, 

the grasshopper drags itself along, 

and the caper berry is ineffective. 

For man goes to his eternal home 

while the mourners move around in the street. 

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is [d]broken 

and the golden bowl is crushed, 

the pitcher by the spring is shattered 

and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 

7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, 

and the [e]spirit will return to God who gave it. 

8 “Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher, “all is futility!”

9 In addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge;

 and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

 10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.

11 The words of the wise are like [f]goads, 

and masters of these collections are like driven nails; 

they are given by one Shepherd. 

12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: 

the [g]writing of many books is endless, 

and excessive study is [h]wearying to the body.

13 The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: 

fear God and keep His commandments, 

because this applies to every person. 

14 For God will bring every act to judgment, 

everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Of Ephemeral and Eternal...

This passage is part of what inspired today's poem...

as well as praying for those who are enduring terrible suffering

whether close to home or across the ocean... 

It the same God to whom all the heavens and earth belong

 who 'sets His affections' on us...

Deut.10:12-21 BSB

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you

 but to fear the LORD your God

 by walking in all His ways, to love Him,

 to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

  13and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD

 that I am giving you this day for your own good?

14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens,

 even the highest heavens,

 and the earth and everything in it.

  15Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. 

And He has chosen you, their descendants after them,

 above all the peoples, even to this day.

16Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.

  17For the LORD your God is God of gods 

and Lord of lords, 

the great, mighty, and awesome God, 

showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

  18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, 

and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

  19So you also must love the foreigner, 

since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. 

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

  21He is your praise and He is your God, 

who has done for you these great and awesome wonders 

that your eyes have seen.

Here's to a weekend of counting God's

'great and awesome wonders'!

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath...

Finally, spring is untwirling daffodils!

Sometimes life’s clime of dust-to-dust loses its luster, oh,

Where we wage wars of love and lust on shores of want and woe

Where rivalry of faith and fear tests how we heed life’s call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath

When everlasting due unfurls a world immune to death

Where no one can undo the gates that no appeal can budge

Where endless joy or sorrow waits where God alone is Judge

The threshing floor where grain from chaff has not been winnowed yet

Drenched with redemption’s autograph and blossom pirouette

Is mortal’s pilgrimage of dust, though lusterless sometimes

Its suffering is but the must that every Soul-dier climbs

…to the unveiling of the recompense of The Reward

Where we will reap the consequence eternally outpoured

Where the Staircase of Now and Here resonates with the call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Earth thunders as the great and awesome wonders of God brim

No other power can create but what belongs to Him

Where our eyes have seen the hemline of His majesty

As lusterless landscapes turn green where winter used to be 

© Janet Martin

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past