Worthwhile Earth-while

Do you ever wonder when day dawns, what lies before you 

as you touch your feet down on the tarmac of time's runway?
 Aren't you thankful we don't know but can trust the One who does?!

Almost three years I posted the picture below on this post(click link to see details about the photo)
and find where to find the best tasting maple syrup in the world!


Two weeks ago while hubby was loading beef-cattle at his cousin Paul Martin's farm
Paul (man on the left) was thrown by a cattle-beast.
He has suffered a serious brain injury and is looking at a long hospital stay IF all goes well!
Please pray for this hubby/dad of a large family!
Please pray for healing and health for Paul,
for strength and peace for his wife Delphine and their family!
Paul would dearly love to be where he would be this time of year if he was healthy...
in the sugar bush 'shack' tending sap-boiling.
The middle man in the photo is my brother-in-law Dale!
 I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as well as they forge ahead (between *hospital visits) in this busy Maple Syrup season without the help of one of their 'main men' ..
(*hospital is an hour away)

Each dark of night unravels to the travels of mankind

The threshold to a thoroughfare that none as yet have trod

Between the unforeseen and miles traversed, we, humankind

Touch down on holy ground that ultimately leads to God

We, prone to fix our eyes on prizes we can feel and touch

Groan where Hope is a lifeline in hardship’s calamities

For Hope is never seen; yet to its ether rope we clutch

While learning how to trust in what one knows; not what one sees

For we know God has promised, He never leaves us alone

All things work together for good to those who love the Lord

And though we do not know the layout of each stepping-stone

Or why; He does, who cups faith’s inconceivable reward

Not for our thought to decipher the what, why and wherefore

“Take up your cross and follow me” love’s ancient charge replies

Then when time’s dark glass is removed forever-evermore

And sight replaces faith, how worth the battle to the Prize

© Janet Martin

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 
who have been called according to his purpose.

Rom.8:28 NIV

Not The Red Carpet...The Gold Carpet!

Imagine if we ‘simply trusted’ knowing the One who knows what we don’t is enough!

Imagine how much futile fear this would save us!

As I was writing this post(happily celebrating my early laundry-start) wondering what this day would hold when it folds away like a fresh dried-in-the-sunshine-towel, suddenly my washing machine began a deafening, vibrating buzz and filled the laundry room with something that smells overheated and a lot like ‘trouble’.ugh!!!

Thank goodness for Ogram’s Appliance Repair in Floradale! 

He will be here today to take a look at it!

One sure sign of spring is when the sun rises on the other side of my brother Lewis's barn.

 He farms on 'the home-place'.

Now rolls from eastern skyline like a breaker made of gold

Across hills, valleys, streets and seas, a new day to behold

Once more we delve into a deep that teems with living’s care

And bids us choose twixt faith or fear to get from here to there

Ah, there is nothing new under the sun save each new day

The God of old is still the God who hears us when we pray

Yes, He who parted the Red Sea and led his people through

Is the same God today as then; He parts our waters too

Forbid we tromp across dawn’s threshold, bold without a thought

Of He who stokes the budded tree and earth’s big flowerpot

Forbid we simply take and take and never bow our head

To thank the One who sent His son to die in our stead

No one can boast a know-it-all of hours still unspent

Both rich and poor alike are at the mercy of God’s ‘lent’

Where no one can lay claim to more or less than God’s kind grace

Imagine if we trusted Him for each new day we face?!

The surf that spills o’er yonder hills and rolls through brook and fence

And tints the olden dirt beneath our feet with Imminence

Is ushered in then cupped in hands Nail-scarred. Holy. Sublime

He promises His faithfulness until the end of time

© Janet Martin

 Because of the Lord’s great love 

we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.  

They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lam.3:22-23 

No matter how often I hear or sing this song...it steals my breath!

A Gladsome Fact (especially when considering roads not taken yet)

My daily wish...to be as hungry for life as my little early-morning girl is for her breakfast; 

Almost every day her first words after removal of coat and boots are "I'm hungry!"

(I hate when my 'hunger' is overshadowed by apprehension instead of meek trust.)

"All gone!" she announces approx. two minutes later

Here, hidden within reach on roads we have not taken yet

We peer, with thought’s best guesses at perhaps-shaped silhouettes

For one sure fact, as time goes by, the trav’ler of it learns

That plan is interrupted oft, with unexpected turns

The range of here- to-there runs rife with life’s common foray

Yet, who can tell what waits to fill this shell of new today?

Where miles that wind and ties that bind are interwoven strings

As step by step unravels and unveils life’s hidden things

Ah, does your pulse thus quicken at the thought of what yet waits

Where mortal cups Immortal and but one breath separates

Does step-by-step and day-to-day don a more sacred grit

When we consider Time and the propensity of it

Here, on the threshold of what none of us beholds in full

We pray the Lord to guard and guide what twilight’s tide will lull

Where, hidden within in reach on roads soon only Thought can trace

We ought to trust the One that sets its stepping-stones in place

We speak a language learned by circumstance and consequence

Today is always history-in-waiting; we commence

On fringes of Imminence toward Today’s Vast Unknown

Oh, aren’t you glad of One Sure Fact; we never walk alone

© Janet Martin

Deut.31:8

 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; 

he will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Imagine If Faith Was Nothing More Than Luck...

PAD challenge day 9:  For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) If (blank),” replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “Run If You’re Being Chased,” “Animals Are Cute If They’re Not Mine,” “I Am Ready To Eat If There’s Food Around,” and “Poem If You Need To.”

 ...no matter what lies behind or ahead God is greater!

The Unknown; it could make us quake and shake in the shoes of new day

The path we cannot see could blind us to what is right where we are

And fear could keep us captive as we contemplate yon come-what-may

If faith was nothing more than luck or chance or ‘wish upon a star’

The Unknown could be like a stone around the neck; it would choke hope

And keep our feet from dancing and our mouth from tasting laughter’s bliss

The impact of its imminence could enslave us to its veiled scope

And cause us to completely miss This, weighted with love’s present kiss

The Unknown if we knew it would for all its gladness let grief rule

In spite of blessing-vaults outpoured we would be bound to mope and mourn

With gaze transfixed upon that Dreaded Place that renders Something cruel

Without assurance that God IS, how cursed the day that we were born

The Unknown is no secret to the Hand that aligns stepping stones

His ways and thoughts beyond our grasp; His promises sealed and secure

Then, though we do not know the content of life’s impending Unknowns

If we believe His Word, obey Mercy’s commands we will endure

The Unknown is a gaping tomb to those who shut their eyes and turn their backs

On He who leads, guides and protects through vales of suffering and death

Where all they know is what they see; no bulwark when their enemy attacks

No Rod and Staff to cling to or Triumph beyond their final breath

© Janet Martin

How does one explain the unexplainable

or faith to the faithless,

or how death is not defeat or the grave the victor? 

...and how, though worshiper's were pummeled with bullets

God did not fail them?!!

How, without belief in the Sure Word of God

does any of this madness make sense?

How will anyone find comfort if they never open

the Book by Love, Hope, Joy and Peace's Author? 

One can no more force belief than one can force love!

Both begotten in the heart of each and every one of us.

Both a choice we make

whether we think we make it or not.

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done,
    and proclaim that his name is exalted. 

 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
    let this be known to all the world. 

 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
    for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Isa.12: 4-6