All This And Heaven Too

Enjoying a Snowbound Sunday! 

Proverbs 3:19-20
The LORD founded the earth by wisdom 

and established the heavens by understanding. /

By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, 

and the clouds dripped with dew. (or snow??)

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities,

His eternal power and divine nature, 

have been clearly seen, 

being understood from His workmanship, 

that men are without excuse.

Colossians 1:16
For in Him all things were created, 

things in heaven and on earth,

 visible and invisible, 

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 

things were created through Him and for Him.

Psalm 104:24
How many are Your works, O LORD! 

In wisdom You have made them all; 

the earth is full of Your creatures.

Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power;

 He established the world by His wisdom 

and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

Where every window frames a masterpiece by God unfurled...

And bids us find a cozy seat to marvel at the world...

Where every window frames a masterpiece by God unfurled

And bids us find a cozy seat to marvel at the world

Where the Creator fills the earth with galleries, snow-spun

And awestruck creature thrills in works of art second to none

Where every season brims with boundless beauty to behold

And humble hearts thunder with hymns as God's name is extolled

(Where we are all without excuse; God's qualities unfurled

In evidence unloosed since the creation of the world) Rom.1:18-20

Where to witness mankind's delight must bring God pleasure too

As we approach Faith Turned To Sight, when all will be made new

But, until then He grants a world of unplumbed majesty 

Gazillion autographs untwirled for everyone to see 

Where He maintains the matrix of four-season ebb and flow

 A collage of mosaics swirls blue sky, green grass, white snow 

Until it seems each season tries to boast the finest view

While, every heart a poet sighs, All this and Heaven too' 

Janet Martin

                            

Like Diamond Confetti or Ode to January/Winter

Dazzling beholders with morn's molten ambience

Showcasing barren tree's elegant poise....

(Oh dear, this post/poem turned out a little longer than intended

but every time I aimed for a 'last stanza'

it inspired another! 

So this can be either one long poem

or four four-stanza poems)

I always look forward to the season of January and February!

A welcome and gentle exhale after fall rush 

and Christmas celebrations...

 This is the season to slow down and savour

The simmer of supper, 

the shimmer of stars...

 Let masterpieces by Jack Frost astound you...

Unwind in the gentle hue of candle glow...

Be kinder, to yourself and to those around you

Dance in a world of blue sky and white snow

 Glad for the grandeur of every season

Mad with thanksgiving for beauty of snow...

For earth swaddled in feathers wafting from Heaven

Composing a canvas to capture the show...

While we scold bold sparrow hawk,

perched on yon limb...

1. This is the season to slow down and savour

The simmer of supper, the shimmer of stars

Tossed earthward, like diamond confetti, to favour

The landscape with glitter to gild barren bars

2. This is the season to let wonder thunder

With astonished pleasure, at nature’s repose

To cherish the healing of wounds left by summer 💔

To feel the gift Restoration’s Pace bestows

3. …to treasure a sabbath for hands that grow callous

From tasks that Yard Duty renders, spring to fall

To be an awed tenant in Contentment’s palace

Glad for the rhythms of Winter’s Madrigal

4. Glad for the grandeur of every season

Mad with thanksgiving for beauty of snow

For earth swaddled in feathers wafting from Heaven

Composing a canvas to capture the show

***

5. This is the season to ease expectation

To retire from Strict Demand’s rigorous rule

Take time to crunch-crunch through Courtyards of Creation

To admire trees finely bedecked in white tulle

6. Take time to dabble in scrabble-game duels

To thrill at words, like ‘cozy fireside nook’

Thread grief-tender heartstrings with love’s precious jewels

Linger like a lover twixt Cover of Book

7. Let masterpieces by Jack Frost astound you

Unwind in the gentle hue of candle glow

Be kinder, to yourself and to those around you

Dance in a world of blue sky and white snow

8. This is the season for dream-perfect gardens

Lush blooms flourishing ‘neath unwearied vim

For Poet to cease to beg clock for kind pardons

Time’s taut tether loosed; lyrics tumble and glim

***

9. This is the season to turn into laughter

As 'simmer of supper' is served piping hot

As love gazes longer, before Ever After

Captures pretty pictures in frames soon forgot

10. This is the season to savour, hope-heady

Where moments are anything but commonplace

Tossed earthward from Heaven, like Diamond Confetti

Dazzling creation with four-season grace

11. Dazzling beholders with morn's molten ambience  

Showcasing barren tree's elegant poise

Doffed of lofty leaf-lays; yet, striking in silence

This is the season of unexpected joys

  12. While we count our blessings, hot coffee, spaghetti

While we scold bold sparrow hawk, perched on yon limb 

While fresh snowfall glitters like Diamond Confetti

While ev'ry breath beckons a thanksgiving hymn 

*** 

13. Old Man Winter masters the technique of swirls

Pity the bystander, blind to the bliss

Of marvelous artwork only his brush unfurls

In this season of too much magic to miss 

14. Darling, winter's hours are like icicles

Darling, the flowers, still soft-slumbering 

Cannot long constrain the warm zephyr that tickles 

The deeps of a haven that harbours fair spring

15. So, sing hallelujah for winter beauty

Praise the wise Creator for His perfect plan

Rest from the charges of plant-harvest duty 

Rejuvenation for flora and man  

16. This is the season to slow down and listen...

Snow-sermons and symphonies can leave souls awed 

Ah, this is the season of frost-stars that glisten

Like diamond confetti, tossed earthward, from God

© Janet Martin

 Old Man Winter masters the technique of swirls...

Take time to dabble in scrabble-game duels...

It's Winter Time

My previous plans for today got postponed till Friday,

opening up a Window of Time to soak in the season🙏💖

Eccles.3:1

To every thing there is a season, 

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

It’s winter, time to marvel without Duty’s pressing Must

Time to linger in garden-catalogues and stir dream-dust...

Time to look at the birds and hear the words Jesus decreed

Do not worry, because your Heavenly Father knows Your need...

It hard to tear myself away from the window these days

The finch feeding frenzy is quite phenomenal!!

How many can you find in the photo below?

I counted 24! and there were many more not on the photo!

It’s winter, time to wander in the snow-embellished wood...

Time to enjoy the fruit of harvest-toil with gratitude...

Time to trade work shoes for slippers and pad about the house

As sweet and simply happy as a little country mouse...

It’s winter, time to marvel without Duty’s pressing Must

Time to linger in garden-catalogues and stir dream-dust

Time to travel the world through books to destinies afar

And, with each turn of page forget how old we really are

Time to look at the birds and hear the words Jesus decreed

Do not worry, because your Heavenly Father knows Your need

It’s winter, time to wander in the snow-embellished wood

Time to enjoy the fruit of harvest-toil with gratitude

Time to trade work shoes for slippers and pad about the house

As sweet and simply happy as a little country mouse

Time to pull child upon the knee and gently rockabye

Before the summer beckons them to spread their wings and fly

It’s winter, time to bundle up when every footstep creaks

When the sharp air pinches and squeeze noses, chins and cheeks

Foolish to challenge Old Man Winter’s churlish howdy-do-o-o-o/wh-o-o-o❄❅❆

So, wear those hats and mittens like your mother told you to

And splurge a bit; indulge in marshmallow-hot-chocolate cheers

All things in moderation keeps us young at heart, my dears

It’s winter, time to dabble in scrabble duels, and win😅

And tell the wind-wolf 'not by the hair on my chinny-chin

May he come in'; and if he tries the chimney he’ll be caught

For I have stoked the fire and it’s very, very hot

A fine place to pull up a chair and talk and talk and talk

And laugh the kind of laughter that is not shushed by the clock

It's winter, time to sip star-sparkles from a frost-dipped mug

And turn, what once was Future/nothing into a warm memory-hug

To pan for winter-gold is such a thrilling escapade

To be content to rejoice in this day the Lord has made

And thank Him for enchantments no other season bestows

Jack Frost's art on the window, fat snowman with carrot nose

It’s winter, time to bake a cake and celebrate Today

And feast on a big slice of what makes lifetimes slip away

Like icicles that dangle from eaves like clear candlesticks

That Sunbeam dares with kisses and that Youngster picks and licks

And Adult says they shouldn’t though we have forgotten why

With so much to remember as the days and years fly by

It’s winter, time to drift across the quiet land on skis

And worship the Creator of white skies, white fields, white trees

And find new ways to wonder at winter splendor, age old

At Masterpiece on Masterpiece only God can unfold

At muffled nooks and crooks and brooks, at firesides and such

Where just like snowflakes, winter’s moments melt beneath our touch…

© Janet Martin

It’s winter, time to dabble in scrabble duels, and win😅

It’s winter, time to bake a cake and celebrate Today

And feast on a big slice of what makes lifetimes slip away...

It’s winter, time to drift across the quiet land on skis

And worship the Creator of white skies, white fields, white trees...

And find new ways to wonder at winter splendor, age old

At Masterpiece on Masterpiece only God can unfold

At muffled nooks

 and crooks

 and brooks,...

How The Plump Dove Fluffs Its Feathers (among a few other observations)

Happy, happy halfway through January 2024!!

Ps.145:9-10

The Lord is good to all; 

 he has compassion on all he has made.

All your works praise you, Lord;

your faithful people extol you.

How the plump dove fluffs its feathers with no need for looking glass...

How, if we look, we find much to be tenderly thankful for

How a good book adds a touch of passion to commonplace chore...

(more about below book Here: Homemaker's Prayer)

How a cup of tea is like a gentle, pick-me-upper hug...

How snow-stenciled scenery always gives my heartstring a tug...

How the plump dove fluffs its feathers with no need for looking glass

How love’s sentimental tether binds the present to the past

How spring, summer, fall and winter, Beauty cheers thought’s countenance

And how prayer’s flight is unhindered by season or circumstance

How we are awed, sweetly speechless by Nature’s Grand Orchestra

How God teaches and beseeches mortal worship through its law

How the creature is no match for the Creator; never was

Never will be; He is greater and deserves endless applause

How the measure of God’s pleasure steals the show without contest

How each new day grants the treasure of a fresh and untried quest

How laughter’s melodic mettle fills the air with seraphim

How the song of the tea kettle is my favorite kitchen hymn

How, if we look, we find much to be tenderly thankful for

How a good book adds a touch of passion to commonplace chore

How a cup of tea is like a gentle, pick-me-upper hug

How snow-stenciled scenery always gives my heartstring a tug

How in spite of so much sadness, gladness survives trouble’s gall

How, despite shape, height or status love is still One-size-fits-all

How a morning always rouses what has never been before

Mercy’s renewed summons wows us with God’s faithfulness once more

How, the howl of younger hunger slowly but surely succumbs

To a wizened, humbler wonder satisfied to savor crumbs

How at last we learn the secret to happiness, fit for kings

Not in gimme-gimme-reaches, but in joy of simple things

How, through loss we gain awareness of phrases like you-and-me

Cherishing the fragile rareness of fine words like ‘us’ and ‘we’

How, here we are cradled briefly between two eternities

One, that concerns the Soul chiefly, one of Bygone centuries

How an almost-poem’s tempo keens the poet’s appetite

How ink-swirls compose mementos of rhythm and rhymed delight

How the Bard, kindly encumbered with God’s charge to dredge blurred deeps

Probes the place where Ballad slumbers or Elusive Poem sleeps

How the Finesse of Forever wakes us to the wealth of Now

How the howling gale of winter makes home palatial, somehow

How we chuckle while the weather throws tantrums that never last

How the plump dove fluffs its feathers ready to face one more blast

© Janet Martin

(Below, the cardinal and Blue Jay pics are from my mother-in-law's house yesterday)

How spring, summer, fall and winter, Beauty cheers thought’s countenance...

Bird-watching bliss these days as the cold temps 

and snowy weather brings a feeding frenzy!