Wonder-full

First, when I got up this morning a wave of woe washed over me;

So much would-be worry and want, without true trust in One greater!

 Wonderful, Merciful Saviour

Wonder-full, though oft-times dismayed

By disappointment’s rending rod

In spite of plans and dreams waylaid

Nothing separates us from God

Wonder-full, though heart-cries resound

With grief where unbelief is bold

Because iniquity abounds

The love of many has waxed cold

Wonder still fills the heart with awe

To think, God, rich in mercy gave

His Son to die because He saw

How many souls His death would save

He did not, in the face of hate

Retaliate, but cried ‘forgive’

His suffering, so very great

So that the least may look and live

Thus, we may live, still wonder-full

In spite of hardship’s draining toll

God’s Word and love none can annul

Or thwart the Saviour of the soul

© Janet Martin

Wishing you a weekend filled with wonder!

So much to steal our breath in His Word and in His works!

Psalm 10: 12-18

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

Poem-Thunder

On a picture-perfect June Saturday with lots to do

poetry thunders!

💗

A poem, is like a bouquet

Of peonies, soft pink...

Like bud that pulses, pops and spills

In green leaf canopy...

A poem is more than mere verse

More than meter and rhyme

It wrangles feelings into words

Melds common with sublime

It gathers moments that would fade

Without a second thought

Snared from seasons as they parade

Through graces, soon forgot

A poem takes us by the hand,

Nay, tugs at inner strings

Its truth, beauty and love withstands

The ever-change time brings

It courses through the utmost part

Of hearts; steeds, hunger-shod

Always showcasing, with word-art

The majesty of God

It preaches, teaches, reaches where

No naked eye can see

To storm Soul’s sacred thoroughfare

Hinged to eternity

A poem, from life’s ugliness

Of thorns that pierce and prick

Points out the blood-red loveliness

Of Hope’s rose-kindled wick

A poem thunders without sound

Through wonder's speechless gaze

Where wonder is the holy ground

Of worship's flawless praise

A poem, is like a bouquet

Of peonies, soft pink

It cheers a dark and dreary day

With petals made of ink

A poem celebrates the thrills

That fill the earth with glee

Like bud that pulses, pops and spills

In green leaf canopy

Like innocence of little child

Pirates of stolen breath

Where joy and sorrow drive us wild

With birth’s promise of death

Where insecurity and fear

Could smother happiness

Where we are altogether here

By the Creator’s ‘yes’

Where, now and then, lest we turn blind

To Hands, (not without scar)

A poem can gently remind

Us how precious we are

© Janet Martin

Psalm 63:3 ESV

Because your steadfast love

is better than life,

my lips will praise you!

A few more June joy-praises...

Thank God!

a few May morning creation-treasures...

Thank God for beauty of creation, nature’s free-for-all

Where no one can claim credit for His creatures great and small

Mankind beholds what earth unfolds; we cannot intervene

To haste a bud to bloom or baste the countryside in green

We owe the crowning glory of worship’s unbridled praise

To He who orchestrates and grants the number of man’s days

Thank God for beauty beyond reach of evil’s ruthless rod

The heavens timelessly declare the handiwork of God

To set before our gaze, buffets laden with trays designed

By clouds and colours man cannot muster or mastermind

Then praise God, who furnishes seed, bud and celestial fount

Before the day when we bow down to give sacred account

Thank God for seasons we can only skim the surface of

To marvel without merit at earth’s laden treasure trove

To be the sole recipients of joy as we behold

The wonders of creation that somehow never grow old

Unbridled beauty clothes this globe compelling awestruck gaze

To touch the hemline of His robe with reverence and praise

Thank God, that while the ages roll creation keeps its youth

Where time will always take its toll yet cannot alter truth

Or usurp the Creator; from the dawn of ‘let there be’

No one and nothing can deter divine authority

He cups creation in His Hands, commands sun, moon and stars

We smote our chests, cry ‘what is man’ and drink from Mercy’s scars/jars

Thank God that He charges no fee for wonderment’s surprise

But spreads showcases lavishly before our very eyes

Where nature remains innocent in spite of mortal guilt

A kind of picnic basket emptied on earth’s tartan quilt

Where we are all invited to partake of beauty’s fare

And give God all the glory for glory He chose to share

© Janet Martin

Psalm 104:33-34

Click link to read the whole glorious chapter!)

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the Lord.

To Ink-Wranglers and Revelers

In the middle of house-work,

burnt cookies (h-m-m! I wonder what happened to one!😉😋)

yard/gardenwork,

 flora...

 and fauna,

tot-care

 (aka laugh-till-I-cry and -tear-out-my-hair!!')

Midst this...

This poem, I've been trying to finish since yesterday morning,

begs the question, is it worth the hard-fought while?!

'Are there still parts of hearts unstirred?'

to make worthwhile wrangling of word

and try to capture winks of time

into a memento of rhyme?

And as I contemplated this thought

 midst all the modest mayhem

of everyday life I say, 

a thousand times 'yep'💝!

Are there still parts of hearts unstirred

By artistry of written word

Doth aught yet wait within the pen

To storm the gates of acumen

Tell me, is yet a poem left

To cheer the broken and bereft

Where archives groan with printed page

Of whispers honed from age to age

Can yet sheer wonderment remain

To cheer, to delight and sustain

As poem-seeds tremble and press

Can they sprout into Happiness

Beneath the skin, in heart and soul

Impressions of ink tug and toll

Surely tis not for naught, to free

The bloom from looms of poetry

Behold, the bud of daybreak brims

And earth is charged with heaven’s hymns

Hark, for the dark dissolves in grace

From Holy God to human race

The earth gives birth where nature’s law

Kindles the mirth of ooh and aah

And draws us, but not by our hands

To revel in momentous sands

…where tots are filled with lots of More

To inspire the troubadour

Innocent curiosity

The purest form of poetry

The Poet cannot justify

To gaze unfazed without reply

While welkin flask and task compete

Where star-tides wash work-weary feet

The poet returns to retrace

The aura of yesterday’s face

To kiss the curves of see-to-saw

To preserve for rekindled awe

For, like a fledgling, tots soon fly

Into a world of peopled ‘sky’

Like feather-down, silver and soft

The fluff of dusk-blown echoes waft

Where parts of hearts ache to be stirred

By artistry of written word

Where whispers wait with winsome wink

To storm soul-gates with wrangled ink

© Janet Martin

 "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; 

the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isa.6:3

'The earth gives birth where nature’s law

Kindles the mirth of ooh and aah'

What began with this burst of gold...

.

yesterday at sunrise...

(Is a sunrise not enough to waken the poet in all of us?!!)

...or sunset?

Is completed at Saturday noon midst much domestic distraction😅💗

Already Breath-taken

 

Already breath-taken

Ere buds fully waken

And silence is broken

By leaf-token’s laud

Already dumbfounded

By beauty unbounded

For we are surrounded

By glimpses of God

Already enchanted

By blooms, still unplanted

And tree-tops half-glistered

In whispers green-gold

Already delighted

By dreams unrequited

Yet we are excited

To watch them unfold

Already forgotten

Winter’s frigid cotton

And battles we fought in

A world, cold and white

Already forgiven

The green side of livin’

Rolls out to blue heavens

In sighs of delight

© Janet Martin

Wonder-Full World

  PAD Challenge 26;

For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) World," 

replace the blank with a word or phrase, 

make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Somehow 'firsts' of a season always fill me with fresh wonder...

first snowfall, 

first buds,

 blooms and bouquets,

first garden crop sprouts,

...

 then first pickings

... to first fallen leaves

the world is wonder-full!

'something to stare at in earth's every crease...

Wonderful wonder, how wondrous art Thou

Melding the mundane to Marvelous Wow!

Stealing the thunder of man’s vanity

Breath-taking wak’ning to Your majesty

Yielding to You honour and glory’s due

Worship in its purest form, tried and true

Wonderful wonder, the world is a fount

Brimming with Beauty, too ‘bundant to count

Who can step over the threshold of day

Into a morning, wild with Mercy’s yea

Never astounded and never amazed

By over-under-around-us, un-phased

Wonderful, wonder-full world at our door

So much to experience and explore

Something to stare at in earth’s every crease

Winter to spring, bud to bloom masterpiece

Heavens above hills and rills, land and sea

Thund’ring with wonder still waiting to be

Wonderful, wonder-full gateway to awe

We, lavished by love’s extravagant law

Dare not become so numb as not to feel

Hands of the Potter ‘round clay on the wheel

Smiling, methinks, as He opens our eyes

To the glad wonder of life’s next surprise

© Janet Martin

What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong

Wonder-World

 PAD Challenge 26;

For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) World," 

replace the blank with a word or phrase, 

make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

I wonder what today will bring

As morning spreads glistening wings

Above earth’s-re-emerging bars

As heaven blushes away stars

And darkened awnings thin until

Dawn fills a worldwide windowsill

I wonder at mercy renewed

My heart, a cup of gratitude

That while we slept God didn’t scorn

His promise and withheld new morn

(Though we have made a sorry mess

Of reverence and righteousness)

I wonder at the way the world

Now wide awake and dew-drop pearled

Invites the likes of you and me

To endless possibility

As sky-wide gates are flung ajar

And mercy meets us where we are

I wonder at the world at large

Where we, aboard its season-barge

And fellow-travelers; as such

I wonder why we fight so much

Instead of using Time’s Short-Sweet

To help each other to our feet

I wonder what today will bear

Before it slips into thin air

And earth is tucked beneath a quilt

Of stars on blue and echo-gilt

I wonder, nay, pray it will be

Memento-of-love memory

© Janet Martin

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, 

who alone works wonders. 

And blessed be His glorious name forever; 

and may the whole earth be filled with His glory. 

Amen and Amen.

 – Psalm 72:18-19

Wealth of Wonder and Love

 

Wishing you a wonder-full and lovely day!

This morning is a gray, rain-drop spangled lake

rather than the golden wake of a few dusks ago...

What if this would be enough; life’s wealth of wonder and love?

What if we were satisfied with the joy that these provide?

What if our words would brim with thanksgiving’s heartfelt hymn?

What if this was happiness; finding more by wanting less

Life is rich when love/God is first; wealth of days, wonder-immersed

In spite of hard hills and holes, love and wonder still consoles

Waking worship’s madrigal, making life so worth it all

While we learn to cherish more, so much to be thankful for

Let's not seek plunder of stuff but more of wonder and love

Overflowing cups of praise from a decanter of days

Taking sparkles from life’s fount, making every moment count

Filling fortune’s treasure trove with wealth of wonder and love

What if, for all that we lack we found something to give back

Finding in love's kindliness the secret to happiness

Deepening, as years go, reverence for  'you and I'

Finding love and wonder's laud grounded in the grace of God

© Janet Martin

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,

 to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,

 teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 

singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Col.3:15-16

Our Greatest Awe of All

 Today's Daily Bread Bible reading is one of my favorite passages of scripture;

Eph.2:4-10

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 

 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

 (by grace you have been saved), 

 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace

 in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

 For by grace you have been saved through faith, 

and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 

 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Marvelous Grace

The wonders of creation, too manifold to tell

Still pale when in comparison to Living Water’s well

A worldwide invitation to come, to taste and see

The wonders of salvation through grace that sets us free

Where no more condemnation awaits all who believe

In He who paid our pardon, so mortal may receive

Redemption, thus exemption from death’s inherent doom

The hour of repentance, the flower of the tomb

Where the grave has no power, because of Calvary

Where Jesus became our scapegoat and victory

Where all who come to Jesus, He will not turn away

He gave His life to free us from Debt we could not pay

Then come, taste and behold through faith, Mercy's miracle 

The wonders of salvation, our greatest awe of all

© Janet Martin

From Wonder's Treasure Trove...

Do you ever wonder, when you get up

what wonders will fill you with wonder today?

And isn't it wonderful how wonder always take us by surprise?!

Beneath...

or above

Wonder spills its treasure trove!

Wonder is delight’s amazement, worship’s outpouring, unflawed

Wonder is that perfect moment as we forget all but God

As we marvel at the beauty of an unexpected ‘gift’

That surprises Ordinary and gives commonplace a lift

Wonder is awe’s perfect pleasure, making the meek mortal glad

From a trove of priceless treasure spills a thrilling myriad

Cheering creature-care with comfort as God captures our gaze

Composing from thrumming heart-strings a hymn of rapturous praise

Wonder sweeps away gray shadows from the deeps beneath our skin

Granting, at least for the moment, happiness without chagrin

Stealing our breath with sudden, sweet glimpses of paradise

As we taste the crumbs that scatter from a Table in the skies

© Janet Martin

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works 

Which You have done; 

And Your thoughts toward us 

Cannot be recounted to You in order; 

If I would declare and speak of them, 

They are more than can be numbered.

Psalm 40:5

Learning To Read God's Poetry

 Winter dusk warms the ink in frozen pens...

My dear, because we cannot live on poem-books alone 

We must learn how to siphon poetry from grin and groan 

And how to glean from fleeting hues of time’s momentous tide 

A ballad, born of blush and blues brushed on the countryside 

My dear, because the now to then of seasons slips and drips 

Like lyrics from a phantom pen or sighs from trembling lips 

We need to learn to recognize God’s lines of poetry 

They waft upon dusk-softened skies, they sail the snowy lea 

My dear, because, like love, life’s poetry oft masquerades 

In what seems very ordinary day-to-day parades 

We need to take a longer look at what ink-drops compose 

With gurgle of the brumal brook, winter’s skeletal rose 

My dear, because we cannot keep at bay the dying day 

Or other gently waning whispers tangled in the fray 

We need to learn to see more than time’s trouble and its bite 

And marvel at the poetry that only God can write 

© Janet Martin