Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts

Monday, January 30, 2023

Because Actions Speak Louder Than Words...


Originally I entitled this poem
Sermon to Poets and Silver-tongued Scribes
but that felt a bit harsh 
and its connotation a bit off the mark
so I changed it😅

(all that to say, words ring hollow
without rubber-meets-road corroboration!)

Bit of satire to self today, as well as
all of us struggling with easier talked than walked!
Below, is a glimpse of the scenery of general muddled mayhem 
of many hours of mental workouts,
frustrated/vexed scribbles 
and mumbled prayer-stumble!!
Yet all of this can never take the place of
a single step to aid/accompany a fellow-traveler! 
(lest I/we forget)

My hope is that here and there a poem hits home 
like a hug that needs no explanation
and an act of kindness tendered in ink!



I’d take a stumbling sermon lived
Over a smooth rehearsal, talked
And if I had to choose a gift
I’d take mercy’s second mile, walked
I’d take the ink of honest toil
Over spouted theology
And if I had to choose love’s spoil
I’d take a friendly cup of tea

I’d take the smallest gentle deed
Above intent, pious and grand
And if I had to choose my need
I’d take an earnest helping hand
The pen, though mightier than sword
Is not a supple substitute
For living out God’s Holy Word
Until the branch is bent with fruit

Sermons are not misunderstood
When preached in meek obedience
Better than pulpits carved of wood
Are stepping stones of reverence
And in the thick and thin of cost
Midst love’s ado of This and That
Better a kindness-buoy tossed
Than a poetic lariat

The fine art of rhythm and rhyme
Can kindle senses with delight
But cannot take the place of Time
Spent on knees in the dead of night
And, lest words miss the sacred mark
Of pure religion undefiled
Better prayer’s closet in the dark
Than podiums where crowds go wild

© Janet Martin



Little children, let us not love in word or talk
but in deed and in truth.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Like Raindrops...

Happy Monday!
A whole new week of words not spoken...yet!

(Today's weather may have influenced the title of this poem a little😊)

Why is it after I feel like I've had 'My Say'
more often than not when I have cooled off
I am remorseful rather than pleased?!
because in those retaliatory moments I fail to reflect 
every single fruit of the Spirit! 

Gal.5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

Sometimes I think of these scenes in You've Got Mail
as less-than-kind comebacks that feel justifiable in the moment
inevitably lead to regret! 


 


They glance and gleam
And dance and stream
Like raindrops on the lane
They praise, they pierce
Civil or fierce
Reverent and profane
They crush, they cheer
Estrange, endear
They defend and betray
Oh, let’s think twice
And make them nice
The words we speak today

They pelt and spill
They soothe, they kill
They injure or they heal
With pleasant poise
Or narcissist's noise
How much a few reveal
They flare and fade
Afflict and aid
An olive branch or dart
Words glance and gleam
And dance and stream
Like raindrops on the heart

© Janet Martin

James 4:11-12
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.
 Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d
or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. 
When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, 
but sitting in judgment on it. 
12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, 
the one who is able to save and destroy. 
But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?  


Monday, November 15, 2021

Heart-effect

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
Psalm 141:3

Let the words of my mouth, 
and the meditation of my heart, 
be acceptable in thy sight, 
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

A winter wonderland to set the heart singing this morning (I hope) 😉
Contemplating what comes out of our mouths today
besides breath-clouds on the frosty air!



How cold the heart of spite doth burn
How mean then, mind doth mete
To tongue unlovely words that turn
To sorrow and defeat

How warm the heart of love doth leap
How kind then, mind doth spill
To tongue goodness and mercy’s sweet
-ness of grace and goodwill

How destitute are you and I
Without humility
To turn sharp edges of reply
To tender sympathy

© Janet Martin

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Word 'Count


PAD Challenge day 2: Two-for-Tuesday challenge...
Write a ready poem, and/or...
Write a not ready poem.

the words we use 
to think 
and write 
and speak
should always be
seasoned
with discipline
and grace
kindness 
and honesty

it seems the tongue 
has quite a gift
for swift, 
ready reply
So pray the words 
we choose 
to use
will aid
and edify

So when we bow
 before 
the One
who taught
 us how to live
we will 
be ready
by God's grace
a word-account
to give

© Janet Martin

Matt.12:36
But I say to you 
that for every idle word 
men may speak, 
they will give account of it 
in the day of judgment.







Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Small But Mighty

Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;
 and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. 
For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

James 3:9-10
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse human beings,
who have been made in God’s likeness.
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Chit-chat with friends over tea is one of life's sweetest luxuries...
Words are such powerful little vessels, 
They build up
and tear down
They can be tugboats
or torpedoes 
They can be an arm across a shoulder
or a punch on the nose
They can be sharp as thorns
or like a pretty rose...


Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 
be acceptable in thy sight, 
Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Words can be exchanged so swiftly
Tender touch or verbal spear
Meet their mark to spark a tempest
Or to pacify and cheer

None the human tongue can bridle
Like a tidal wave, words pour
As out of the heart’s abundance
The mouth spills its treasure-store

Hurting, healing, cursing, blessing
Someday we will give account
For the deluge that comes spewing
From a small but mighty fount

© Janet Martin

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, 
they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
Matt.12:36

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Word Percolator...(written while the coffee brewed:)

 

We pour water into a coffee percolator and out comes yummy, black coffee
We pour all matter of material into our minds and out come all manner of words!



We set words free yet in a sense we take them with us too
For new words always percolate where former words dripped through
But if used wisely words can change the course of someone’s day (just like a good cup of coffee😋)
And in a sense, a life, as kind words cheer us on our way

Think gently then, for thoughts are always on the verge of speech
Who knows how far the ripple of its spoken touch will reach
To teach, to tear, to build, to break, how swift our words become
A hug, a blow; therefore fill well the fount they will flow from

© Janet Martin

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 
be acceptable in thy sight, 
Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Friday, March 12, 2021

Today, More Than Word-play Melt-away


May today be more than 
prattle of word play
but rather a vison 
with a mission! 
(or is it mission with a vision😊)

Part of my mission today? window washing!!
(to clear the vision a bit😀)

Oh! and may the snow-melt continue!!

Yesterday morning-

-this morning!



As much as some of us enjoy word-play,
may today be much more!


Circumstance grants participants the chance to do our part
Compassion is a soldier that shoulders the faint of heart
Desire is a fire that requires dire care
Where altogether tethered, we weather its 'whether' (or not) share

Emotion is an ocean of devotion’s counterparts
Persuasion, the invasion of temptation’s subtle darts
Assumption is the gumption to conclude truth without facts
Pride is a deadly guide that flatters, lies, lures and distracts

Redemption is exemption from an awful debt we owed
Forgiveness the divineness of God’s grace to man bestowed
Belief, the capsheaf of achievement, arrogance undone
Salvation; liberation’s restoration through God’s Son

Poetry is the pottery from think-ink’s spinning wheel
Success is happiness with less rather than More’s appeal
Peace is release from fear, my dear, as trust hoists up its sail
With Hope, faith’s rope secured in promises that will not fail

Today is more than word-play on age-pages signed and sealed
Choice is a voice that needs no noise to have the heart revealed
Dawn is the spawn of opportunity’s brawn beckoning
Time is a stair we climb toward the Lord and reckoning

© Janet Martin


Col.3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, 
as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 
 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. 
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.






Friday, November 20, 2020

Confession is Good For the Goal

 PAD Challenge day 19; write a confession poem

Oh look! He fills dawn's gleaming stair
with Mercy's 'try again'



I am not always meek and kind 
I sure wish I would be 
I hate the shells I’ve strewed behind 
In verbal mutiny 

I am not yet a model of 
Wisdom’s perfected clay 
I am still a student of love 
Learning what not to say 

The tongue is not like ink and page 
A mouth cannot back-space 
A word, when it has fled the cage 
No technique can erase 

One would think after all these years 
Of practice I would know 
What not to say, but oh, my dears 
I fear it isn’t so 

God, rich in kindness hears my prayer 
He makes forgiveness plain 
For look, He fills dawn’s gleaming stair
With mercy’s ‘try again’ 

Thus, I press t'ward the Goal once more
And ask God to renew
His watch to guard the Sacred Door
That all my words pass through

© Janet Martin

Psalm 141:3
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, 
he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.


Proverbs 13:3
He who guards his mouth protects his life, 
but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.


Psalm 34:13
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.


Proverbs 21:23
He who guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from distress.

Psalm 19:14
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart 
be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Well! I wrote this post
then turned to read today's Daily Bread Devotion...
(a very-worth-one's-while-read)
This: Eph.4:29-32
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, 
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, 
that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 
with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, 
brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 
 Be kind and compassionate to one another, 
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Thank-you Lord!

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Mouth-control

 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, 
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
Prov.16:24

😊
 
Swallow hard and bite your/my tongue
Harsh words swift-spewed live so long
Breathe a prayer and count to ten
We all need grace now and then 
And soon you/I will be so glad
For sharp replies left unsaid
Where a bit of mouth-control 
Is like sweetness to the soul
 
© Janet Martin

Friday, May 22, 2020

Of Uncaged Consonants...


 This was going to be fun four-liner rhyme about words 
(after seeing a prompt 'rhyme a reason you like to write' on FB)
but it turned into something like a hungry leopard freed from its cage
...chasing a herd of antelope😊

 Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...
 ...little show-stealer didn't want just his sister in the picture so he made a MAD dash for it
when he saw the camera and pulled this funny face to top it all off😂

The word 'cherish' has become my mind-set for moments...
Words draw us in to worlds apart
A painter’s tray for ink-swirled art
They dash and drip and splash and pour
Into pictures not seen before
Where from the quill as from a brush
They spill, a panoramic rush
To thrill the gallery of thought
With scenes of what is or is not
They surge and seep and laugh and weep
And fill a thousand hills with sheep
Or startle us with the faint roar
Of what once was and is no more

…where all that is began with Word
Timeless abyss by language stirred
Creating in the darkness, Light
Composing that first day and night
…for all we think about and see
Began with God’s Words, ‘let there be’
Then still-life shore and surging tide
Stood gloriously side by side
The bud swaddled the naked tree
God awed earth with His poetry
The manifold folds of a flow’r
The ink-well dell, the mountain’s tow’r

…but alas, soon Perfection’s bliss
As words of vile hatred gave voice
To mankind’s sacred law of choice
And thereby didst coldly deceive
With cunning words, Adam and Eve
Revealing with designing skill
How words work both for good and ill
Reminding us thus, words should be
Weighed well before we set them free
For who knows the full recompense
Of word’s infinite influence

Ah, what we write and what we say
…we all hold a grand painter’s tray
The colours that we choose to use
So varied in its hues and views
A stallion of cloven ink
Set free on fields of Feel and Think
To wreak havoc in human heart
To spill its ilk in sonant art
To cheer us on or crush us, oh
By a word-painted picture-show
For so much more is seen than heard
In the ripple-effect of Word

The lover of ink-woven things
Is never lonesome long; hope sings
In the courtyard of poetry
Knowing how much a word can be
If chosen carefully and then
Set free on yachts of acumen
A contagion of gross purport
Wafts in the wake of verbal sport
A smile, a kiss, a fist-a-cuff
Sometimes gentle and sometimes gruff
The matrix for a symphony
Melding bare fact with fantasy

…for we are creatures born to dream
And apt to get lost in a stream
Of stars felled while we stared a while
To where the air of words beguile
The one who seems drawn to the vaunt
Of what hides in unbridled font
Of ABC waiting to be
A storm upon an unformed sea
A diamond on the sand of time
A sparkle spilt in lilt and rhyme
Then snared to press upon a page
To preserve there from age to age

…for words always invite us in
To partake of love’s groan and grin
To touch the place where tears regale
The face when at last mere words fail
As we curl in the cozy nook
Between the covers of a book
And fantasize and empathize
In worlds cut down to whispered sighs
And make us feel, as feathers fall
We are not strangers after all
But, by the bond of word begin
To be like worldwide next of kin

© Janet Martin


 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, 
and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, 
for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45




Friday, May 8, 2020

Door-Weighs

Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Psalm 141:3

this devotion from the other day...

This poem was embarrassingly easy to write😐


Ah, there is a door that opens and spills invisible ink
It reveals forums within us in the framework of a wink
Where the things that we keep hidden (by the grace of God) unheard
Can expose a world unbidden in the quick slip of a word

When Self seeks the throne of glory rather than humility
One small word can tell a story quite uncomplimentary
So if each day we would be prepared, before feet hit the floor
We ought to pray that God would set a watch upon That Door

…that he would let us weigh the motive when ‘word’ wants to spout
And help us hold back quick reaction love can live without
For the weight of our opinion before it is fit to share
Should be measured, poured and sifted through the filter of meek prayer

© Janet Martin