Infallible Proof

Better than 

lofty utterance

Or intent’s 

grandest creed

Is the compelling 

evidence

Of one

 small 

deed

© Janet Martin

Cadence of Conversation...

A young man who started attending our church recently 

was killed suddenly yesterday afternoon! 

Oh, how our hearts ache for his sorrowing loved ones.

What were the last words they exchanged, I wonder

as I try to remember mine to my loved ones 

should we not meet again this side of heaven?!

...and oh, how precious the memories that ring with the cadence of conversation and laughter!

a birthday tea with friends...

hubby and brother-in-law solving the world's problems;-)

supper ...

sisters...

Cadence of conversation mingles with the noise of life

It draws us into mutual worlds of kindred joys and strife

Filling the gap between us with chatter’s sweet melody

Like little brooks that sparkle from the meadow to the sea

In coffee-shops, on sidewalks or along a crowded beach

Around the supper table flows the fellowship of speech

And oft we never give its interchange much thought at all

Tossing words back and forth like a weightless, colorful ball

Cadence of conversation, how its common beauty cheers

We share our weight of creature cares, our hopes and dreams and fears

And little do we think about the possibility

That what we say might be the final words from you or me

How precious is the sound that creates common ground and such

Where we meet in the middle as talking and list’ning touch

Then, as we think about it we should always keep in mind

That what we say will someday spill in echoes left behind

…and not, until the voice is gone from us forevermore

Do we so dearly crave what we took for granted before

When we, without much thought at all would share our griefs and joys

…cadence of conversation mingled with life’s background noise

© Janet Martin

Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
 but only what is helpful for building up the one in need
and bringing grace to those who listen.

Kind Word Art

No smiles for the camera today...

But my, she sure brightens a rainy-no-gardening morning!

A kind word is like sunshine

To kiss the bud of gloom

It breaks the shell where wonders dwell

Then swell into glad bloom

A kind word is like ointment

To soothe the wounds of woe

Its gentle grace will heal the place

Where harsh words dealt their blow

A kind word is like laughter

To cheer the dreary day

Like Baby's smiles, it sweetens miles

That had seemed dull and gray

A kind word is like flowers

A garden on the air

It calms distress with happiness

And brings hope to despair

 A kind word is a rainbow

Above the storms of life

A tender spark to break the dark

With love’s unfailing light

A kind word is a diamond

Drawn from a heap of stones

Where haters hurled shards from a world

Of base and broken thrones

A kind word is a picture

Of how heaven will be 

It paints its art upon the heart

In perfect poetry

A kind word is a gift, dear

That we can all afford

And what can ease life's miseries

Better than a kind word

© Janet Martin

More Than Word-Play

You can’t control the talents He gives you, no doubt about that. 

But you can control the effort you put forth with those talents.”

 - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw

“I didn’t do anything to deserve this gift,” Kershaw recently told FCA Magazine.

 “God gave me an ability to throw a baseball. 

He chose me for a reason, and I want to honor Him with that. 

You can’t control the talents He gives you, no doubt about that. 

But you can control the effort you put forth with those talents.”

'hopefully', (I often remind myself)
'our 'say' is more than word-play!'

What are we doing with what God gave us?
A month ago at a family celebration for our parent's 55th wedding anniversay
my niece Keturah sang the above song in a beautiful, pure
God's gift-to-her voice!

 No matter what let's honor God with the gifts He gave us!
Let's not be strangled by the dangling noose of comparison!
There is only one you or me!
Let's be the best version we can be.

The crepuscule of onyx tulle pulls back its ether door

And rains across our gain and loss the albatross of More

As have-and-hold of gray and gold unfolds what none can see

The fabric of its live-laugh-love, glove of mortality

Time’s joy-and-sorrow, beg-and-borrow-morrow-turned-today

Entrusts to us the Must that teaches dust-to-dust to pray

Where full extent of man’s lament, hard bent with Mercy’s ‘nope’

Cannot out-blot, no matter what, the God of Living Hope

The knife of life carves from silk scarves of morn, rock-solid cast

No one can woo a re-do from the avenue of Past

Where streams of dreams and schemes that overflow thought’s slipp’ry banks

Are not worth much until touch yields its clutch to humble thanks

Today is more than word-play; ‘say’ is nothing without ‘do’

The shuttle of rebuttal does not cuddle/coddle me or you

The matrix of kicks, sticks and stones and pricks of thorn-nicked woes

Lest we forget, is ever yet, the stem that holds the rose

© Janet Martin

 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, 

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Col.3:17