Contemplating Kindness

Kindness is a lovely flower
One cannot force its seed
But there is nothing like the power
Of kindness touching need

Kindness is a lovely bloom
It needs no pot or bowl
Its fragrance fills the dreary room
And cheers the down-cast soul

Kindness is a stunning rose
Of pure and humble beauty
Its root in selfless visage grows
And never out of duty

Kindness is a lovely flower
All can afford its splendor
In every season, every hour
Its bloom is fair and tender


Janet

I brag unashamedly about our neighbors because we have the best in the world!
My apologies to the rest of you;))
It’s a blessing easily taken for granted, but I was reminded of this as I heard the snow-blower and Victoria asked, ‘Did you call them or are they just being kind?’
‘It’s a beautiful act of kindness,’ I replied.
“WE have the best neighbors, don’t we?’ her eyes sparkle.
“Yes, we do” I smile and pray a special blessing on them.

Contemplating Endings

http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/every-ending-is-a-beginning-prompt-36/

Words do not end silences

Honesty will

Having does not end yearning

Love will

Walking away does not end grudges

Forgiveness will

Knowing does not end learning

Ignorance will

Growing does not end childhood

Maturity will

Sight does not end blindness

Acceptance will

Morning does not end darkness

God will

Sudden Undoing

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

Who could have expected such numbing pain

Or that something as completely mundane

As a shovel

Leaning against the plum-tree

Would be the undoing

Of carefully protected stitches

Loss has many faces

And leaps from unwary places

The wind cannot set a-drift need

Anymore than a thousand friends

Can replace the missing of you, my love

How perpetually longing can bleed

Easily, as yarn unravels from torn sweaters

Memories spill from tear-worn letters

And mere thought cannot stop its undoing

‘Darling, remember our pledge at the plum-tree, because’

Your words blur; a shovel is futile

When trying to bury the past... and us

Janet~

The 'I Can' ABC's

I Can…

Because of

His assurance and assistance

His body and blood

His comfort and compassion

His death and His deliverance

His encouragement and endurance

His forgiveness and faithfulness

His Grace, guidance, goodness and Gift

His hope, His hands

His invitation and inspiration

His justification and joy

His kindness and knowledge

His love and Light

His mercy and might

His Name and His nearness

His omnipotence and order

His plan, promise, power, purpose and patience

His quiet and his quickened Word

His redemption and resurrection and righteousness

His salvation and strength

His tenderness and temperance

His understanding and unity

His victory and vision

His wisdom and will

His X-ample,

His yoke and His yea

His zeal and Zenith

Because of God

I can!

Janet Martin

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

Where Do you Go and How?

Where and how do you go, old year?

Running and leaping and flying, my dear

Thrumming and sleeping and crying, it’s clear

You have one destination in mind

Dashing and dancing, a skip and a whirl

Grinning and glancing, a trip and a twirl

Crooning and moaning, a swish and a swirl

With only your thought left behind

Where do you go and how, dear sir

Spring, summer, fall and back to winter

Don’t close your eyes for time is a blur

And slips through your fingers with ease

Where do you go and how, old year

Fleeter your foot with age I fear

I'll cherish loved ones and hold them near

For Time offers no guarantees

Where do you go so swiftly now

Over the snow with the winds that blow

Never a curtsy, a wave or a bow

Silently into the night

You take your laughter, the longing and tear

Leaving our dream for the impending year

Parting is such sweet sorrow, my dear

Softly you slip out of sight

Janet~

New Year's Wish

Mary,
I'm borrowing my comment to you, but it is my wish for everyone who visits here...

May this year bring
in place of sorrow, healing
In place of tears, laughter
In place of loneliness,
friends and more friends,
In place of despair, hope
In place of the unknown...
...still, the unknown
For how else can we trust?

God Bless you in 2012.

Janet Martin

In Limbo

http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2011/12/marys-mixed-bag.html

It’s a tug-of-war of sorts to me

This holding on and letting go

Caught twixt the ache of history

And warm anticipation’s glow

The old year, like a crumpled ball

Of paper, rolls beneath our feet

We hear the bells of midnight toll

A farewell-greeting, bitter-sweet

Within our hearts, within our pen

Memory and expectation blend

Time does not seek applause from men

And it is neither foe nor friend

Ring out the old, ring in the new

Four seasons worth of living wait

For as we bid the old adieu

A virgin Year slips through Time’s gate

Janet Martin

Time

This photo(source; photo-bucket) is by Clark Little. World renowned Wave Photographer.
Waves are a great metaphor for Time...it is, then was.


Time, a majestic wave rolling
over a realm of existence
It is more than a jest twixt sky and sod
Time pulls the sun from the east
hastening it westward
on our journey to timeless eternity
…and God

Time, a stage where man is spectator
to miracles held in
shadows slipping from twilight’s berth
the line of green hemlock
deepening to black
as The Hour draws midnight across
time-structured earth

Time, a vapor on the tip
of eternity's tongue
reminding us that today is the best we can hold
Time, a flickering prelude
to the great beyond
where no one is young
…or old

Janet~

The New Year always gets me to contemplating this thing called Time