These Past Twenty Years...

Emily asked me the other day what I think about motherhood and can I believe I've been one for almost twenty years...It got me to thinking...

I ponder them slowly, these past twenty years

For they have been like no other

They warned me back then, how fast time disappears

…the day I became a mother

I ponder them tenderly, these past twenty years

Of fulfillment as deep as my yearning

Of mustard-seed faith to combat mammoth fears

Of teaching midst all of my learning

I ponder them deeply, these past twenty years

The paradox of love’s mystic measure

The beautiful agony of laughter and tears

The wonder of life’s painful pleasure

I ponder them thankfully, these past twenty years

So glad that God never forgot me

Gently admonished, through my own scolding and cheers

At how much my children have taught me

© Janet Martin

I Saw Heaven Smile Today...

 Emily, first Birthday.

Emily, 20th Birthday

I saw Heaven smile today

As angels breathed upon my way

For Heaven’s smiles are sent, I think

In little bundles, soft and pink

Perfection, lent to trembling arms

From holy hands above

Yes, Heaven sends its wondrous charms

In babies dear to love

Today I held her tiny hand

And I began to understand

A strange new love, so rare and strong

As I held hands that knew no wrong

Nothing else on this old earth

Could touch it by a mile

For at the moment of her birth

I saw Heaven smile

Yes, I saw Heaven smile today

As pain and anguish fell away

And I know what perfection is

As I caress it with a kiss

For clasped against my awe-struck heart

In form of new-born child

The windows up above me parted

And I saw Heaven smile

© Janet Martin

Written for Emily when she was a baby....20 years ago (did a bit of editing)

Passion and the Fruits Thereof

Image Source: clytie-randomtrash.blogspot.com

Tis a plethora of passions that makes people tick

Be they words or numbers or a hook on a stick

Be it fallow acres waiting to be plowed

Or studying the whims in the mind of a cloud

Someone invented those dear alarm clocks

The curve on the base of a chair so it rocks

A toilet that flushes, better winter tires

And for the technician, multi-colored wires

Whatever we touch in an ocean of things

Is the fruit of a thought that’s been given its wings

Of nuts and bolts, metal, fabric, or wood

Someone declared, ah yes, this is good….(yes, even plastic)

God bless the seeker who chases his dream

Teach us to regard it with thankful esteem

And preserve the pleasure of its delight

Not by addiction, but healthy appetite

Tis a plethora of passions that stirs creature souls

The seed of fulfillment, the setting of goals

Born of inner thirst, need or desperation

The whisper of Passion is the bud of creation

© Janet Martin

This poem was inspired by a number of moments…

Wandering though the mall looking at all the ‘stuff’ and wondering …why?

Mulling over a comment someone made yesterday about an up-coming generation of stupidity because kids are ‘glued to some gadget and they don’t read anymore’…not true for all but WAY too many!

And this morning I suddenly wondered who invented the ANNOYING sound of an alarm clock!

By the way, I love you, you dear person who invented the coffee-perk.

Twilight Soliloquy

I love the way the evening lies

Contented ‘neath the folding skies

And all the memories we have made

Slumber now in history’s shade

I love the cerulean sweep

Luring the eye to lofty deep

And how my thought’s soliloquy

Is amplified on twilight’s knee

I love the roll of evergreen

Meeting the soul of heaven’s gleam

How tugs of love and longing clench

That aching void Time cannot quench

I love eve’s lofty out-stretched palm

Urging our bustling haste to calm

And listen to the vespers sigh

In anthems falling from the sky

I love the way the evening lies

Beneath celestial lullabies

As twilight's tucks night’s edges down

Against the landscapes silver gown

© Janet Martin

It's Just That Way

Here we have it

It's just that way

Whispers and pieces

Of  thoughts we pray

And maybe its true

That somehow, someday

We'll learn to let go

Because its best that way

Here we have it

I hear a door close

And footsteps begin fading...

Only God knows

The rhyme and the reason

Of good-byes and hellos

But here we have it

That's the way life goes

...and here we have it

The laughter and tears

Of loving and losing

Of days turned to years

Life is a ballroom

We pass through but once

Hold me closer

My darling, let's dance

Because here we have it

The bitter and sweet

Parting is simply

The road till we meet

So here we have it

The fall and the rise

Of pleasure and passion

Of hellos and good-byes

...yes, here we have it

A little thing called life

A culmination

Of sorrow and strife

A tender ballad

Of its highs and its lows

And where it will take us

Only God knows

...so we take love's chances

A faith-leap of dust

Over and over

We love and we trust

Here we have it

Love's dance in the rain

And darling, I know

We'd do it again

J~

Song of Thanksgiving

For mornings, heavy with un-scattered rain

For life’s constant bevy of glorious mundane

For man’s strength renewed as night-shadows wane

Lord, we thank You

For spring fields seeded with harvest’s fresh hope

For wild-flower rivers and emerald-green slope

For the steadfast Known as through unknowns we grope

Lord, we thank You

For blossomed distraction beyond my kitchen sink

For peony-splashes of petal-pure pink

For dishes to wash while I pray and I think

Lord, I thank-you

For smiles that gleam through love’s tender-sweet tears

For children that dream undeterred by aged fears

For memories to soften life’s chastening years

Lord, we thank You

For Master-piece moments in life’s darkest hours

For Master-piece miracles spilling in flowers

For Master-piece vaults of sunshine and showers

Lord, we thank You

Lord, we thank You for unfailing grace

The hope of heaven beyond life’s troubled race

For You, that You prepared such a Place

Oh, Lord we thank You

© Janet Martin

This morning Victoria suddenly turned as she was getting on the bus, with a big grin,  two-thumbs up and a merry wave…then they were gone. Just like that, my sink full of dishes and empty fridge and begging housework became beautiful through misted tears.

All I could think of to say is this…thank-you Lord.

 “Listen to this, Job;
    stop and consider God’s wonders.Job 37:14

Dear Flower...

You didn’t say a thing

As I gazed at you

Petal of virgin

Pink, gold, purple, blue

Delicate miracle

Sweetening the breeze

Of red, periwinkle

Intricacies

I am dumb-founded

As I study each gem

Unfolded from emerald

Leaves on a stem

Dazzling in beauty

And none that is greater

Each designed perfectly

By its Creator

You didn’t say a thing

As I studied your face

But I heard the whispering

Of God’s wonder and grace

© Janet Martin

 There is no 'fairest of them all' in God's flower-garden.
He created each of us just as He intended!

Precursor

Thought is a foot-loose wanderer

She follows no map or chart

Leaving no footprint behind her

A master of mind-numbing art

Thought is a subtle deceiver

No man is immune to her vice

She must be diligently guarded

This charge of inestimable price

Thought, though believed well-hidden

Cannot escape one simple fact

She is the lone precursor

To every word or act

© Janet Martin

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Phil 4:8

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]