Thank-you for This...

Tim at
Vanyieck's Last Stand  nominated me for this award! Thank-you so much. I would be honored to pass it along to a few deserving bloggers.

As per the rules of accepting this award,

I must share seven facts about myself:

1. I enjoy life's simple gifts of nature above any 'thing'
2.I enjoy photographing these daily miracles
3. I am a homebody to a fault.
4. I love health and fitness
5. Of earthly blessings being a mother and wife is a gift I  thank God for daily.
6.Of earthly blessing, being a mother and wife is a gift that teaches and humbles me daily
7.I am a daughter, a sibling of nine , and saved by grace

Rule #2, pass along the award...

I would love to nominate;

Sue at Reflections of God's Glory
 Her posts are filled with wisdom and God's grace.

Kateri at Dandelion Haven
Kateri has an eye that frames His handiwork in gorgeous photos!
Every post is beautiful and inspiring.

Ella at Ella's Edge
Ella shares a myried of wonderful talent and love on her blog.
She is a special lady!

Jennifer at Poet Laundry
Jennifer's loving spirit shines in her beautiful poetic talent.

Please be sure to visit these blogs and let them know you stopped by.

 

 

If I Should Love...

When we love

Perfectly

It will be

Heaven

I should wish to love

This way

Even now

To love fully

Then let go

To rejoice completely

In another’s success

And wish them nothing

But happiness

I would love to love

The way I should

And never blush

Should thought rush

From under this hood

Of flesh and blood disguise

And my eyes

Would be the window

To unspoken word

I should love to think

It would be all right

If every thought was heard

And no grudge or spite

Would blemish the light

That ought to shine

From the divine

And it could

If I would

Love like I should…

© Janet Martin

Pondering Her

 

My dear, her lissome hem is sweeping

The far-faint, blue wooded rill

I hear her brewing farewell weeping

When the night is deep and still

For she no more than we, my darling

Can suppress her moment-tear

A trickling flow through sundry ages

And we simply call her Year

How grateful, gladly we embrace her

Arms flung wide, we draw her in

Though in brusque autumn’s knell we chase her

Now she comes; Virile, virgin

Across a sleek and seamless threshold

She alights, whilst hope and fear

Mingles wildly; yet we greet her

As we meet her; the New Year

We cannot unclenched her fingers

To reveal her mystery

She does not run; nor does she linger

On the road to history

But she cradles in her bearing

All those things which we hold dear

Joy and sorrow, potent, searing

Yet we simply call her Year

We pause in limbo; past and future

Presses passion to our lips

Yet, all we cherish, fondle, nurture

Soon to her dominion slips

As we ponder our position

…Who imbues her formless sphere

We bow in humble recognition

Gift of grace is she; New Year

My dear, the hour like a flower

Soon relinquishes her bloom

And no one contains the power

To re-live one afternoon

So we treasure the kind measure

Of her tender moment-tear

As she slips through our whispers

…yet we simply call her Year

© Janet Martin

I cannot BELIEVE how swiftly she comes, but to leave

I have learned it is possible to celebrate and grieve

Simultaneously

I touch with my thought those I cannot hold

For she steals as she gives, moments seal as they roll

Continuously

And sometimes as I ponder her perpetual splendor

And sometimes as I miss those sealed in her kiss

And sometimes as tear-tender, I remember

All I can do,

Is whisper

Thank-you

For He blesses graciously and mercifully

To we, undeservedly

J~  

Christmas Postlude...

If we can lay aside differences

And grievances for a day

Or two or three,

Then why can we not

Lay them aside

Permanently?

If we can share

Joy, hope and love

Good-will and happy cheer

For this,

The Christmas Season

Then why not each day, all year?

If we can for a season

Say those things

We ought to say

Would there be peace

Upon the earth

If we lived thus each day?

© Janet Martin

It Is Not So Different Now

It is not so different now

As it was way back then…

Believers still gather around

To praise and worship Him

It is not so different now

As it was on that night

We gaze in awe and wonder

At the glory of His light

It is not so different now

We lift our voice to sing

For the wee Babe in Bethlehem

Is Jesus Christ the King

© Janet Martin

Those who believed sought the Child and found Him…we seek still, and we find Him, still.

My Christmas Wish this Year

In our mind’s eye we can see them

…fresh graves in the earth

And sacred realization

Infiltrates our mirth

As casual touch lingers

Its moment endeared

Of love’s gentle wonder

Cherished and revered

The ordinary is stunning

Inhale, exhale

We shape our kisses

Against life’s soft veil

Of moment-song rushing

Through Time’s transient glass

From God’s hand to ours

How swiftly they pass

So dear God, remind us

With hearts, tender-aching

To treasure this Christmas

Of memories-in-the-making

And then in the passing

Of this Christmas season

Let us press forward

In the glow of its Reason

And teach us to honor

With purposed embrace

The gift in each hour

Bestowed by Your grace

Let us not take for granted

What You lend to us

For we cannot tell

Who will see next Christmas

© Janet Martin

As I write this I am praying for those who sorrow

...Live well, love fully; we are not promised tomorrow

I wish you all a very special Christmas and many beautiful

memories in the making.

See you soon.

The Drifting of Moments...a Sonnet

 

The quiet will of moments has its way

The sojourner within its subtle clasp

Endures its offerings of gold and gray

As restless threads slip through our fumbling grasp

Darling, the wind tonight is blue and brusque

It rakes its talons ‘cross the frigid pond

Obliterating the moonbeam on its cusp

Pushing to an intangible beyond

Where summer’s past and future intertwine

As surreal dreams and echoes coalesce

Its boasts of air are neither thine nor mine

We reach in vain for illusion’s caress

While we surrender to the startling touch

Of ticking clocks, of falling flowers and such

The portend of a moment soon is null

Bleeding un-severed, joy and grief’s context

Corralled into a day; when it is full

It scales a phantom gate into the next

Darling, the hour does not reimburse

Its squandered breadth, nor is a glimpse unveiled

Of Time’s extent; this dust-spun universe

Cannot fathom eternity exhaled

Where moments in ethereal magnitude

Will never be; no hour, day or year

Earth’s numbered measure will our thought elude

As we pass from this noon-to-midnight sphere

Across the field the skyline silhouette

Yields to a little season’s pirouette

The bridegroom hungers for his precious bride

But he cannot pluck moments from Time’s clutch

Nor can a mother quell their ceaseless tide

As children scatter from beneath her touch

Darling, the air is charged with sweet suspense

For who can know what loiters in the mist

Of opportunity and recompense

We are young lovers waiting to be kissed

As we, God’s floods of wonderment embrace

Of sunbeam smiling soft against the cheek

Or heaven’s tears in metaphors of grace

Fill us with awe until we cannot speak

Outside a snowflake wafts then disappears

Like moments drifting softly into years

© Janet Martin

A Sugar-plum

 

Poetic Bloomings has visions of Sugar-plums today...

Silent night

A froth of white

Sifts from the lower cloud

It wraps the earth

In sparkling mirth

Redemption’s spotless shroud

Heavenly peace

Mankind’s release

From worldly weariness

Where all is calm

Held in the Palm

Of Perfect Love’s caress

Whisper of prayer

Wings through the air

Past midnight’s star-kissed seas

Where God imparts

To love-worn hearts

Life’s tender memories

© Janet Martin