Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Light



No one can turn on the dark on a whim
Darkness evolves as light grows dim
Light overcomes darkness as dawn fades the night
And darkness can never extinguish the Light

Take heart fellow pilgrim, this journey through life
Will take us through valleys of turmoil and strife
While doom-criers wail ‘it is dark’, we fight
For darkness will never extinguish the Light


© Janet Martin

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Gen1:1-3

The Word of God begins with Light!

The Morning Comes...





The darkness blots beneath its reach
Earth’s swell of pasture, hill and beach
The field that bears each season-sweep
Fades out into ebony deep
The pallid moon, a soundless wraith
Above charcoal landscapes of faith

And though the darkness steals our sight
Though faith alone must be our light
We know, in spite of what we see
No night is for eternity
And just beyond this onyx scope
Glimmers the morning-tide of hope

Even the void of darkest dark
Is pierced by nothing but a spark
And by and by the blackest hour
Softens beneath a keener power
Of mercy whispers; night succumbs
To heaven’s rule; the morning comes

© Janet Martin

The morning comes
No night remains
The Light of faith
Succors, sustains
And by and by
Shalom, shalom
We lift our eyes
The morning comes…


 They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening 1 Chron. 23:30




Saturday, March 16, 2013

Live Gently...




The first shoots, fresh and green
Are fragile, delicate
We must treat them with gentle care
Lest in our haste they break

Speak gently to the child
That in life’s road we meet
Lest thoughtlessly we wound the heart
So young and pure and sweet

Live gently, do not run
This race with frantic rush
For then we may not turn to see
The tender souls we crush

Hold gently to the hand
Of love, for who can tell
When the last drop of moment-song
Will whisper Time’s farewell?

© Janet Martin


We are eagerly a-waiting those first shoots of spring!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Of Impossibilities




It is impossible
To love
And hold a grudge
Simultaneously

***

It is impossible
To trust and fear
Simultaneously

***

It is impossible
To serve self
And God
Simultaneously

***

It is impossible
To be happy
Without thankfulness

***

It is impossible
To be unhappy
With thankfulness

***

It is impossible
To give our best
While harboring guilt

***

It is impossible
To glorify God
While seeking personal gain

***

It is impossible
To dislike
Sleeping children

It is impossible
To teach
Simply by speech

***

It is impossible
To have friends
Without being a friend

***

It is impossible
To rejoice with those who rejoice
While jealous

***

It is impossible
To live a godly life
And a selfish one

***

It is impossible
To enter Heaven
But by the grace of God

© Janet Martin

We cannot escape
the awesome wonder
of God in this world!
It is impossible.
~Adrian Rogers~



March Wind-song





Above the crypt of Time’s lament
The March wind moans in discontent
Its discourse fingering the limb
Of nature’s stricken diadem
Where soon its dormancy will swell
And fill the void of winter’s knell

Moments startle then pass, benign
Shaping the earth's horizon-line
To seasons where softly we brave
Its rendering, before our grave
Is decked with rose-and-wreath-caress
Tuning the March wind’s wantonness

The shroud of life’s unknowns evoke
Within the heart a tender cloak
Of courage, hope; for what are we
But whispers of mortality
Before we take our place among
The notes composing March wind’s song

© Janet Martin

Today its gray song wanders the gray landscape, threatening to spill in gray snow-tears.




Friday Thoughts



 

It’s Friday
And with the laundry
We fold another week
To our breast
Where soon its cup of
Laughter, loving
And trifling toil will rest

It’s Friday
Another week of memories
Gathers where
We linger to finger
Its brush-strokes on the air
Knowing in our heart
Rests living’s most priceless art

It’s Friday
And the beauty
Of what was, rivals
With the hope
Of what is to be
Before another Friday comes
To take its place
In history

© Janet Martin


Good or bad
Happy or sad
Soon this day will be
A memory

I'm writing this midst chatting with my older two daughters as we wake up over coffee (a sweet moment because we almost never get up at the same time:)

...also, here's to hoping today’s memories will include the kids helping me clean;)) We’ve all had lots of fun this March break week, now it’s time for some good, down-to-earth living.OXOX.

Dear hubby, someday these past few weeks will be nothing but ‘in those years when I had that truck…It’s been a truck/year of high frustration and financial strain for him and the company he works for!


Anticipation...



 Photo

Good-night…
then soon the dawn
will fill my mouth
with dark-roast Colombian sunshine
from the south

Janet Martin

Can’t wait!

Midnight Peace



 

Beneath the star-frothed sky
I feel so very small
And yet it seems I touch
The Hand that made it all

The vastness of its scope
Is but a glimpse of grace
It fills my heart with hope
As I feel Love’s embrace

Beneath ebony deep
I am but a dot
What peace to know that He
Knows all that I do not

© Janet Martin