Saturday, September 28, 2013

Power-source





I could not bear
Life’s weight of care
But for the fellowship
Of prayer

I could not face
Life’s grueling race
But for the mercy
Of God’s grace

I could not hope
For Heaven above
But for the goodness
Of God’s love

© Janet Martin

Friday, September 27, 2013

Sacred Sieve





Dark solitude of midnight fills the space
Where dawn has slipped to join all yesterdays
Another day of labor, love and grace
Becomes a picture in thought’s tender gaze

The unknowns of the morn have been unveiled
As hours of daylight flare to fade again
The willingness of Time pours from Love’s grail
In colors mixed according to God’s plan

Heartache and hope in half-breaths synchronize
Faith yearns to touch a Hand we cannot see
But from earth-altars Heaven hears our cries
And comforts those who seek Him earnestly

…and soon the dawn will sweep the dark awry
Another cup of unknowns in Time’s glass
We need not fear; the Painter of the sky
Cradles the sieve through which all colors pass

© Janet Martin

I'm so thankful we cannot see the day's 'colors' in advance...

Of Shorelines...





Here we are once more, once more
Our faces pointed to a shore
We cannot see until That Day
We put mortality away

Life is not futile squandering
Or little bitty wandering
To fall away like petal bloom
And die forever in a tomb

Here a twenty-four hour span
Is called a day in jars of man
But when we pass that Final Shore
No hours chart forevermore

…for then will be eternity
This thought should stir us soberly
How sad to wake beyond that shore
Somehow to have missed Heaven’s door…

© Janet Martin

 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,Do not harden your hearts...Ps. 57:6-8

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Of Found Treasure





I found it there beneath the air
All sweet and summer-autumn-tossed
I didn’t think that I could spare
This thing that I thought I had lost

The innocence of sun-beam dance
First lured me to its hiding place
And I was sure midst circumstance
It disappeared without a trace

But out beneath the sighing tree
I found it there and I am glad
Life showed me unexpectedly
The Time I didn’t think I had

© Janet Martin

I have not really stopped to enjoy the out-of-doors lately. I dash through it and try to snatch beauty-glimpses on my way, but sometimes we need to STOP and find the beauty! Today felt busy, but when the hydro went out I took  time to stop, feel, listen... When I returned to the house I found myself thinking ‘I need to make up for lost time’ and suddenly I realized I felt so nourished, not by the time I lost, but by the time I found!

 “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”
C.S. Lewis

 “How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
Dr. Seuss

 “There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
Bill Watterson


Best Room in the 'House'





Its dome is blue, the carpet green
Or bronze or frosted silver sheen
There are no walls to fence us in
No dusting and no vacuuming

A theater where, from front-row
We marvel at each season-show
Sunrise, sunset, the view is free
From doorways vaulting to the sea

No ‘don’t touch this and don’t sit there’
No sticky fingerprinted air
Its welcome mat rolls to the sky
Beneath soft vesper-lullaby

Here, with our tea we linger long
And listen to Time’s perfect song
Intoned by zephyr, bird and bloom
In nature’s grandiose living-room

© Janet Martin

Guilt-free Indulgence






It is not wrong to pause a-while
And leave undone the menial task
To drink gold sun from blue-sky flask
And bask in summer’s waning smile

It is not vain to snub the clock
To lie beneath the sprawling tree
And study its anatomy
Of green to gold to scarlet frock

…and it is not slothful or sin
To indulge in a mid-day stroll
To touch the skin of nature’s soul
And feel the hand of God therein

© Janet Martin

Our brief and sudden power-outage was a blessing in disguise... I was in the middle of canning tomatoes among a few other 'electricity chores', so I stopped everything and headed outdoors. It is a perfect day and my to-do list is endless right now:)...I'll work double-quick now to make up for 'found time':)

Sweet Hour





Sweet hour of dawn, how swift you spawn
The noon-day growing dim
A melody of reverie
Anoints the twilight hymn

Sweet hour of youth, how swift the truth
Of summer slips afar
The madrigal, keen, autumnal
Gleams in the evening star

Sweet hour of life, how swift its strife
Is sealed beneath the sod
As mortal trust returns to dust
The soul returns to God

© Janet Martin

Last night we had a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for my parents. The parents of all my cousins attended. I say that because I don’t see them very often but I remember them when they were younger than I am now, as we went to their houses to play with beloved cousins!
They are all long past their ‘summers’ of life. But so very dear in my childhood memories!

I caught a picture of the sunrise a few hours ago and already the sun is high over golden soy-bean fields…


Of Replenishments





The sky is replenished with whispers of dawn
Soft from the heavens in coral embrace
God breathes the darkness from hill, street and lawn
Filling the morning with mercy and grace

Hearts are replenished with hope to press on
We cannot see what His will may appoint
As new casts of Unknown tremble in the dawn
Yet, there are no unknowns from God’s vantage-point

Thus faith is replenished; in weariness faint
But oh, the glad morning awakes a new song
Of replenished fervor to seal our complaint
Trusting the Hand that replenishes dawn

© Janet Martin


 O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving-kindness. Ps. 56:17

Above All