To My Cyber-friends...

We are not strangers

You and I, and yet

We’ve never spoken

Or even met

I would not recognize you

Anywhere

Though we’ve laughed and wept

Into the still air

One wields the pen

One holds the page

We are fellowmen

On a common stage

Though we've never met

 It's nice to think

We touch each other

Through the power of ink

© Janet Martin

Though we may never meet

I’d simply like to say

Thank-you to all who have passed by

My little porch today…

Though we may never speak

It is enough to know

That words and prayers reach anywhere

A little thought can go

J~

Thank-you to generations

Past and presently

Who have shared inspiration

So that others may read

Life's Letting Go...

It must be so

Life’s letting go

Torments and teases

Our clutch

I hold you near,

Somehow a year

Is fleeting

As a stranger’s touch

When we were young

Time pleased our tongue

In dreams beyond

Our innocence

We didn’t know

Life’s letting go

Falls in swift,

Keen deliverance

It must be so

The ebb and flow

Of moments yield

Both joy and woe

Gifting our reach

They gently teach

Us to hold on

While letting go…

© Janet Martin

There It Goes...

There they go

Ethereal flow

Expanding archives

Of joy and dismay

Zeniths of

Longing and love

Days of our lives

Falling away

See, from the mud

Spring’s new-born bud

Presses, unfolds

A thorn, a rose

See, how it falls

Time’s madrigals

From hold to hold

Its blooms disclose

Ah, there it goes

And no one knows

How near or far

Its breadth extends

Oh, little day

You slip away

Gold with the gray

The hour bends

It laughs and weeps

Flounders and leaps

This moment-tide

Sweeps us along

We touch and taste

Its eager haste

Then render to

The past, its song

© Janet Martin

Where Only God Can See

Some prayers fall from our lips

Joyful and easily

Others ache within our thought

Where only God can see…

Some prayers  we can shape in word
Free-falls of hope and cheer
Others groan deep in the heart
Where God alone can hear

Some prayers are pleasant to share
As thankful praises flow
Others are so hard to bear
Where only God can know

Janet~

My friend Glynis could use our prayers today! 

 

Autumn Rainbow...

 Image Source

  

 

Autumn, what rainbow of harvest you shape

Red of the apple, gold squash, purple grape

Orange of carrot and plum dusty blue

Ruffled green parsley to season the stew

Into root cellars your plethora spills

Pumpkin, potato and squash-onion hills

Chartreuse of cabbage and remnant melee

Of peppers, tomatoes and mint-leaf for tea

Goodness and mercy in fall-fruits abound

Master-piece miracles spring from the ground

Autumn, what rainbow of harvest you bring

God, we thank Thee for its kind offering

© Janet Martin

I pulled out the last of the fresh peppers for supper. The  tomatoes froze on the deck, (I forgot to bring them in;( Soon, I can no longer skip the veggie department when I grocery shop, but we still have lots of fresh squash, carrots, potatoes, onions. I’m chopping and freezing the parsley today, as well as baking and freezing some of the squash so we can enjoy it until next fall…

right now, the first real snowfall of the season...suddenly I'm humming this song; Fall Softly, Snow

Of Ageless Assurances...

 This morning is garnished with a dusting of snow!

The morning melts its mercy in mute mantle, faithfully

Across night’s dark abyss; a new day fills Time’s drinking-bowl

We recognize the measure of our vulnerability

And reach to touch the Hand that sees our body and our soul

We could not bear to suffer long life’s grievances of sod

But for the sure forgiveness of a gracious, loving God

How swift the cup of Time fills up to spill in fond farewell

Of vesper song and velvet shadows on dusk’s dim terrain

How swift we fly from innocence to combat; soon the bell

That tolls the ending of a day will fill the sky again

The synopsis of all we know affirms manifestly

Our uttermost dependence on a Hand we cannot see

The gold expanse of second-chance refurbishes the deeps

Ah, what is man that Love should bleed its patience to the dark?

In synchronized imbuement its taking and giving weeps

And, but for grace Time’s offering would be cheerless and stark

Yet oh, because of grace we do not crumble in despair

But reach to touch the Love that spreads a new day to the air

© Janet Martin

 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD'S loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.…Lam. 3:21-23

Psalm 103:10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

Fall's Fading Fallow

The orchard has rendered its ruby

The fallow has tendered its gold

The woodland has lathered its beauty

Back to earth’s long-suffering hold

The banter of zephyr and rain-song

Garnishes every tree root

A moment’s insistence is ruthless

Stripping the stem of its fruit

The brook rambles through barren fallow

Replenished by autumn’s tear

Stalwart, the reed in its shallow

Braces for gales more severe

We too must render life’s ruby

We too must tender its gold

All things ephemeral journey

Back to earth’s long-suffering hold

© Janet Martin

Of Climbing and Canvasses

We each have our own range of mountains to climb

Spilling the art of our attitudes where

Accountability sobers our prayer

Urging us upward in reverence of Time

Clandestine cravings and comforts compete

No one but God can behold our hearts

And no one but God perfect pardon imparts

Thus making bearable life’s bittersweet

Over the canvas of daylight our thought

Paints into pictures life’s moiling chagrin

Reaching, ah reaching for something within

Straining to touch it but cannot tell what

We all are pilgrims and artists; oh God

Called and commissioned by Your love and grace

Our spills and stumbles fall to Your embrace

Pictures of pardon and hope brushed on sod

© Janet Martin

Guilt assaults me the instant those words left my mouth, ‘nothing ever stays clean around here’.

Victoria continues stirring her hot chocolate completely un-alarmed offering words of amused sympathy and suddenly I know I am not ready for a quiet, sterile house.

After she leaves for school I wander through messy rooms capturing ‘blessing in disguise’.

Even so, I believe a little organizing of ‘blessing’ is in order!

 Victoria is painting a house-warming gift to give to Emily when she returns from her honey-moon in a few days.

  

Breakfast Remains...

  

*Mount Wash-more waiting to be conquered! (*a name I read somewhere else:)

And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. 2 Thess.3:13