Friday, February 21, 2014

Perspective





Bit of a chuckle just now as Victoria lay on the kitchen floor and said, ‘from this angle it could be summer, cause all I can see is green on the tree. No snow!’

We are having a snow day in the area with buses cancelled; not much snow so far. My hunch is it’s more of a ‘hockey day’ than a snow day. I know some places that are letting their guys quit early to catch the game in Sochi between Canada and the U.S.A.

It’s not so much the thing that is
As how we choose to look at it

Circumstance is but the half
We can sing the blues or laugh

Everything lasts 'just a bit'
Life is what we make of it

© Janet Martin

This is not intended to be glib but relating to our trite complaining grounds…I know some people who are dealing with life’s big stuff one step at a time and even what they can make of it hurts. ((hugs/prayers))

...off to watch the game;) 

When the River Runs Free Again...





When the river runs free once more
And herds roam clover-clad rill
When Queen Ann’s lace trims with dainty grace
Fence-row, hollow, field and hill…

When the river runs blue again
Laughing in glimmer so glad
When its song ice-gripped is unchained from its crypt
To pleasure the day-dreaming lad

When the river runs winding and wild
Splashing its way to the sea
When willow and sedge lures lovers to its edge
To revel on heaven’s green knee

When the river runs rampant, released
Washed of winter’s cold remains
The world will be sweet with the dance of bare-feet
And youth running wild in our veins

© Janet Martin



Dear Little Tree...



 October...
 November...
 December...
 January...
February 

 ...the trees have been tested this year with everything winter could throw at it and our 24 hr. mild spell (a degree or two above freezing) is plunging today and for the coming week so no pretty green dress-buds in sight yet...
This morning...

Dear little tree
How long you’ve borne the thrust of winter’s will
How long you’ve worn its garb of white
And suffered its blue chill

Dear little tree,
You stand knee-deep in nature’s cloak resigned
You do not shake your limbs at God
But wait for zephyrs kind

Dear little tree,
You seem to know it is no use to rant
How futile to rebel to snow
And sundry season-chant

Dear little tree,
You’ve suffered long and yet methinks I hear
Within your stilly wood a song
Of springtime drawing near

© Janet Martin

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Thank-you God





Dad didn’t get in for his surgery until this afternoon. He was booked for 8:00 a.m. if there were no emergencies. Mr. If did make an appearance.
The wife of the man who was rushed in hugged my mother thanking her for allowing them to do life-saving surgery on her husband.
Dad came out of surgery around 5:00 p.m. It was a triple by-pass and they will wake him up around 9:00 tonight so our prayers continue.

Thank-you God, such simple words
Yet filled with heart and soul
Thank-you for the miracles
That only You control
Thank-you for Your mercies
And the peace within your care
Thank-you God, such simple words
And yet, a perfect prayer

© Janet Martin


Of Pride, People and Purpose



 do not judge 3  
Image Source...(check it out!)

To point my finger at another
Is not very smart
For I know that God is watching
And He sees my heart

Criticism has no merit
We are students, all
Shame on me as I inherit
After pride; a fall

We should share compassion, courage
Brothers, sisters, we
Created to help one another
And give God glory

© Janet Martin


Thursday Thoughts on Hope





When life’s load becomes
Too heavy to bear
Fold it between
Your fingers
In prayer

***

Today is only twenty-four hours
Then it is gone forever
Hope is an ageless, Timeless God
That no tick-tock can sever

***

Of the shadow of death
There is One who goes before me
God of heaven and earth
His rod and staff, they comfort me
No evil will I fear
For no matter where life leads
I know that He is near

***

To hope in gods of stone
For God is Hope alone
We cannot see His face and yet
We sense Him, oh, so near
For God is Hope; hope is not dead
Until Time disappears
For as this life grows dim
All who have trusted in the Lord

***

Hope for all humanity
Never can a storm or gale
Crush love’s Hope that cannot fail

***

Hope is restored therein
For God beholds each hurt we bear
And as we cry to Him
He sends His whisper; we release
Our longing in His arms of peace

***

Just as I am; God You love me
Forgiven, justified
Just as I am; how I love Thee
Hope born as Your Son died

***

How He longs to befriend all
Hope is found in His forgiveness
And lost if we scorn His call

***

Man of sorrows, what a Name
Hope of sinners bore our blame
Dare we yet choose our guilt
In place of Love’s offering spilt?

***

Our hope for years to come
There is no other name on earth
That draws the sinner Home

***

ABC’s of Hope Is…

Abiding
Blood-bought
Calvary
Divine
Eternal
Faithful
God
Heaven
Invisible
Jesus
Knowing
Life
Might
Nurturing
Omnipotent
Peace
Quiet
Redemption
Security/Salvation
Trusting
Undefeatable
Victory
Worship
X-cellent
Yahweh
Zeal

***

Without hope…we die

***

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isa. 40:31




Keeper of Time's Clock




 Image is a page from Psalms: chapters 138 &139


Ah, Keeper of Time’s sun and sorrow clock
You plan and tend to each, our numbered days
The wise man trusts You, Keeper, as he walks
With prayer-shod feet into Vast Unknown’s haze

We cannot clench within our keep the hour
Vainly we grasp to resurrect its dead
But Thou, oh hand of loving, holy power
Will not forsake us in its mile of dread

Ah, Keeper of Time’s fear and faith-wrought fight
Its filigree falls beyond our control
Yet nothing befalls man beyond Your sight
And with this promise we our fear console

Into Your hands, oh Keeper of Time’s clock
We commit all that we can never know
And as we yield to Thee each step we walk  
We cling to peace that only You bestow

© Janet Martin

As I write this my dad is having by-pass surgery so I am in an attitude of continuous prayer that God will guide the surgeon’s hands…
There are ten kids in my family so we set up a visiting schedule just so we don’t all come at once; yet, I know we are all there with him in prayer!


Writer to Her Muse





How can I forget you?
Ah love, each time I try
You vex me just beyond my reach
A phantom butterfly

How casually you slip
Twixt touch and guarded thought
Compelling me with luring lines
To revel in your jot

...so you and I thus dance
A sensual, soulful trip
As resistance and hunger jive
Twixt thought and finger-tip

...and if I beg you go
I feel like I might die
Yet if you stay I’ll ever chase
You; phantom butter-fly

Then you and I must find
A way to synchronize
You, half-rebelicious, kind
And me, your eager prize

I cannot forget you
Darling finagling rue
To chastise you within a poem
Is all that I can do

© Janet~