I Love You, Not Because You're Pretty

 

I love you

Not because you’re pretty

Or blue-eyed

Handsome and cool

Not because of where you live

Or here you went

To school

I love you

Not because you’re rich

Or poor

Or somewhere in-between

Or because the grass

On your side of the fence

Is far more green

I love you,

I think you’re pretty

And you have such

Kissable skin

And I’ll likely always fall for

Your adorable half-grin

But these are not the reasons

That I love through thick and thin

For the person that I dearly love

Is who you are within

© Janet Martin

 I love when Edward asks her, 'do you find me handsome' and she says, 'not particularly' , then, when he asks her why, Jane replies,

"Appearance is of little consequence…it is the person within that is the attraction!"

~Jane Eyre~

Summit of Life's Hope-slope

 The sun seemed to stir from that summit this morning, washing the sky in riveting pink before slipping behind a wall of gray...

The Summit of life’s hope-slope; may we strive to reach its top

Forever straining to that scrim from whence Time’s mercies drop

And may its zeal and passion stir us ever up and on

From earth’s thorn-thistle thoroughfare to Heaven’s ageless dawn

See how seasons spin their sonnets from a thread of ether ilk

Or, how echoes weave upon it through Time’s sun and sable silk

Run, wee one toward your dream-tree groaning with prospect

Soon you will turn to see its crown in hoary halo decked

Ah, depression and oppression and confession confound

Yet hope rings forth eternally where God and grace abound

For man, though foolish fumbling, stumbling flesh cannot annul

The hope of Jesus’ righteousness and pardon paid in full

…and thus we press by faith toward a goal we cannot see

The Summit of life’s hope-slope ends beyond mortality

So now we touch our feet upon this cold and chafing sod

For we are on a journey to Hope’s Fold; the arms of God

© Janet Martin

What I Should Like...a Little While

 It's been a 'toy morning':)...

I should like my home to be

Not a showplace of pride and pomp

But a solace where children romp

And shape their childhood memory

Home; oh dearest, happy word

Let these four-letters symbolize

A sort of heaven-paradise

Where prayers are prayed and cares are heard

…and I should like my home to wear

Love’s mended woes, life’s spills and such

And not withhold from it the touch

Of childish fingers free of care

…and may its rod and rule be kind

The Word of God read and revered

Lest vainly innocence is reared

To thirst for truth, yet to it…blind

...and I should like my home to smile

With humble, thankful happiness

A tiny nook that God will bless

And dwell in for earth’s little while

© Janet Martin

‘Oh Mom, just leave it there’ said my daughter as I was about to polish away a handprint from the window, ‘that hand print reminds us *Nathan was here!’ (* little guy I babysit)

...jotted this while having lunch. One of the little guys I baby-sit is slurping applesauce and chatting about the 'nice, nice day' and I looked out at its gray offering and back at his innocence and laughed, yes! it is a nice, nice day!'

Time to do dishes and pick up toys!

Help My Unbelief

 

 Image Source

Regret,

Fear,

Condemnation,

Doubt

Cleanse me Lord,

Within,

Without

Gird my faith

In Love's release

Grace,

Hope,

Redemption

And

Peace

© Janet Martin 

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Whether we practice Lent or not as we draw near to Easter it surely probes a deeper soul-searching of who and what we believe!

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9: 23-25 

Mystery...

What do you hold in your mold, little day?

Far on the east you release your first sigh

Touching with gold the low fringe of the sky

Greeting the morning where night slips away

What will you spill to the rill, minute-hand?

Meted in moments of tick-tocking stealth

Flicker of fortune and whisper of wealth

Fought for in trenches beneath love’s command

What will you seal on your reel, little hour?

Ere you surrender your silk to the air

What will we hear on June night-fathoms where

Echoes embellish the breeze in the bower

What will we chase with your grace, tender Time?

Jingle of pocket or treasures of trust?

Soon you return to slumber in the dust

What will you tell ere the evening bell chimes?

© Janet Martin

...as I was about to post this our hydro went out again! What other surprises await this day?...No man knows!

A Beautiful Feeling

  

I can’t explain it

Beautiful feeling

Reeling from somewhere

That I cannot tell

Laughter and sorrow

And bittersweet

Stealing

Over the rampart of

Pulsing farewell

Hope and fulfillment

and longing unfathomed

streaming in

moment-drops

from here to there

draining an ocean

without sound or motion

filling the silence

with echo-drenched air

where uncurled fingers

touch traces that linger

only in thought

as the years disappear

and I can’t explain it

the beautiful feeling

of having and holding

wrapped up

in a

tear

© Janet Martin

...just got a crazy, beautiful feeling as I listened to this song... but cannot quite capture it in verse; this is sorta what I could shape it into...sort of the same feeling I had when hubby teased Emily (our daughter) yesterday at church and said, 'I remember you. You used to live at our place...'

Morning Thoughts

 Yesterday's Sunday School lesson was on the tears of Jesus as He beheld Jerusalem and wept, If Thou hadst known...That account touches me immensely every time as I realize we still don't really get it; of how much He loves us 'as a Father pitieth his children'... I choked up as I read this story to the class and this highly amused them all as they tossed Kleenexes to Teacher;)
Don't you think He still weeps sometimes longing to gather us to him like a mother hen gathers her brood...?

Help us trust You, Lord and then

Not to seek applause of men

But to strive fervently to prove

That you are the God we love

Yes, you are the God we love

Distraction of sundry sort

Plagues perception to distort

Comforts croon and wanting wails

Love abides and never fails

Love abides and never fails

Pleasure is a fickle friend

Piety a hopeless fiend

But God, your love transcends our greed

Mercy meets us in our need

Mercy meets us in our need

Diligence, humility

Honor, let these ever be

The obedience we seek

For God, you help us when we’re weak

Yes, God helps us when we’re weak

Then, as morning stirs our sleep

Chasing shadows from the deep

Help us Lord, to bear in mind

Soon we leave this world behind

Ah, soon we leave this world behind

© Janet Martin

I wrote this earlier this morning but power outages and internet disruptions will make it a 'noon thoughts' poem

Frames of Devotion

 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4-5

Soft, soft rose blush gilds paling hush

Of morning gently breaking

Grace breathes its prayer upon the air

Where a new day is waking

Though we have marred and often scarred

That place where echo lingers

Time’s fringe-less fold does not withhold

Love’s offering from our fingers

But tenderly from ether sea

In fathoms freely spilling

Mercy extends and kindly lends

Fresh frames for our filling

As from earth’s brink whisper of pink

Expands in grand slow-motion

I pray that we return to Thee

Oh Lord, frames of devotion

© Janet Martin