Matrix of Majesty

 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands...Ps.19:1

Oh, matrix of yon skies

Oh, heaven-madrigal

No lens or pen descries

The fullness of it all

From dark of darkest deep

In God’s celestial span

While we were all asleep

Your birth to earth began

Then God said, let there be

And from that outer-where

A glimpse of majesty

Embellishes the air

No lens or pen can draw

From man’s wee porch of sod

Dawn's essence of pure awe

…the majesty of God

© Janet Martin

I kept clicking more and more photos trying to capture the 'It' factor, when suddenly it dawned on me no pen or lens can fully descry I AM

(30 min. later...)

 The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 
 Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard. 
 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun, 
     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 
 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Ps. 19:1-6

A Prayer about Prayer

Sometimes we don't know how to pray

So Lord, we give you thanks

As you take what we cannot say

And kindly fill the blanks

Janet~

Some things are so complicated that all we can do is leave it to God to intercede!

Oh, Youth

I sent my daughter the link to this message hoping she will listen to it and take it to heart...

Oh, you of fledgling armament

How easily you dare

To don that naive confidence

That only youth can wear

Oh, you of callow plans and schemes

How fearlessly you leap

Upon a frigate made of dreams

While practiced dreamers sleep

Oh, you of eyes all eager-lit

And boast of words untried

Delighting in your new-born wit

And virgin sense of pride

Oh, you of mountain-moving faith

Of hope boundless and brave

You do not even recognize

This lovely Thing you have

Janet Martin

I told Emily tonight that I spent the day in the garden thinking and praying, just like last fall on the Monday after her wedding.  It's such a nice peaceful, pleasant place to be and so much fruit is ready to be picked!

…now suddenly I think I understand why my mom spent/spends so much time in her garden

Plucking, pulling, picking, pruning…and praying.

The Way of Mothers...

 Maybe it's the way of mothers...

…to leave them over-hugged and kissed

To over-give while they insist

They really, really do not need

All this; but still we cannot heed

Their words untrained

By years and tears

Of the unexplained

As faith fights fears

…for once upon a time now far

We too dashed off with words and jars

While mother stood and watched us go

To learn the things we didn’t know

Existed yet; how swift we meet

The wherefore of love’s bittersweet

...where empty jars and echoes strew

The path as years and tears accrue

And what we thought we knew…aha

Has morphed to what our mothers saw

As they stood in the doorway where

We waved, and didn’t see the air

Bedazzled with a million parts

…the way of mothers and their hearts

© Janet Martin

She insisted that 'she’s sure she really doesn’t need ‘all this’ as I tucked extra groceries and jars of jam, salsa, fruit etc. into her bags…

Time's Strange and Changeless Weaver...

Time’s strange and changeless weaver weaves

With ever-changing buds and leaves

A picture-scape of moments told

As we embrace but cannot hold

its thread that falls through fingertips

And hearts, as we with trembling lips

Subject to its supreme command

Cannot restrain or force his hand

How can we love and love full-well?

Those fading footfalls of farewell

Which rend the air in middle night

And fill our prayers with meek insight

Turn into morning; gone the glance

Of childhood’s free, unbothered dance

While we, with hearts twisted and wrung

Must learn new songs upon the tongue

The day does not delay its care

Though heart-pieces drift on the air

We cannot stand and stare with thought

Too long; the strings we clasp swift caught

Within time’s loom, the bud, the bloom

Surrenders soon as clocks consume

Their daily bread, we lift our heads

To taste full-well love’s transient threads

© Janet Martin

Of Courage, College and Carrying On...

We speak to them of courage and we hope within its speech

We find the very thing that we are striving thus to teach

Life’s laughter and lament, love’s learning-curves amalgamate

Within the eye; hello-good-bye; time never bars its gate

As daughters become us and we stare long at our skin

And wonder who we are; the image not the girl within

Where dying ways that life inflicts upon our gaze reflects

The nature of all nature and the climax of all flesh

Our lips, once filled with answers suddenly are dumb and numb

While merry moment-dancers seem to disregard the sum

Of all that they become as we peruse their aftermath

Where tragedy and triumph meld in glimmers on dusk’s path

Still, onward, ever onward, we commence again, again

The learning is not over until God declares, Amen

And so we speak of courage and we hope within its speech

To find the very thing that we are striving thus to teach

© Janet Martin

Our pastor, Dale Ward, encouraged students to take this verse with them as they return to school...

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

From Tennyson's Tears, Idle Tears...

 Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather in the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more...