Spring is Here

Spring is in the meadow

And spring is on the hill

And spring is in the crooning mouth

Of every daffodil

Spring is in the blossom

Garnishing fruit-tree

And spring is in the lark that sings

Before night drains its sea

Spring is in the muddy boy

A-splash in puddle-pool

And spring is in the golden joy

Falling from azure spool

Spring tickles the garden

And sparkles in the rain

It laughs in silver ribbons

All down my windowpane

Spring is in earth's alcove

And spring is in earth's breeze

And spring is in earth's blooming grove 

A-buzz with honey-bees

  

© Janet Martin

Survival Fete

Time’s survival fete

To remain clothed and fed

Bears on its ancient dust-born street

New prayers for daily bread

Good morning’s beaming wreath

Unfolds, then folds above

A back-drop to the prayers we breathe

For provision and love

Then, as we plant the soil

Where seed and trusting meet

We return to faith’s hope and toil

In time’s survival fete

For time’s survival fete

Though more than meat and bread

Demands the work of hands and feet

To remain clothed and fed

© Janet Martin

As I buttered bread for school-lunches(for the ump-umpteenth time!:) and watched the farmer's hasting by with tractors in the return of planting season, I thought of how life really is an endless fete for survival; repetition of  the same chores and duties over and over to remain clothed and fed.

We do our part and trust God for the rest!

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Isa.54:10

What Then?

Tampa Bay Lightning (2-0-0)

6

Montreal Canadiens (0-2-0)

2

I'm married to a lifelong Hab (Montreal Canadiens) fan...I will say no more;-) 

We love watching sports and cheering on our favorite teams/players! But...

When all the teams we’ve cheered for

And all our dreams are done

When fortune's gleaming moment-lore

Fades like mist in the sun

…when all the paths we’ve taken

With all the care we’ve borne

Dissolves as we awaken

In God’s eternal morn

…when trial-error fumbling

Mutely disintegrates

Like paper castles crumbling

Beneath Time’s shutting gates

…when hope and heartache’s groaning

And faith and fear’s Object

Appears before eyes closing

To what none can reject

…when we lay down to rise up

To never sleep again

When Death cries to us, ‘Time’s up’

Pray tell me, love, what then?

© Janet Martin

Farmer or Gardener's Planting Prayer

 

I was digging up around the rhubarb just now, enjoying the hum of tractors on the land, all around...some cultivating, some hauling manure and some planting. Working the earth draws us near the heart of God, don't you agree?

 Whether literally or metaphorically, it's planting time!

Lord, help me do my best to tend

The plot you’ve loaned to me

Then trust You for the dividend

Of harvest that will be

Lord, stir in me a humble worth

As spring-birth stirs the sod

For as I till and plant the earth

I touch Your hand, oh God

Lord, let me never then forget

Within life’s rain and sun

That you are faithful to beget

What now has just begun

© Janet Martin

 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Phil. 1:6