Monday, July 13, 2015

All I Need


So much that I could ask for, Lord,
As this new day spills from above
But, as I weigh my wants and pleas
All I need is
A Heart of Love 

Things cannot fill or satisfy
And they will never be enough
Lord, make me hunger, teach me how
To want for naught
But, Heart of Love

© Janet Martin


Plans Today?





In this edition of Today
Where its first mist-wrap falls away
We scan our planned perhapses; they
Are juxtaposed with come-what-may

Life’s come-what-may can interfere
With plans; our hope and-dreamland sphere
Alongside spoils of Now and Here
Where ever Unknown hovers near

But nearer still than all of this
Those bits in place, those scads amiss
A True And All-Loving God is
Caretaker of each moment-kiss

In this edition of Today
Where soon it first-wrap falls away
We trust each dust-must-come-what-may
To God who hears us as we pray

© Janet Martin

I plan to take lunch to hubby's mom today...I plan to try a new recipe which I plan to share if it turns out, but plans are ever subject to If... if the Lord wills then we will do this or that.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Three Sweetest Words I Know...




Oh, say those words again
Slow, soft like easy rain
Or like the stirring zephyr-song
Strumming the golden grain

Or spin them like a sigh
Of cloud-wisp drifting by
As we behold the treasure of
This trove we call July

And press upon thought’s slate
Earth’s lily-laden plate
Or hills mantled in mists of morn
…the brook’s unhurried gait

….the daisy-dappled heath
The hour like a wreath
Of butterflies and blue-hung skies
With bare-foot child beneath

…the dew-drenched field and fell
The bloom embellished dell
The sandbox full of boys and noise
Heedless of Time’s gavel

…the shushing canopy
Of summer’s full-leaf tree
That flings its shade like nature’s quilt
And seeks our company

So, say those words soft-slow
Before The Letting Go
‘It is July, it is July’
The sweetest words I know

© Janet Martin

In the book Little Men Louisa May Alcott begins a chapter with the words It was July...because it is July those words struck a chord... 

 The sunrise seemed like a seamless continuance of last night's sunset...


Wishing you a worship-full weekend as we adore, not creation but its Creator!

Praise the Lord, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples. 
 For great is his love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

Ps.117


Saturday, July 11, 2015

What God Has Said Is So...



 My sister dropped off a belated birthday card yesterday and a bag of poems she clipped or copied from here-and-there that she thought I might enjoy...I opened the card and teared up at these familiar, yet dearly, precious verses.(if you click on the image, then right click on 'view image' it will be easier to read)

If we succumb to thee, oh murderer of hope and pen
If we allow you to endow our How with death, what then?
And if, because you are so present in each untried thing
Or in what we cannot full see, pray, who would laugh and sing?

If we grant chilling numbness leadership, ah, then we die
While still the mouth inhales, exhales; our spirits lifeless lie
The dreamer would be empty and the poet would be too
And no one in the world would dare to try anything new

God, bless our trembling fingers, wobbly knees and lips stiff-dry
And bless the pulse that quickens as we utter this, ‘I’ll try’
For we were given spirits to love one another here
And not to live as half-a-man because of thee, oh Fear

Then pray the Lord to instill in our hearts His perfect peace
And trust him for the outcome in our awesome weaknesses
For Faith is fear’s arch-rival, quieter perhaps but oh,
Fear cannot conquer or usurp what God has said is so

© Janet Martin

If we have not believed in He
Who saves us from death’s hell,
Then we should be afraid,
Very, very afraid

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18


Friday, July 10, 2015

Colorful, Colorful World



Here's hoping your are rejoicing wherever you are, at the colors in your world!!
Above are a few colors we've enjoyed in the first ten days of July....already?!


Mauve-misty morning
Azure afternoon
Hello gold buttercup
Where is thy spoon?

Pink clover lover’s lanes
White Milky Way
Blue sea-song splashing
Our troubles away

Opaque moon sliver
On dark velvet deep
Sage vine with purple grape
Woolly black sheep  

Orange for carrots
For willow, chartreuse
Green meadow medley
And brown chocolate mousse

Cinnamon autumn
And russet and bronze
White winter countryside
Emerald spring ponds

Warm saffron sunbeam
Gray raincloud above
Red boots for puddles
And roses, my love

Coral at sunset
Transforms turquoise sea
Yellow for lemon
To squeeze in my tea

Ruby for vintage
Of summer-sweet fare
Indigo ribbons
For Sue’s chestnut hair

Over and under
Around us unfurled
Oh, what a colorful
 Colorful world

© Janet Martin