Do Something

Do something; time’s free moments run through our fingertips

Today is like a threshing-floor through which its measure slips

Pray when The Hand that grants our portion of life’s love-learn-laugh

Sifts the harvest of our lives He will find more than chaff

Do something, while the morning sun climbs into the noon sky

While there is still today, do something more than serving ‘I’

Before the dust has settled on another nevermore

Do something that will ring the bells of joy on heaven’s shore

Do something; God knows the intentions of a human heart

And He expects no less than this; that we would do our part

No deed or gift will be too small if rendered in His name

And no excuse will satisfy God if we decline Him

© Janet Martin

 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

James 2:16

…but do something, urges Deidra, at the end of this post

where she provides links to answer our questions of how, what, where

we can help in the refugee crisis.

Let’s be real. Two things that cross miles readily

Are our dollars and our prayers!

But What Can We Really Do To Help?

image source

But what can we really do that would help, asked Jim when we were talking about the crisis a few minutes ago…

I don’t know, I said, 

but what if we all looked into the mirrors and asked ourselves…

What can I do to help?

What if,

After our eyes were opened

Our ears heard their cries

And we would open

Our doors,

Wallets,

Arms,

Spare-bed-rooms,

Jars of food,

What if we stretched out our dining-room tables

And cried

‘Come, eat’

What if we did with less

So they could have more?

What if we became uncomfortable

To bring them comfort?

Instead of reaching for our phones

What if we all reached out?

Instead of saying ‘I wish’

What if we said ‘I will’

What if we were serious when we ask

‘But what can I do’

And we would pray as if their lives

Depended upon it?

© Janet Martin

This article by Deidra Riggs at High Calling is very helpful in helping us who are asking 'how can I help?'

Laugh, Little Aylan, Laugh

Ann expresses what I am sure is most of our hearts today...
and we  pour out our hearts in prayers and tears!

Dear Aylan,

Ignored in your life,

Immortalized in your death

Laugh little Aylan, Laugh

All down the streets of gold

Laugh at the feet of Jesus

Where you will never grow old

Oh, let your laughter sparkle

Oh, let your brown eyes dance

Oh, let your chin tilt up as God

Wipes your tears with His hands

Laugh, little Aylan, laugh

Let heaven's sheer, pure joy

Heal each sob of horror and hunger

Fear and sorrow, little boy

Sit at the banquet table

Run over celestial hills

Play forever with your brother

Where no teardrop spills

Laugh, little Aylan, laugh

For you will weep no more

Safe in the arms of Jesus 

Far from death's cold, friendless shore

Now you are loved like we should have

...We stare at a photograph

Shouldering sorrow, guilt and shame

Laugh, little Aylan, laugh 

Janet Martin

In memory of every little child who never knew laughter...

How can we look at our children and not want to help the hundreds of thousands of those still among us like Aylan?!

Life's Wrestling Match

Oh-ho life’s wrestling match can press hearts hard against the ropes

They reel beneath the body-slamming keel of dreams and hopes

Earth’s four-wall ring of seasons binds time’s wounds with nature’s laws

September’s crickets fling their stippled praises without pause

Time does not weary; only we who struggle and compete

The countdown of moments urges us back up to our feet

Oh, pray that we fight to the point of blood, sweat, prayers and tears

Until the gong sounds and the last round of time disappears

Sometimes the ropes that hold us in are green with sheen of spring

Its referee a peony, flash of tanager’s wing

Sometimes the ropes are cold and startle us and steal our breath

September’s gold rolls like a brave opponent daring death

Oh-ho, life’s wrestling match can catch a crowd-gazer off guard

September’s charm sounds an alarm; left-right, soft-step, now hard

The champion of a challenge does not quit; hope spurs him on

A prize can only be collected when the fight is won

© Janet Martin

Let's Show We Care

   (all I can see when I look at these pictures are the little guys we babysit and how they are lavished daily with hugs, smiles and kisses...)

image source

Let’s share what we have

And dare to be brave

Let’s care with more than the fruit of our lips

Let’s become wild

With the love for a child

And not stop our hurting for them…

with one click

of the mouse

© Janet Martin

What are we doing to show we care,

 and how accountable will we be held?

...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. 

Luke 12:48