Dear 2016

Your days a-wait beyond a gate we cannot trace with eyes

Nor spell what scenes convene where now we guess with hopeful sighs

At melodies and memories that waft soft on the air

Not rendered yet; dear year ahead, I pray we tread with care

…this unblemished appointing that you lay beneath our feet

Like midnight snow anointing earth with fresh and unmarred street

Your uprightness and downrightness and forthwithness abides

Hinged to what none can change you spill Time’s will in virgin tides

Dear year, I pray we treat each day like a prize, rare and fine

Before it melts like midnight snow in morning-gold sunshine

And when the tide goes out, as we ponder its garnered days

Pray what we see will be a testament of humble praise

…to He who sifts and grants through grace-scarred hands these centuries

Who breathes upon the bud and breaks to bloom cupped mysteries

Who tends what He kind-lends; dear year, I pray your aftermath

Will be within our memory, a smile; a precious path

In thought’s embrace and as we trace the echoes that remain

Pray, as your tide recedes we did not live your days in vain

© Janet Martin

Last night we watched the year come in at my brother Dave's house 

These celebrations often include music because we are a family of listen-to-the-words music lovers and he told me he thinks I will love this song and I do,

and oh, I love the singer too. What a voice!

This is a good song to begin the new year and remind us that life is a river...Lets cherish each twinkle on its tide...

Drink Up!

Wishing you, wherever in the world

you are,

A Blessed New Year. 

Love, 
Janet

Done With Guesses

Inspired by this post

Caught in between the old and new

…the done and what remains to do

Here, on Time’s forward avenue

Each one of us exists

Not by some feckless ordinance

Nor by mere hapless circumstance

But by the grace of second chance

That God with dawn untwists

The laws of night to day unfold

In dark to light, in gray and gold

And soon we learn what we were told

Was, is and will be so

That Time is but a tiny poof

Rushing through living’s little proof

It melts like frost upon a roof

A mystic ebb and flow

For in its onward, forward rush

With every bravo, tug and push

Its ilk recedes; the solemn hush

Of ‘Time Enough’ impends

And while its grin and sorrow drains

Into tomorrow’s sun and rains

It ebbs toward what Death unchains

Where nothing ever ends

Within the grave none can compete

Nor rival where all mortals meet

Time’s deadline; victory and defeat

Not that of flesh and blood

But of the soul; oh, who can tell

The joy of heav’n, horror of hell

We stand where grace still tolls time’s bell

And our forefathers stood

…caught in between the old and new

Where we have much we ought to do

Before we bid this Now adieu

Exchanging breath-by-breath

 And step-by-step and wake and sleep

And this which nobody can keep

For that which opens up the deep

Unveiled at last, in death

© Janet Martin

In the book Emily's Quest her beloved teacher/friend, Mr. Carpenter dies.
"Just, think, Emily, in a few minutes I will be wiser than anyone living," He says on his deathbed, "always wanted to know- to know.
 Done with guesses.

Since Cares of Living First Began...

Since cares of living first began

After Adam’s first sin

God has ordained a way for man

To still commune with Him

A rod and staff to comfort us

A sacred altar where

Nothing need ever hinder us

Our heart and soul to bare

The fellowship of God to men

Is still as sure today

As in those ancient days back when

Prophets bowed down to pray

A Shoulder in the storms of life

A beacon in the dark

And in the rise and fall of strife

An infallible ark

Before we rise, before we sleep

Before we break our bread

Pray to the One who broke five loaves

Then five-thousand were fed

Oh, pray we do not forget He

Who is our strength and stay

But that with glad humility

We don’t forget to pray

© Janet Martin

I Prayed a Prayer For You Today

I prayed a prayer for you today

I did not ask for sun-kissed slope

Or answers for the why of gray

But that the Lord would be your hope

I prayed a prayer for you, my friend

I did not plead for morrow’s length

But only for your need Today

I prayed the Lord would be your strength

I prayed a prayer for you Today

To One whose mercies never cease

I prayed that in each come-what-may

The Lord would be your perfect peace

© Janet Martin

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Isa. 26:3 

Would you join me in praying for Marina H. and Diane M. (and their families) as they struggle/suffer with concerns and cares that come with cancer...

'often all we can do is pray' remarked a friend on Facebook.

Amen and hallelujah!

Near the New Year...

I’d like to think I learned a thing

Or two when this year soundless falls

Into the urn of no return

I’d like to think its battered walls

Were not scribbled and scarred for naught

I’d like to think anew old thoughts

That one year prior I begot

Where now the heart and head recalls

The pitfalls and pinnacles oh,

That shaped this cape that draped the air

With mystery, 

now history

I’d like to breathe 

a little prayer

Of holy, 

humble gratitude

For mercy’s gift; 

a year renewed

Upon the shore of yore subdued

...I’d like to touch this moment where

We pause upon the brink of what?

We cannot know, but simply trust

The love of God that thus far brought

Us here remains faithful and just

As step by step and day by day

We live-laugh-love-work-hope and pray

Knowing that in each come-what-may

The God of old abides with us

© Janet Martin