But For The Beauty

Life’s disappointments would break us

Strip our laughter away

But for the beauty of morning

Bringing with it, brand new day

Sorrow would be too heavy

Winter would be too long

But for the beauty of knowing

Spring waits in earth full of song

Love would be nothing but longing

Hope but a dim-lit ray

But for the beauty of God’s grace

Washing our guilt away

Dreary would be life’s struggle

Doleful, this soul-spun bark

But for the beauty of God’s love

Lighting the darkest dark

How cursed, would be our hunger

How resolute our doom

But for the beauty of Heaven

Glimpsed in new morning’s first bloom

© Janet Martin

Twilight's Bluer Blue...

Dusk splays a blanket, blue and soft

Over the sweep of wood and croft

A winter- afternoon adheres

To bluer blue, then disappears

Its blushing, rushing moments meld

Into the hush of briefly held

Appointments, before bluer blue

Bid us whisper, adieu, adieu

Day sets and begets silver stars

Where deep then deeper dusk unbars

A far-off wish-and-wonder world

That twilight’s bluer blue unfurled

Dusk breathes a benediction then 

Lowers a gossamer curtain

Where winter afternoon adheres

To bluer blue and disappears

© Janet Martin

A Life Full of Reasons...

Wiggle each finger

Count all your toes

Be sure to remember

Eyes, ears, mouth and nose

A tongue for talking

And tasting too,

A back that won’t break

When you tie your shoes

Tickly tummy,

Bendy elbows and knees

Then don’t forget

To thank God for these

Consider the lilies

How perfect each cup

Feel the breeze teasing

Your face tilted up

Marvel at oceans

Cupped softly aloft

In heaven’s blue eons

Where galaxies waft

Touch, taste, treasure

And don’t forget

To thank God always

For all of it

Laughter; what music

And sorrow, what proof

Of having been gifted

With life’s best; true love

Oh my, awesome tally

Oh my, the heart sings

As we count the blessings

Of everyday things

Turn this way, then that

Tell me, what do you see?

Is it a life full of reasons

To live thankfully?

© Janet Martin

This past year in my Sunday School Class we did an 'A Thousand Gifts' challenge,

In no time at all a class of less than ten had over two thousand named 'gifts'. 

Can we count each finger ? they asked

There is nothing too small to be counted, we all agreed...

Today Ann reminds us, 'what's hard brings us together' so even then

there it is;  reasons to be grateful!

 We only enter into the full life -- into sozo --- if our faith gives thanks.
Ann Voskamp

By a Blue Upsy-daisy Breeze

 

For a moment dawn cradled the sun

In the crook of a leafless limb

Then, without pause it began

Its faithful, age-old climb

Over the little reach of tall trees

Propelled into the sky

By a blue upsy-daisy breeze

Teasing earth’s wistful eye

For a moment we think we are young

Cradled in the luxury

Of thinking that Time is long

But then we begin to see

How soon youth is propelled

By an upsy-daisy breeze

Into that blue and yellow place

Of ageless memories

For a moment perhaps we might dare

To be a beggar for days

Gone by; before the new-born air

Reminds us of time’s ways

And how soon every noon is propelled

By a blue upsy-daisy breeze

Into a fond, forever farewell

And fresh-framed memories

© Janet Martin

Before It Is Over...

It is one of those mornings that begs to be broken in with more than a complacent glance...

Over yonder

Barely breathing

Curved against

Earth’s beaming skin

Is a new-born

Burst of morning

Waiting to be

Broken in

Let's be kind,

Oh, let's be gentle 

Soon the newness

Of its birth

Will be nothing

But an echo

Wafting soft

Over the earth

© Janet Martin