Time's Memory-Loom

Afternoon pools, burnished sweep

Spirals from spools azure-deep

White clouds wafting half-asleep

Over almost-memories

We diverge, for shadows wait

To surge over twilight’s gate

Daily deaths soft-saturate

This which slips to naught with ease

...as the framework of an hour

Falls like a depleted flower

Scattered to the wooing bower

That claims every beaming bloom

And the lilt of it soon lies

In the garden of thought’s eyes

A once-in-a-lifetime prize

Fading on time’s mem'ry-loom

© Janet Martin

A Thank-you God Poem

   

Thank-you God, you clothe with beauty

Every season of the earth

You anoint each day with mercy

In spite of what we deserve

Thank-you God, you grant us favor

Though often we turn away

You unfurl grace, like a banner

Over every break of day

Thank-you God, You offer pardon

Where our guilt would hopeless prove

You are the God of salvation

Nothing can usurp Your love

Thank-you God, your Supreme Presence

Drives asunder doubt, with cheer

Where we would be hungry peasants

Doomed to Death’s cold, sullen fear

Thank-you God, You never leave us

Absolute within, without

Your love softens hardened places

Like a warm rain after drought

Thank-you God, when words would fail us

You behold the heart at loss

Full of wonder at Your promise

Through the power of the cross

Thank-you God, our sin would damn us

To hell’s horror but for this;

To break The Curse You sent Jesus

To become our Righteousness

© Janet Martin

There are a few attention-deficit-disorder students in my lively Gr.5&6 Sunday School class. It’s hard to keep the conversation on course but when we came to the part in our lesson that talked about what happens if we say ‘no’ to the gift of salvation God made possible through Jesus’ death on the cross, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop!

Below is the chapter from the Bible that our lesson was based on; We went outside with a bag of chaff(straw) that we tossed into the wind; 

a visual lesson on the useless, weightlessness of an ungodly life.

Psalms 1

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

    Nor stands in the path of sinners,

    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    And in His law he meditates day and night.

³ He shall be like a tree

    Planted by the rivers of water,

    That brings forth its fruit in its season,

    Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

⁴ The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

A Humble Plea

 

Gracious God of hope and love

Help us fix our gaze on Thee

We are prone to dredge the droves

Of what eye alone can see

Tender Shepherd of the flock

Help us hear Thy voice of old

For your Word alone unlocks

The door that leads to Thy fold

Faithful Father to us all

Satisfy us with Your grace

Help us, hold us lest we fall

Or wander from Your embrace

Perfect Pastor of our prayer

Shape from this, a humble plea

Sure defense against the snare

That would lure the heart from Thee

Sacred Savior of mankind

Lord-God of Heaven and earth

Help us all to seek and find

Through Thy love alone, our worth

© Janet Martin

Where Wisp of Mist Unfurls

 In the not quite 6000 posts on this blog I don't believe I've ever written a whole poem of 5-syllable lines, but that's the way it insisted on untwisting from thought today:)

Midnight deep uncurls

Wisp of mist unfurls

From ebony fist

Morning, mercy-kissed

Yesterday, a blip

Crooned upon the lip

Now a new song swells

From hope’s citadels

Tugged from thick of sleep

We wed with the leap

Of open to close

Prelude to repose

The sky is a flow’r

Beaming with the hour

We grasp at its bloom

Soon sealed in Past’s tomb

Then pick up those feet

Time grants no repeat

Delight in the lilt

Of a new day spilt

Cherish the regale

Of inhale-exhale

Drink deep from the swell

That weeps with farewell

Sing, do-rah-me-fah

And loop-de-la-la

For God’s grace exceeds

Man's uttermost needs

© Janet Martin

a wonderful morning worship song!

 

Creed For The Christian

May our day-to-day be more than a performance folks applaud

Trying to appease the masses rather than first seeking God

May the purpose of our being be more than the fickle boast

Shaped to what mankind is seeing rather than Who matters most

May the passion of our passage be more than mere taste and touch

That does not bring praise and glory to He who loves us so much

That He sent for our redemption His beloved Son, Jesus

Thus, may we be a reflection of the Love of God in us

© Janet Martin