Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Moment-art



Do you ever do this...vow to never forget so you drink in a moment's silhouette
knowing soon you will
forget
because Time's hands are never still...

 Melissa invited me in from weeding and digging for an espresso-break...
.
 
The simple preciousness of an after-school moment caught me off guard  but even as I strained to etch it in my memory I sensed its edges blurring ...





This too will pass, I mourn
And try to etch within the heart
The form that fills the frame
That spills time’s claim in moment-art

This too will fade, I know
The come and go of years has taught
That nothing lasts too long, save fragments
Lingering in thought

Today will soon be yesterday
Love’s bloom of joy or grief
Drains moments like a little bud
Wanes hours leaf by leaf

Each moment must surrender
Tenderness wills love’s applause
Where sharp edges soon blur and render
All but Is to Was

This too will soon be ashes
Climax of thought, touch and heart
Are every at the splashes of
Life’s dying moment-art

© Janet Martin

May your day be a montage of breathtaking moment-art!

Spring Thanks-giving Hymn



 It is not hard to give thanks in spring, I thought,
 as I pedaled through its rolling wonderland last night...


For winter gales that never came
For blessings beyond count or name
For hope in spite of guilt and shame
Give thanks

For purple pansy’s friendly face
For wonderlands of green-spun grace
For forgiveness for human race
Give thanks

For paths that flow forward, not back
For feet to dance and mouth to laugh
For nature’s free-flung bivouac
Give thanks

For this; springtime the Lord has made
…time’s newness over oldness laid
For seasons we would never trade
Give thanks

For flowers fresh from heaven's hand
For showers lavishing the land
For seed to plant and God to grant
Give thanks

For gilt of bud on barren limb
For lilt of lark when dark grows dim
For all roads leading back to Him
Give thanks

© Janet Martin

Good Enough


If we go down the comparison path its easy to fall into a 'woe is me' trap, 
forgetting that who we are and what we do is more a matter who we serve and how we love, 




Who we are and what we do
When we compare ‘us’ with the rest
Will always be worthy and true
If we commit to give our Best

For what we do and who we are
Is not a thing of trade or rank
But by how we employ the hour
And all the more how-Who we thank

Then who we are and what we do
Will always be quite good enough
If our Best is me and you
And our quest a heart of love

© Janet Martin


Monday, May 9, 2016

Of One Day...





One day the hour will carry
Each to where time will cease
Then pray for us who tarry
God’s righteousness and peace

One day this cord unbroken
Will fray and disappear
Pray each day is a token
Of godly hope and fear

One day this season-circuit
Of bud to bloom will pass
And symbolize our lives, love
A shadow on the grass

One day, stripped of this body
Our last transport will be
Of soul to God, and then we
Begin eternity

© Janet Martin

 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.

 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 14:1-2


As Time Goes By



( Love the maple flower-gardens!)

Because we’ve met with days whose ways were not pleasant and sweet
We learn to humbly recognize the kinder days we meet

Because we’ve borne the careworn weight of weariness and woe
We learn to realize more full, God’s grace whereby we go

Because, as time goes by we start to see that its return
Is but a compilation of lessons still left to learn

© Janet Martin