Truth Undeterred

Heaven and earth will pass away, 

but my words will not pass away.

Matt 24:35 

Dear, when in doubt

Don’t look about

And ask some passer for a thought

For age to age

From sacred page

The wise of this world

Have been taught

Though time may change

And rearrange

The things that meet the roving eye

Never God’s Word

Truth, undeterred

The Holy Bible

Does not lie

Pick up that Book

And take a look

Lest after all small races won

We miss The Way

The only Way

That leads to life

When life is done

Dear, when in doubt

Don’t look about

For answers from earth’s roaring crowd

Pick up The Book

And take a look

To find hope’s peace

From Holy God

© Janet Martin

This week, on more than one occasion I was confronted with remarks like 'if there is a God' and 'if there is a hereafter'! 

One cannot force faith. 

In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas...

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. 

To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

 …and asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

 I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,  

and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe.

Ephes.1:17-19

Staying Power

Through the numbering of ages and its pages filled with dust

In the din of living’s battle to survive its tick by tock

In the purple mist of morning and the blue bayou of dusk

Through the new soon old and weathered by time’s bold and steady clock

From the bud that bears its beauty to the frail and fallen husk

From the barrenness of winter to the fullness of the shock

Through youth’s learning, yearning stages to the heights of middle age

To the learning, yearning sages where time's willing wise are taught

And have gleaned amidst its weaning, life’s deeper meaning; this cage

Of skin and bone and grin and moan and harboring of thought

Is but a bitty portion of a Greater Pilgrimage

Aha, aha, some laugh and say while others pray a lot

Through the winnowing where whispers murmur moments into years

And all of us come to a flash-point where we realize

How soft-subtle, brief-beautiful a lifetime disappears

And suddenly we sense its breath before our very eyes

Still, through the numbered ages and its ordering of spheres

And surface, sundry changes, God, our changeless God abides

© Janet Martin

   

Who Will Tell Our Children?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matt.19:14

Who will tell them of a baby?

Born, from God in Bethlehem

Who will tell the precious story?

Who will tell our dear children?

Who will tell them of a Teacher

Friend of sinners, you and I

Who will tell how much He loves us

Who will tell how, why He died?

Who will tell them of a Savior?

Sacrificed upon a cross

Who will tell them how He suffered

To pay sin’s eternal cost

Who will tell the awesome story
How He triumphed death with life
Overcame the cross with glory
Hope Immortal crowns our strife

Who will tell them, we, dear Mother

We, dear dad with tender heart

For oh, who will tell our children

If we fail to do our part?

If we fail, pray who will tell them

Of Jesus who loves them so?

Who will tell our children’s children

If they don't know what they don't know?

© Janet Martin

Guess We All Needs a Bit o' Trouble

Gardening can be quite discouraging, especially when drought and blight join forces.

I was out just now, bemoaning the withered plants...

...when near to me lands a beautiful swallowtail butterfly!
Beauty midst broken...

Guess we all needs a bit o' trouble

To learn to be truly glad

‘Cause we would live in a bubble, love

If good days was all we had

Guess we all needs a bit o’ cryin’

To taste laughter’s sugar full-fold

An’ we all needs a bit o’ gray, darlin’

To appreciate the gold

Guess we all needs our share o’ losin’

To humbly receive a win

An' I guess if we gets too full o’ ‘gettin’

We all needs a punch on the chin

Guess we all would get lazy an’ fat

If we didn’t needs to work so hard

Guess we all needs trouble an’ that

To learn to trust in God

Guess we all wouldn’t learn to pray

If we had all that we wish

Guess we all needs to be more 'they'

An’ a little less selfish

We all needs to make a livin’, yep

But we should be givin’ a lot

‘Cause we all often needs each other’s he’p

'an each other is all we got

© Janet Martin

An' August Is...' Poem

 The first five days of August (I blinked and there they were!) served up a kaleidoscope of color!

August is a flower

August is a book

August is a lily-pad

Bordering the brook

August is a garden

In each dell and dip

August is a poem, love

Slipping from the lip

August is a rainbow

Caught in canning jars

August is a carefree girl

With eyes full of stars

August is a loafer

Pocket full of wish

August is an Artist

August is a fish

August is a peach pie

August is a boy

With gold-buttered freckles

Behind corn-buttered joy

August is a love song

August is a dash

Bare feet banter fading

Into silver splash

August is a wheat field

August is a door

Leading to a stair where

August is no more

© Janet Martin