A Psalm of Simple Joy

I sing a hymn of humble joy 

…for love of question-brimming boy

For hug from giggling little girl

For kitchen ballerina’s twirl

For kettles that pour more than tea

For supper-soup with family

I sing a melody of praise

For common, ordinary days

For common chores and mundane dues

For moody March-anointed hues

For prayer that draws us to God’s throne

For earth-havens of home-sweet-home

I sing a song of gratitude

For tide of morn and hope renewed

For happiness not bought but spun

For tasks still waiting to be done

For painted front doors, flower-pots

For violets and forget-me-nots

I sing a tiralee of love

For buds-in-waiting treasure trove

For ink to paint a poem, oh

For orange-pink-purple twilight-show

For almost April afternoon

Oh Lord, I sing to Thee a tune

© Janet Martin

Over and over the Psalms remind us to sing to the Lord! (here a just a few invitations)

 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 

 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

Psalm 95:1-2

 Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth. 

 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.

Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Psalm 96:1-3 

 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
    and praise his holy name.

Psalm 97:12

 Sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things;

Psalm 98:1

 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
    he is holy.

Psalm 99:3

 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 100:1-2

Those 'Little' Things

 Don't you just love-LOVE *oven-cleaning day?! NOT!, but...

 ...it's the payoff that prompts us to scrub-scrub-scrub, right?

*for those who do not own a self-cleaning oven...(I was thinking of trading in this oldie because I couldn't get it clean anymore after choosing not to use those toxic oven-sprays that also seemed to fry the burner. Then a friend told me to try a paste of baking soda and water, spread it on, let it sit for a while and wipe off. It works! only the really black baked on residue required hard scrubbing)

Some Tremclad stove-paint touch-up on the top and yay! there is still some life left in it after all!

So it is with a lot of life's  'little  things'.

It's not the menial Must of it but the hopeful trust of it that keeps us focused on the bigger picture!

We may think it isn’t much

The little bit we give today

But, we don’t see the full-fruit of

Those deeds we do,

Or many words we say

We may think it isn’t much

Those things that we procrastinate

But oh, we never know, my love

If morrow will

Forever be too late

We may think it isn’t much

Touch-taste-pray-trust and try-try-try

But, there is so much more, my dear

Than that which meets

The oft forgetful eye

We may think it isn’t much

Those ‘little things’ that seem so small

But given time we just might find

Perhaps they weren’t

So little after all

© Janet Martin

 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. 

2 Thess.3:13

Inevitable Thus...

Dusk-shadow reaches then recedes

The limb of lusty leaf-song bleeds

Sweet summer long flaunts bounty's blooms

‘ere flower throngs fill nameless tombs

New mother tends her baby wee

Still dumb to life’s swift misery

As we who mothered they learn Thus;

Surrender oft repeats its Must

© Janet Martin

My grandmother's gentle reprimand to my youthful rebellion returns even now in middle-age...

"Surrender is only hard if we struggle"

Of Heaven and Earth...

All praise to Thee, Father of heaven and earth

Thou who turns the tide bringing springtime's rebirth

Thou who dost not fetter the colorless sod

But instills its depth with love-letters from God

We worship thee, Ruler of Heaven and Earth

Thou does not reward us with what we deserve

But over and over our footsteps embark

Where spring succeeds winter and dawn succeeds dark 

We glorify Thee, God of Heaven and earth

Thou who fathers foundling and friar and firth

Thou who begets all things beautiful, oh Lord

We praise, worship, glorify Thee evermore

Janet Martin

Of Morrow In Slow Motion

 Started to compose this on my walk/run this evening as I watched the day begin to disappear.

Hush, hush, daylight is fading now

Rose blush on time’s chameleon brow

Then cease thy rush where sorrows blow

And still thy wayward sighing

The scenes that pass before our gaze

To fill the heart and mouth with praise

Dissolve where west is set a-blaze

Then dimmed like embers dying

The woodland wears a russet crown

The fallow field, a golden gown

Before the soundless stripping down

-Down-down in deepened shadow

The air like ether tallow drips

The flare that lights dawn’s candle slips

Today melds to fond fellowships

That only thought can hallow

The tide that bears time’s heirs soft-seeps

In blue, then ever bluer deeps

Until the billow of it sweeps

The earth into its ocean

Where night rolls through dusk’s lowered bars

And showers our sight with stars

Hush, hush, while heaven spills its jars

Of morrow in slow motion

© Janet Martin