Oh, This Life

Oh, this sacred breadth of being

With its breath-by-breath decay

Is a journey toward seeing

How swift life’s gift slips away

Oh, this beauty of becoming

Where Duty and dream ally

Is like listening to the humming

Of a choir in the sky

Oh, this flower-favored laughter

Oh, this longing-labored fear

Cunning, shapes the stunning After

In the echo of a year

Cherish ev’ry bit of living

Savor its sun-shadow sweep

For Time’s hand, so full of giving

Leaves so little we can keep

Oh, this road of woe and wonder

Oh, this hunger-driven laud

Is a brief joy-grief encounter

On a journey back to God

© Janet Martin

Last evening I went out with a couple friends to celebrate a 50th birthday.

"Hi Marie,(sharing the poem from your card:)

You visit this porch from time to time

 so I did not want your card to be poemless!

Thank-you for reading and your kind interest and words of appreciation over the years".

Wishing each of you blessed miles in your journey today!

Whether we're coasting downhill or struggling up,

our God of grace is with us!

You make known to me the path of life;

You will fill me with joy in Your presence,

with eternal pleasures at Your right hand

Ps.16:11

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,

shining ever bright til the full light of day.

Prov.4:18

Prayer For the Pilgrim

 

Lord, make us more than merchants of moments that fade away

Lord, fill our hearts with love for fellow-travelers today

For who knows by the time the sun sets who of us will pass

From here to where no one returns to shout hurray, alas

Lord, take our brokenness and make it fitting for love’s task

Banish our bitterness and live through us, I humbly ask

For who of us is better than the rest of us; no one

And we all need forgiveness for the sins that we have done

Lord, bind the heart that sorrows, with the kindness of Your word

Remind us that Your promises are pure and undeterred

For who or what can comfort besides Heaven’s Hope unfurled

In pages that prepare us for a place beyond this world

© Janet Martin

 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. 

Ps.119:28 NIV

The Stars Can Wait

Look Janet, gasped little Luke, it's a whole field of wishing-flowers!

...and soon they fly upon their wishes ...and instead of little colorful boots, it's bigger than mom or dad's shoes

 

  ....instead of toy trucks and cars it's big-boy trucks and cars

They heap the heart with happiness

And tender, simple joys

They keep us steady in life’s mess

Life’s little girls and boys

They teach us how to slow our feet

To listen, not just hear

To reach for more than bread and meat

While they are sweet and near

For, far too soon their wings will spread

And they will fly away

The stars can wait, dear mom and dad

Be with your child today

© Janet Martin

Sorrow's Prize...

 In the middle of play

...right out of the blue one little cutie-petutie remarked to the other,

"I miss my mommy" and the other replied "me too"

 (When I told them the more we miss someone the more we love them

smiles prevailed;-))

In life I’ve learned a thing or two

Love’s unseen depth to prove

The deeper flows the ‘missing you’

The deeper runs the love

Sometimes I do not realize

Until we are apart

How sweet the seed of sorrow’s prize

Rose-gardens in the heart

© Janet Martin

Glorious and Majestic Are His Deeds

Dawn drapes its silver cape across the waking countryside

Life’s leap of faith is graced with backdrops deigned to preach and praise

The Artist of time’s color-skeins unravels mercy’s tide

Where gray or gold will not deter His love that meters days

What myriad of masterpieces chides mankind’s complaints

Look down; look up, creation’s cup of kindness overflows

It bestows to the bedrock, where oft-times man’s spirit faints

A plethora of wonderment no mortal could compose

The fount of beauty’s blessing surges with the splurge of spring

We, perched upon a pedestal showcasing love at large

Are ravished with the lavish expressions and offerings

Of God who, rich in mercy grants His glory at no charge

© Janet Martin

 

I was humming the song below while I posted this 

(posting with a better-late-than-never attitude these days)

and  little girl of two asked me

'how you know dat sing'

and I replied, "I learned it long ago"

'how you lewn it?' was the immediate response

"I learned it by hearing it over and over"

"Dear Lord, let what our youngsters learn from us,

(because they hear it over and over)

be honoring to You!"