Monday, August 7, 2017

Like Roses From God (are His promises) Sympathy or Encouragement Card poem





My grace is sufficient for thee(2 Cor.12:9)
Help-Refuge, ever near(Ps.46:1)
To them that are of broken heart
And contrite spirit’s tear(Ps.34:18)

I send a Comforter(John 14:16)
To heal sorrow’s heartache
To all who call upon my name
I never will forsake (Ps.145:18,Deut.31:6)

Wonderful Counsellor(Isa.9:6)
I, Jesus Christ the Same(Heb.13:8)
A father full of pity for
Each one who fears My name(Ps.103:13)

My peace I give to you(John 14:27)
Come, I will give respite(Matt.11:28)
Fear not, my child, be not dismayed(Isa.41:10)
You walk by faith, not sight(2 Cor.5:7)

Love bears, believes, endures
And love will never fail (1 Cor.13:7-8)
I, merciful and rich in love
Though grief comes, will prevail(Lam.3:32)

Great is My faithfulness(Lam.3:23)
I, Father, Shepherd, Friend(2 Cor.6:18, Ps.23:1,John 15:15)
I, in the midst of trouble’s woe
Will strengthen, save, defend (Ps. 138:7)

An answer in your mouth
My Word, thy faultless trust(Ps.119:42)
Lamp to thy feet, Light to thy path(Ps.119:105)
A Rock, righteous and just(Deut.32:4)

The God of all comfort(2 Cor.1:3)
My rod and staff to cheer(Ps 23.4)
My grace is sufficient for thee(2 Cor.12:9)
Fear not, for I am near(Isa.41:10)

© Janet Martin



Saturday, August 5, 2017

Momentous Mementos



I am no weaver, I laughed, as someone suggested I might want to purchase a large loom for-sale at our local thrift store. 
But I was wrong. We all are weavers of a sacred thread! 
What are you weaving with the colors you hold?
Yesterday's colors ran through the carefree shrieks and laughter of children at precious play.



Today's threads, Lord willing, will be woven into echoes of a family reunion with cousins I rarely see!

As seasons spin time’s thinning thread
They weave far more than eye can see
With colors on the mind’s eye spread
Of moment turned to memory

How common Present seems, how small
Each segregated breath may feel
As tick and tock of clock-stock falls
Like stitches from a spinning wheel

No mortal valor, boast or creed
Can pause or slow the flow that slips
Into fathoms where daily deed
Is triumphed by twilight’s eclipse

Now you are there and I am here
Where smile and tear love’s While imparts
Before its moments disappear
Into the belvedere of hearts

…when all that will be left of ‘we’
(No one escapes that mortal dread)
Will be the ageless memory
Of what we did and what we said

The sweetest gift we all can give
No matter what our lot may be
Is to weave with each day we live
What leaves a lovely memory

© Janet Martin

The book Brantley seems thrilled to be holding was given to me by a friend/co-worker when Emily was born...the subtle shuttle of Time's luminous loom-in-us stuns us with its moment-ous mementos!


Memory's Roses



 

What sacred sympathies
What soothing melodies entwine
As sweet, sweet memories, my love
Keep your heart next to mine

Ah, happiness and grief
Mingle in bitter-sweetest throes
Death’s farewell is so brief, my love
The dark can wear a rose

And though we must let go
We hold on to love’s dearest part
The place where mem’ries flow, my love
And keep us heart to heart

The dark is not unkind
Though vows that bind are severed, oh,
God soothes the heart and mind, my love
Where memory-roses grow

© Janet Martin

Roses at Midnight





How precious were those moments
How dear the common hour
Like buds that gently opened
Into petals of a flower

Love’s laughter was like sunshine
It’s suff’ring like the rain
Its seasons like the rose and thorn
Of life’s pleasure and pain

How hardly we had held them
Before they fell away
Rose petals on a garden
In a world of yesterday

And where there had been laughter
Where rafters rang with cheer
It seemed that ever after
Surely love would wear a tear

The bough of bloom was broken
The loom of gladness rent
Where sorrow was love’s token
Of a lifetime fully spent

But God, so rich in mercy
From petals grace bestows
Stirs from love’s tender mem’ry
The beauty of a rose

From folds of sweetest fragrance
When night is dark and still
The power of mere moments
Performs a miracle

What precious, precious comfort
Fond memories can impart
As roses bloom at midnight
In gardens of the heart

 Janet Martin

Midnight's Rose





There is a bloom that blithely blows
Upon grief’s tomb called Midnight Rose
Dearest by far its fragile form
Beams like a star through sorrow’s storm

It soothes the prick of thorny stem
With ruby-tinted diadem
As echoes from fond days asleep
Return to bloom on midnight’s deep

The air can wear the soul-sweet scent
Where flowered hours came and went
The night is filled with soundless sound
As petals strew Thought’s hallowed ground

Tears cannot wash lost smiles away
Or drown the crown of yesterday
Where oft, softly they reappear
As Midnight Roses draw them near

…and almost we can feel their touch
And presence that we miss so much
Midnight, where rambling roses nod
Cupped in the faithful hand of God

The faithful hand of God, ah this
Is where the crux of comfort IS
With love His compassion bestows
To midnight’s loneliness, a rose

Then pray that nobody forgets
The Bloom that here and now begets
Where, who knows when, its Echo blows
Across the tomb of Midnight’s Rose

© Janet Martin