Sometimes I Feel Like a Foolish Virgin...or Humbly Happy

*“Sometimes I feel like a foolish virgin” I remarked as we scrambled about collecting extension cords, looking for flashlights, dashed to Drayton for gas for the generator etc.. …
but I’m so thankful, since the kids are older these storms are not quite as stressful as they used to be.

Jim usually misses out on the 'excitement'.
Due to his breakdown a few days ago he is trying to make it home in time for a
(Hopefully-will-happen) Easter dinner with his family that we are hosting tomorrow!)

 While gathering extension cords it reminded me of a power-outage, likely 20+ years ago, when our best-neighbor-in-the-world connected enough cords to reach from his generator to our house so the girls could have a night-light and listen to their 

Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round cassette to go to sleep! 

Some kindnesses we NEVER forget! 

(like coffee and hot chocolate and pop delivered to our back door, 

like come-use-our-shower-microwave-coffeemaker etc!)

Thank-you Bill and Patty!
 

That's the thing about trouble; it makes us remember…

Makes me humbly count my ‘happy’

Makes me take stock of the rest

Like the trucker on the highway

And the birdie in its nest

And the people not so ‘lucky’

As to have a ‘home-sweet-home

Makes me turn my little thank-you

Into a prayer and/or poem

Makes me contemplate ‘possibly’

How the wise keep lamps prepared

While the foolish rummage madly

…procrastination-despaired

Makes me think upon the kindness

Of good neighbors and good friends

And the second-mile stretched highways

That it seems trouble extends

Makes me humbly count my ‘happy’

Makes me try not to forget

To try harder to be ready

For the storm not unleashed... yet

© Janet Martin

'Possibly' is Procrastination's best ally!

There is one For Sure we cannot afford to procrastinate!!

*Matt 25:1-13

 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

I bought this flashlight the other day, hoping to keep mine from going missing on 'pirate ships, under-the-couch-cushion camp-outs, and other kiddo-adventures;-) 

Humbled Hopers/Grumblers

We are under a huge ice-storm warning!

Already a hellion rages at our windows, while

We put flashlights and candles where we can find them in the dark,

 hoping against hope we won’t need them!!

 It has begun so hope rearranges its 'prayer-list' and puts new prayers to the forefront...

...for safety and strong hydro-lines!

Ah, turn that dial to a sky-smile

Ice is such a hellion

Or turn the rain to snow again

And I promise we won’t complain

Last week I know, we hated snow

And begged for mercy’s warmer gold

But now we’d settle for the nettle

Of a snowflake’s kinder cold

Nature shudders beneath rudders

Of a wild wind's wilful roar

Humbled wishing wants ‘The Something’

That we whined about before

© Janet Martin

Some reminders why we're apprehensive... 

Sinister beauty!

April 2013

 Dec.2013

 

  Feb. 2016

 

Mar. 2016

 We lost our beloved red  maple tree!

Ellipses of Awe

Aren't you glad the sky is beyond our reach?!
One place no one can make a mess of or try to add a 'personal touch':)

Beyond the hands of humankind

The heavens spread, unscathed, unmarred

To thrill the ilk of you and I

With trays, blue-gray-blush, silver-starred

We, more than ellipses of awe

And dust-lust, cup Myst’ry; It lies

Beneath the crepe that drapes the jaw

That shapes the chin tipped to yon skies

Where God grants glimpses to this globe

Of His unrivaled Majesty

The hemline of Time’s teeny robe

Trails across Infinity

(last two stanzas optional,
to finish this poem..not optional in life;-)

…where ‘no beginning and no end’

Evades the grasp of you and me

Meager Thought cannot comprehend

The compass of eternity

Beyond the hands of humankind

Heaven expands, a grand Buffet

To thrill the ilk of you and I

Until the thread of Time gives way

© Janet Martin

 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;

he seals off the light of the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens

and treads on the waves of the sea.

He is the Maker of the Bear^a and Orion,

the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

miracles that cannot be counted.

When he passes me, I cannot see him;

when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

If he snatches away, who can stop him?

Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Job 9:7-12

Lament For the Human Bent

PAD Challenge day 12: For today’s prompt, write a lament poem. 

Have we not all lamented with Paul..."oh, wretched man that I am!!?" 

Whether we're here

...or here...

...we're all in this together!
Let's love one another, 'kay?

To keep us sympathetic to the plight of fellowmen

It seems that we need small or big reminders now and then

But bent of human nature is a hard fellow to shake

Inclined to the returning to habits so hard to break

With honk of horn and shake of fist (or, one finger salutes)

The ‘better man’ we plan to be ‘the other man’ refutes

Though hearts often soften when stunned by grief and tragedy

Soon it seems they slip back into the Who-we-used-to-be

But lest Best Intention succumbs to laments of defeat

It’s “up and at ‘em, everyone, love ain’t no easy-street”

The donuts(or do-nots) we indulged in or the good that we neglect

The ‘moral treason’ we commit… Today we will correct!

...and lest our prideful nature thinks we can do it alone
We should humble our want and wish so sly and stumble-prone
Before the throne of He whose loving kindness is the grace
That overcomes the nature so common to human race

© Janet Martin

 
The Conflict of Two Natures
      14For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

      21I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.