The Perfect Gift

 The perfect Gift has been given!

Have you received it?

For God so love the world that He gave

His only begotten Son

That whosoever believes in Him

will not perish but have everlasting life

John 3:16

Fragility of circumstance

Can spark a darksome dread

Ability to trust God grants

His perfect peace instead

To cope with naught but what one sees

Can make us fall apart

To hope in God will set at ease

The struggle in the heart

The prize that keeps some mesmerized

Showcases vanity

The wise, through One for us chastised

Embrace humility

Who can afford the war of Want

A lonely way to live

Man is not Lord nor can he grant

What only God can give

He does not say that ease will pave
The way He did atone
Because of what Love gave, death's grave
Is but a steppingstone

Then praise the Giver of The Gift
Salvation's wondrous plan 
His grace delivers, spans the rift
That gaped twixt God and man

...and thus the joy angels first told
To shepherds filled with fright 
For us, as in those days of old
Is still the same True Light

© Janet Martin

Jeremiah 17:7
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is Him.

Sacred Mantle...

We all know someone touched by death's solemn sadness, their lives forever altered...

It wraps a sort of sacred mantle about the heart for what we dare not take for granted; each other!

I visited with such a mother yesterday, and we talked of other families who are mourning as well.

Sacred mantle ’round the heart

Who can tell the morrow

Who can know that solemn start

To love’s anguished sorrow?

Who can know, amidst the rush

Of love’s common giving

Who will be the next of us

To pass beyond the living?

Sacred mantle ‘round the heart

Keens a kinder gladness

For each face and place and part

Not yet rent with sadness

© Janet Martin

Little Poem for a Big 'Best Blessing'

It’s nice to have nice neighbours

Wouldn’t you agree

The kind that is but isn’t

Kinda like family

The kind that you can call on

For help, hello and such

A friendly wave, a catch-up chat

If we’ve been out of touch

The kind that makes humbly sure

That we’ve been double-blessed

By the people that live next door

Because our neighbours are the best!

© Janet Martin

First and Foremost

The Birth of Jesus

…But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you shall give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:…

Matt.1:20-22

(The Title Page in this video has an error: it should say Matt Mayer instead of Matt Redman)

To He who lends dawn’s mystery

And bids night’s awning dim

He bids that our love should be

First and foremost for Him

God sent His Son to earth to move

And change the world.  Jesus

Through lowly birth and death would prove

How great His love for us

Upon a donkey mile on mile

His mother Mary rode

To Bethlehem; heavy with Child

To search for night’s abode

No room was found to lay her head

Only a stable’s floor

Only a manger for the bed

Of Jesus Christ, the Lord

Holy, most holy King of kings

Stepped from His throne to be

For all mankind, The Offering

That sets doomed sinners free

They gave to Him the name Jesus

According to God’s Word

And faithful through the ages, still

The heart of man is stirred

No greater story ever told

It is not finished yet

Until the prophecies of old

Unfold all that He said

From He who lends dawn’s mystery

And bids night’s awning dim

He commands our love to be

First and foremost for Him

© Janet Martin

The Greatest Commandment

…“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?”
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.…

 Matt.22:36-38