Friday, April 19, 2019

License To Live or How Will We Escape?


PAD challenge day 19: For today’s prompt, write a license poem.


 




How Lucifer loathed Eden’s pair
The origin of man
Shameless, guiltless, they wandered where
Record of Time began
In Eden’s bliss and there it is
He fixed his jealous hate
Bent to destroy the selfless joy
And spoil man’s perfect state
And ruin God, for he could not
Best Heaven’s uttermost
But was cast to the depths of hell
To dwell there with his host
Lowliest and unholiest
Darkness instead of Light
The cunning Schemer could not rest
But set his bestial sight
Upon a way to rue the day
Of I AM’s ‘Let There Be’
He knew the garden of the mind
Was prone to vanity
(Though sin had not yet entered it)
And all was good and fair
The sight of uncontested Love
Was more than hate could bear
And so this Crafter of Deceit
Took shade beneath The Tree
Laden with fruit sumptuous and sweet
But Forbidden, you see
For God put Law into effect
To guard earth’s paradise
“Eat freely of all trees”, He said
To First Man’s honest eyes
“Save one, and if you eat of it
Then you will surely die”
Aha, here satan chose to sit
To tempt them with a lie
…and so he did and they believed
And Eve first took the fruit
Then gave to Adam, both deceived
The Seed of Sin Took Root
And in that fateful bite Death’s curse
Divided and defiled
Cast from The Garden, man must work
And woman bear the child
And for man’s sin a sacrifice
Of shed blood must be met
For death alone for sin atones
For sin alone brings death


How Holy God loved Eden’s pair
The offspring of His Hand
Has fallen; now sin’s vile despair
Wreaks havoc on the land
The blood of lambs, rams, goats and bulls
Can never satisfy
The wrath of God; where animals
Must die and die and die
And God knew they could never be
The life-blood to redeem
Sin and death-cursed humanity
The prey of satan’s scheme
Where the Highest and Holiest
As eras rose and fell
Knew who would put on Lowliest
To save man’s souls from hell
Knew Who would suffer once for all
To restore Adam’s race
Back to a place before the fall
Through Mercy’s saving grace
For God so loved the world He gave
His one and only Son
To save us from hell’s fiery grave
In Eden’s grief begun
And make a way back to The Tree
Of Life; back to The King
Ah, Death where is thy victory
Ah grave, where is thy sting?
So Jesus, fully God did not
Decline Salvation’s Need
But put on flesh and humanness
Redemption’s flood to bleed
For sin, dark, wretched sin must have
A pure and perfect Lamb
Then God, so rich in Mercy gave
Himself, the Great I AM
Love left His throne, the Lord of Heaven
Bore death’s altar, a cross
He died so man may live, forgiven
For mankind’s gain, His loss
Rejected, beaten, mocked and cursed,
He stayed the cruel course
Love, always putting others first
Could not bear sin’s divorce
Faithful to death, death on a cross
He conquered once for all
The curse that spawned death’s albatross
Begun at Adam’s fall…


For death and grave could not enslave
Where God so loved the world
He sent His only Son to brave
All hell’s fury unfurled
Until with three words ‘it is finished’
Death by death became
The fulfillment of Genesis
The name whereby man can be saved
Not by some corpse’s fame
No! Jesus triumph is engraved
In Hands death could not claim
For seals of stone cannot secure
The Glory of The Lord
Where sacred groan did first endure
The gory pierce of sword
But then burst forth in Victory
And Resurrection’s hymn
Evil in its full misery
Could not Love’s Climax dim
Glad tidings of love’s greatest joy
In Bethlehem proclaimed
Drew from the form of baby boy
A Lamb for sinner’s slain
And from this bleeding sacrifice
Salvation for the soul
Where Dying fills flesh-edifice
 Until faith makes us whole
And whosoever now believes
Where death’s dark fear loomed grim
Because of Love’s shed blood receives
Eternal life through Him
And this a gift, salvation’s gift
From God, so all may bring
No boast, but with utmost joy lift
All homage to the King
So, though we suffer for His will
The trouble that must be
Tis but the rite of passage till
We share His victory
Who, though equal to God did not
Cling to His Deity
But, for the love of fallen man
Died to set sinner free
Then Bow beneath love’s Holy kiss
Where Mercy’s blood-drops fell
For if we neglect Love like this
How will we escape hell?




© Janet Martin



 ...how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? 





Thursday, April 18, 2019

Little Do We Know

PAD Challenge day 18: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Little (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem.




The coral orb that stole The Show on westward brink not long ago
Returns to spread a red-gold feast upon the table of the east
Where we beneath Time’s wreath commence once more toward tomorrow’s Hence
And little do we know what waits to burst through morning’s starting gates

But this we do, the Mercy New that drew the depths of dark awry
Is broad enough and God enough to fill ten fathoms made of sky
Then in the leap of wake and sleep and come and go and high and low
It is enough to know His love exceeds the little that we know

© Janet Martin

 Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money 
and be content with what you have, 
for God has said: "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Reason For My Headache


"Oh Lord, help me think of something that only takes one egg,"
I prayed knowing I didn't have a window of time to go and get some at the farm.
this after Victoria texted me from school to say the cookies are gone
that she took to the school bake sale. (we were gonna use the leftovers for her turn
to bring refreshments to her youth Bible Study tonight)
The oven was busy with food for a dinner I'm helping with tonight
but THEN this recipe popped into my mind and lo and behold we had on hand the ingredients!)!
Quick-baking and easy to prep! The filling that takes an egg is enough for a double-batch of batter!

Don't you just love-love those little BIG God-nods?!



PAD Challenge day 17: For today’s prompt, write a reason poem.

I hate to admit it
…it’s lack of coffee
So much to do
I forgot second cup
I hate to admit it
Might be a habit
I would be wise
To just give up!

© Janet Martin

Plus, lunch looked a little like this today...
scraping out nearly-empty containers I discovered in my fridge.

...but it's been fun kitchen day!
Because of other plans for My Wednesday Tot she wasn't here today.
Coincidence? I think not. :)
Reminds us God really is in the details too!


...and now, clean-up!
(after I put the coffee on!)😋

Let's Live Poetry (the reason to write it)

PAD Challenge day 17: For today’s prompt, write a reason poem.



Reasons I write and read poetry
 ...because summer slips through the stars far too soon
because morning drip-drips into afternoon ...
Warning (this is one of those poems I had to rein in with 'whoa Nellie'!)😉





Because the brook murmurs and the milk cow moos
And little tot flutters his big, baby blues
…and mothers are always with their child in heart
And new day is always a fresh work of art
Because spring, ah spring fills and spills dappled drink
Where the poet grapples with purple and pink
Where blossom-confetti wafts softly and decks
The emerald of earth with pastel-perfumed flecks
…because after the hour of flower is through
A poem can gather its petals anew

…because trouble and sorrow must have its say
But a Poem can brush tender tears away
Or usher salt-stars from soul-deeps to the shore
To help hurt and hunger find laughter once more
Because wonder, wishes and worry oft spar
Because of who, what, where and how people are
Because we love Beauty; how its steals our breath
And Poem can suture the wounds of its death
To remind, as its stitches brave the eyes of men
That Richness remains to make us glad again

Because we all need the Greatest of These; love
Not one of us, by ourselves is complete or enough
For love must be given in order to find
And how can we give without someone in mind
And then when we feel the heel of heartache press
Love, wrapped in Poem can stir happiness
And Happiness hinged to the Giver of life
Makes worthy this earthy fling of joy and strife
Because of the cross that precedes Victor's Crown
Where Love gave Himself and laid His life down

I write poetry to keep pieces of Past
The music of moments slips through us so fast
It’s hard to remember September, my dears
After the culled ember of leaf disappears
After laughter’s lilt in farewells that must be
The grave keeps the body but we, poetry (aka memories)
Forgive me for rambling; the rhythm of rhyme
Teases font to dance to the rubric of time
Because when its bully kicks me in the shin
I retaliate with a poem, and grin

I write when the rush of ink runs deep-sea blue
The page is a chasm for Poem to run through
I write in parched places when I must beseech
The pen to touch the faces that fingers can’t reach
Because Poem whispers across years and miles
The world drawn together by syllabic smiles
Because I believe we would all better be
If we took more time to read more poetry
Because my dear love, we are all fellowmen
And Poem can mother our common-ground yen

...and Poem can help us on throughways of sod
To grace gifted breath by the glimpses of God 
Ah, look there His touch, where without poetry 
Trouble and such might be all we would see
So I write Poetry, lest noise-mongers dim
The eye and the ear to the Whisper of Him
Because we all need Someone worth living for
While work-work-work keeps the wolf from the door
While live-laugh-love wears the glove of life thin
While we stuff echoes into pockets of skin

…because the wall crumbles that stood tall and strong
Because nothing stays The Way It Is for long
Because better days are not always ahead
And Poem is life’s bit o’ butter on bread
Because we all grow old sooner than we thought
Stunned by Surrender whether willing or not
And none of us knows how long Future will be
Then by all means, darling, let’s live poetry
For what could be better than living life smitten
With poetry still waiting to be written

© Janet Martin




Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Of Joy's Fundamental Must


 

Do not despair; ah yes, the care that births the prayer remains
But spring replenishes the fount of fields and daisy-chains

And joy, clothed in time’s finest green ignites beneath our skin
Hope’s flame rekindled by sweet expectation’s sunny grin

For Hope will never make ashamed the one who trusts in He
Who fashions petal-bells and hangs them in the barren tree

Who lets us glimpse at break of day a Gateway left ajar
Who, to deep folds of blue and blush soft-pins the evening star

And for the sake of love might smite our easy words with pain
If but to prove the truth; or else we could turn proud and vain

And we, oh, so against our will should bow and kiss the rod
That teaches us joy’s fundamental must; to trust in God

Then don’t despair; ah yes, the care that births the prayer remains
But love anoints the Fount that spills green fields and daisy-chains

…so without fear or hesitation we may join the hymn
Of exaltation bursting from the thrumming frond and limb

© Janet Martin

 Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Neh.8:10