Monday, May 6, 2019

Meeting Place




Meets me with a calm unspoken
When the calm of life is broken
When my faith feels crowned with care
Meets me in a tear, a prayer
Meets me with his words unaltered
When my wanting whispers faltered
When the onward way is dim
Meets me if I look for Him

© Janet Martin


...that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 
because it does not see Him or know Him, 
but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Moment...


We had a solemn reminder this week-end that life/plans can change in a wink!
...thankfully injuries are relatively minor but serious enough 
to make a person think seriously about how swift Hereafter can happen!


Torn, it seems, twixt joy and sorrow
Gift of day extends God’s grace
Time is something none can borrow
Save for later or replace
But this moment, hinged to others
Like a glint of ether gold
From a hand that grants and gathers
Is the only thing we hold

Pain is such a small example
Of the grief that God must feel
As He sees the hearts of people
Hard, it seems, to His appeal
As if hope was something earthy
Found in dreamland’s starry spheres
Not the Promise God deemed worthy
To seal with His blood and tears

We have nothing to lay hands on
But this moment-gift of Here
Where the table that Time stands on
In a wink could disappear
So with all that we are able
We should reach with humble trust
To the Giver who is faithful
Far beyond this leap of dust

What a holy thing this life is
Hope approaches its demise
What a sacred fight its strife is
What a price and what a prize
What a gift, each little moment
Torn it seems, twixt thrills and ills
Before time’s solemn annulment
And the promise it fulfills

© Janet Martin

 
Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, 
which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world
 rather than on Christ.


Saturday, May 4, 2019

Truth's Comforting Anchor in Storms of Life


The Bible is Truth in spite of the broken people/preachers who disappoint us;
Who misuse their blessing/calling and ultimately lead astray rather than lead to Christ because they
Fall prey to weakness of mind rather than the Master they professed!

It’s the Message, not the messenger that matters most!
Unfortunately as long as there are humans preaching and teaching God’s Word
They will not be without temptation,
And the fallacies of pride that go before the fall/destruction.
However, no matter now hurt or disappointed we are in those 
who choose to exchange God Truth for a lie,
It does not justify the choice to turn our backs on God’s eternal Word and Love!
In the end we all account for our own choices and responses, not theirs!
 So we need to read the Message of hope for ourselves,
let God speak to us personally through His Word 
and not be hearers only!

We all sometimes tromp underfoot
The loot of touch and taste
Or disregard the mature fruit
Of seeds scattered in haste

We all are prone to place our trust
In objects that we see
While God who is faithful and just
Abides eternally

We all are accountable, oh
To He who grants our days
For it is by His grace we go
He deserves all our praise

Response in all its sundry hues
Is not a game we play
But proves whose precedence we choose
When trouble comes our way

Where, after all is said and done
We all will answer to
The One who gave up His own Son
To pay sin’s awful due

Then, humbly we should keep in mind
Through bitter tears or sweet
That none of us are too refined
To wash each other’s feet

© Janet Martin

“He that is without sin among you,
let him cast the first stone at her.”
John 8:7


Destination Known!


 This was inspired by dusk's bronze and blue bell-tower
 as its tolling rolled across hills and fields

Oh destiny, oh, destiny
Time eulogies soft-peal
Across the shadow-artistry
Of twilight’s gold and teal

The Doorway to Your Great Unknown
Is swallowed up in stars
Where each day sets a stepping stone
Toward your mystic bars

And who of us can tell how near
Or far, the final flight
Until, Destiny, you appear
And turn faith into sight

Today time flows across the lea
Life’s highway dips and bends
But Destiny, oh destiny
Begins where this roads ends

© Janet Martin


Armour-Awareness...


Forgive the Poem-flood. I'm posting this past week's writing so I don't get lazy 
and think I can get away with not thinking for a bit ;-)

How in the world can we survive the trouble and the tests
Or easy explanations from the Tempter’s cunning quests
And how do we decipher right from wrong or wrong from right
If we decide to turn our eyes from The Word’s Guiding Light

Pride goes before destruction; haughtiness before the fall
But Death and Resurrection’s triumph hails to one and all
Then how will survive if we disregard Calvary
And darken understanding with the lesser gods we see

This churlish mind is master of excuses, ruses, lies
Our trophies of disaster deck the ashes of disguise
Still, Mercy’s sacred purchase peals in every gifted breath
Then how will we survive if we exchange God’s grace for death

…for we will never be enough to save our soul’s from hell
Without the power of the cross, how dark death’s doleful knell
And how will we survive if we Taste grace, then spit it out
To stuff faces with flavours that will poison faith with doubt

How in the world can we survive the pitfall and the snare
If instead of God’s armor we choose sin’s entangling fare
And how, without His Word to be the lamp unto our feet
Will we be fit for Heaven when soul and the Saviour meet

© Janet Martin

Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord.

Jonah 2:8-9