Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Hub of Hope

So much trouble, pain and sorrow
Far more Mercy we can borrow
In spite of stumbles and mistakes
Thus no matter come what may
Hope will never lose its way

...and whithersoever He entered into villages, or cities or country,
 they laid the sick in the streets
and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: 
and as many as touched Him were made whole
Mark 6: 56  





The pain and plight of human fight can rouse a soulful yen
To touch the Healer’s hemline and to be made whole again
The hearty ache of give and take in all its high and low
Can make us long for Something that this world cannot bestow

Life’s fragile cup o’ cheer we raise in praise to happiness
Can spill and fill with storms that test the best of humanness
But we are not alone; the stepping stones of day-to-day
Are each by grace allotted by the One who is our Stay

Uncertainty could drive us wild with fear of the Unknown
But Certainty of God-with-us grants courage to go on
Where what we hold is bound to change but Who holds us does not
He never fails; through pain and plight of Numbered Day's brief lot

How precious then the happiness that spills from Mercy's trays
In dear, breath-stealing ballads of life's ordinary days
Where swift, the gift of moments in a very subtle spree
Touches the tender ties that bind them into memory

© Janet Martin

 How humbly precious then, are our happiness-es
Like this one:
 "I peekin-'boos" Said little Girl when I showed her this photo





Monday, August 26, 2019

My Thank-you Thought


A store-worker said to me this morning "you are a lucky lady!' 
as she oohed and awed over grand-daughter and son!
So much to be thankful for, for sure!
...so thank YOU! whoever you are for being part of my life's blessings!
(even if we ever only meet here!)
this poem is for all of you in a sense, 
who I've been blessed to call family or friend!



In push and pull
And rush and lull
In ebb and flow
Of dark to light
In have and hold
In brave and bold
Or fearful, bashful
May or might

In hope and pray
Sunshine or gray
skies; work or play
In high or low
Hello,good-bye
Oh no, oh my
In hold you tight
Or let you go

In wishful want
In tug and taunt
Of seasons
As they slip to naught
In wake or sleep
In give or keep
Darling, you are
My thank-you thought

© Janet Martin

Saturday, August 24, 2019

There Is Something About Morning...


 sometimes days just don't do what we want them to,
but there's something about morning that makes hope and dream feel new!



Psalm 107:31
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion 
and His wonders to the sons of men.

There is something about morning that makes Time feel fresh and new
Sparkling scarf of stars adorning every frond and blade with dew
Darkling hope reborn, that seemed so worn and full of holes last eve
There is something about morning that makes witnesses believe
There is purpose in the pursuit of love’s higher beck and call
In the mercy that metes moments after stumble-slip-and-fall
In the Hand that gives though oft we take without even a nod
There is something about morning that draws mankind close to God
As our numbered days are dwindling, where the flicker of Has Been
Kindles substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen  
Where faith's wings would fear the heights that it must rise to now and then
But there’s something about morning that makes us fly once again

© Janet Martin

He Is I AM

I was invited to share this wonderful infographic today! 
Visit Made In Agape for love-inspired clothing and gifts.
(link is also displayed in the side-bar)



He is the All-awesome
All-holy
All- incarnate
All-knowing
All-loving
All-mighty
All-saving
All-worthy
All-Yahweh
All-zenith
He IS ALL in all
He IS I AM
© Janet Martin

Friday, August 23, 2019

A Very Big Matter In A Very Little Cup


I wrote the first four lines before Little Girl arrived early this morning... 
Tonight the poem veered slightly off dawn's dew and mist-smitten track😐
...but oh, what a gorgeous track it was.

 In first light earth gleamed like a silver tray till the sun broke through 
and bathed each dew-slathered blade in gold




 Only God could design such detailed magnificence!

From dawn’s belfry starred beauty tolls fresh goals of hope and pray
Light peals down boulevards, through quiet yards, across the bay
Where none of us are overlooked in mercy’s spending-spree
And plethora of choices where grace remains, full and free

Belief, the chief employer of the way the heart is led
Is no fair-weather joyride till the thrill of it is dead
But it becomes the benchmark for all else that we achieve
Where choice without a word voices much of what we believe

…where morn beams mercy’s beacon over good and evil’s clan
And does not scorn the fickleness of Very Little Man
Into a the world that hosts the turmoil of doubt’s prideful ways
God grants to humankind free will; while truth abides unfazed

No one can force belief or love; its discourse starts within
And stirs a monumental charge in puny gloves of skin
Where love begets belief, nay, or does belief beget love?
Where faith and love in man alone can never be enough

Belief, ah, who can flee it; even unbelief believes
And dares to refute boldly what this unbelief receives
Where Truth, ah Steadfast Truth is not threatened by mortal drift
But is the very Essence of the Rock that will not shift

The gift of choice; ah, what an awesome undertaking, this
To choose heaven or hell (there is no in-between abyss)
But God, so rich in mercy gave to humankind The Choice
And placed within each cup of skin the whisper of His Voice

© Janet Martin

Little Girl sometimes throws a tantrum when Baby-sitter doesn't bow to her command!
Sometimes Little Man does the same to God!

The Peril of Unbelief...Hebrews 3:12-19

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief 
that turns away from the living God. 
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today,
 so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly 
to the end the assurance we had at first. 

As it has been said:
“Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts,
as you did in the rebellion.”

For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? 
Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
And with whom was God angry for forty years? 
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? 
Was it not to those who disobeyed?
So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.


And oh, look at who is depending on us to teach them Truth?!



August is a Ballerina...






August is a ballerina
Summer poised in arabesque
Prelude to September's Prima-
Donna's jazzy, bold burlesque 

August, sweet, sun-warm and mellow
Smooth as alto saxophone
Prelude to September's cello
And October's bass trombone

Janet~