Sacred, Sacred Stakes

Why hearts are held in constant prayer

Why we love, labour and prepare

And care for more than daily bread

Or what before our gaze is spread

Why what we choose with conscience chaste

Runs deeper than mere touch and taste

While dreams we dream and plans we make

Cannot forget what is at stake

Why we work with Harvest in mind

Why Truth is something we must find

And why we cannot turn blind eyes

To those who scorn that which we prize

And why we shudder to the core

At what some would dare to ignore

So this is why we pray and pray

For people who have lost their way

…and why we oh, so deeply grieve

For those who choose not to believe

And why we lie awake at night

On their behalf, to fight the fight

Against dark princes of the air

And plead that God their life would spare

Until their heart and will would break

Awed by the life that is at stake

…why therefore we cannot afford

To cease to lay before the Lord

The agony of sorrow stirred

In utter groans too deep for word

And why the whisper of the clock

Bids one and all to take full stock

Of dreams we dream and plans we make

For these are deathless souls at stake

© Janet Martin

 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: 

and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Eccles.12:7

 
John 3:18
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him."

Love...or the Lack Thereof

 And above all things have fervent love for one another,...

1 Pet.4: 8

 Let's love like a flower in full bloom and make the world beautiful right where we are!

Lack of love brings

Lack of joy

Lack of joy brings

Lack of praise

Lack of praise brings

Lack of thanks

To He who grants us

All our days

© Janet Martin

Sacred Spending Spree

Happy Spending Spree on this glorious September Day!

May all that we 'purchase' be to give away...for the Giver's Glory!

All that we have the Good Lord gave

Though sometimes we forget

And think somehow we earned the ‘wow’

That butters our bread

Time’s teeny wink of say and think

Links to eternity

The gifts God grants a one-life chance

To use them carefully

Who, but Great God can claim the laud

Of health or wealth we boast/host

Ah, how one spends what His grace lends

Proves who we love the most

So then we ought with prayerful thought

To invest in far more

Than This small gust of dust-to-dust

And money’s futile score

For all we have the Good Lord gave

Thus no one can defend

Entitlement to one red cent

Of what He gave to spend

© Janet Martin

 Then He told them a parable: 

“The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.

So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, 

and there I will store up all my grain and my goods.

Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. 

Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. 

Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Flying and Dancing Lessons

 A year ago hubby and I were enjoying a 30-year wedding-anniversary get-away.

We find ourselves reliving some of the past a bit...'a year ago today we were'...

but for the most part the present takes all our focus/faith to 'fly and dance'.

...for as Present spills it fills the past!

I love the way the friendly day beams over land and sea

And sets the wheels in motion that turns time to history

What lies before us who can know but He who grants the chance

To try our wings of faith to fly and feet of clay to dance

I love the way the season-reel keeps stealing our breath

And teaches us to revere now and here’s prelude to death

What lies behind us who can change; but now, ah, see yon Door

Unfurling a new highway that no one has tread before

I love the way Today is always new; hip-hip-hooray

To rejoice and be glad in He who gives and takes away

Because God works for our good; His timing is not ours

But Loving Kindness tends His brood and strews the world with flow’rs

I love the way He does not leave us or forsake us, no

Though sometimes He reminds us of the grace whereby we go

Still, each new day that He has made is like a gift God grants

To try our wings of faith to fly and feet of clay to dance

© Janet Martin

The Conclusion of the Matter is Love

 And by these, my son, be further warned: 

There is no end to the making of many books, 

and much study wearies the body.

 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this:  

Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, 

along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.…

Eccles.12:12-14 

The rivalry twixt heart and head wars where the score is hid

And often none but God bears witness to the victory

Where what we want oft seem at odds with God’s less-tempting bid

For love does not persuade us with promise of luxury

Mankind’s covetous nature led Eve to believe a lie

And since The Fall in Eden evil wars with what is good

The heart, ah, who can know it; it is wicked. You and I

Without the love of God can never choose the things we should

The altar where we sacrifice what would entice the flesh

Is not a public show; only God knows the full amount

But He, when we are finished with want’s little skirmishes

Will be the One to Whom we all will bow and give account

Surrendering of Self is not easy; no, not a bit

Aha, love’s hard-wrought battles are fought with our thought, not hands

Where what the world disdains is but true love’s prerequisite

The whole duty of man; to fear God and keep his commands

© Janet Martin

By this we know that we love the children of God:

 when we love God and keep His commandments. 

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.

 And His commandments are not burdensome/grievous, 

because everyone born of God overcomes the world. 

And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.…

 

1 John 5:2-4

 Mark 7:21-22
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.