We Are Who/What We Read...

 What/Who are you reading these days?

As I read this post by Dr. Alan K Snyder 

I was suddenly struck anew by how deeply we are influenced/affected by what we read!

 (or who we listen to, often reading/quoting what someone else wrote)

In Jesus' final prayer before He went to the cross He prayed,

 I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; 

for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

I am not asking that You take them out of the world, 

but that You keep them from the evil one. 

 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

"Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth."

As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.

For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

I am not asking on behalf of them alone,
but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message,
that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. 

May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 

 John 17:14-21

No matter how many books we collect and read...

 ...if we miss God's book we've missed it all!

They say so much; these teeny twists of ink turned into jot

They arrange on a barren page the images of thought

To touch the reader of the written word with much to tell

And just as ‘we are what we eat’ thus, what we read as well

The Moral Law of right and wrong instills a hounding need

To find, for sake of peace of mind, The Truth; and so we read

But all the greatest authors with The Latest Modern Whim

Can never change The First and Final Word written by Him

Debates of truth and reason fill many a musty tome

The living soul creates a Whole/hole, nay, mammoth astrodome

For Truth is Absolute; and till doubt’s dispute is destroyed

Nothing, no matter what we read or write will fill its void

Ah, wishful thinking seeks colleagues, when nursed to dogged thirst

God’s Truth is not a pillow concerned about comfort first

His Word is undeterred; though wheedling nature of mere men

Will try to barter with His truth through think-twists from a pen

…for the imagination is a wondrous, wily Force

It fosters the creation of many a fine discourse

And if we are not well-versed in the Truth, then, me oh my

We might exchange it for a well-dressed stranger’s valid lie

Hail, to the theologians and scholars; how much you read

The college of the mind is such a large classroom to feed

Yet fathoms of ‘sound knowledge’ cannot rearrange the Truth

And facts are stubborn subjects in spite of progressive youth

If we dismiss The One who holds the keys of death and hell

We miss it all; for God’s Word is a never-ending well

Where, after we believe, then Truth will affirm theory

For nothing else we read exceeds Supreme Author-ity

‘Without faith it is impossible to please Holy God’

Without His Word ignorance feasts on many a feckless fraud

But through His Word the evidence of things we cannot see

Nurtures man’s mustard seed-sized faith to a deep-rooted tree

They say so much; these teeny twists of ink turned into jot

They quicken, with written homage, the aptitude of thought

To fill the theater of Think, with much, so much to tell

And just as ‘we are what we eat’ thus, what we read as well

© Janet Martin

 Matthew 12:3 He answered, “Haven’t you read...?

No Matter What-Where-When-Why-How

 Yesterday we attended our niece's wedding.

It is common on such a day to hear someone (more midde-staged) remark

'they have no idea what lies ahead' or what they are getting themselves into"

just as we didn't and still don't!

But if we begin on the right path when we are young

with God as the Leader, what many a wrong turn we can avoid

and what a comfort when hard times come, 

(as a few of the young men

in this particular wedding-party have already been through;

death of parents etc) to trust in God.

These young men's speeches made me laugh as they shared loving memories 

and shed tears as they shared words of encouragement through faith in God!

(the only meaningful or true encouragement there can be)

(Haven't shared this song in a little while)

No matter what this life may bring

To alter what had been our plan

We know that nothing comes between

The faithful love of God to man

No matter where life’s path may go

Or what this very day betides

Through each Unknown still this we know

The faithful love of God abides

No matter when, why, how that we

Experience love’s chastening rod

What peace precedes the destiny

If we trust in the love of God

© Janet Martin

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 

neither angels nor principalities, 

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, 

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.…

Romans 8:37-39

A Daybreak Hallelujah

Black, black as ink dons hints of mauve then swathes of pink and gold

The way the day moves night away is something to behold

And with the light the onward fight of wrong and right proceeds

The noise of griefs and joys employs the creature’s words and deeds

The sky is like a choir bursting into glorious laud

Dawn’s hour like a flower unveiling the pow’r of God

Arise, arise, time flies silk-soft, like silver thistle seed

And draws us to the Awesome Throughway to which all roads lead

But it is not in vain; pleasure and pain of gain and loss

If we commit to suffer it as soldiers of the cross

The Prize beyond what dies and dawns instills hope’s drills with worth

And bids us climb the grid of time with more in mind than earth

Come now and bow beneath the wreath of heaven’s majesty

And raise a hymn of praise to He who loves us perfectly

He crowns the frowns and ups and downs of love and life with light

Where black as ink unshackles pink that melts away the night

© Janet Martin

 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life.

Psalm 143:8

For Joy In Spite of Sorrow (a Thankfulness poem)

Many from our church community are mourning the passing of a beloved man (Doug Barnes) today

gone from the pain of cancer to the Gain of Meeting his Master!

Therefore we do not mourn as those who have no hope...

Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, 

so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 

we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.…

1 Thess.4:13-14

Thank-you gracious Heavenly Father,

...for grace that first makes possible the faith to which we cling

And bids us bear with humble prayer life’s burr-and-nettle sting

For hope that helps us through hard times that hone faith’s sightless eyes

For Word infallible lest truth be twisted into lies

For Goodness to refuel love exactly where we are

For mercy’s kind renewal where dawn dims the morning star

For Beauty’s kind surprises none can claim the credit for

But marvel at He who grants glimpses of a distant shore

For seed instilled with yield enough to feed five-thousand plus

For Wisdom when knowledge is not enough to answer us

For One who never changes in an ever-changing world

But sets His Cornerstone beneath Time’s groaning days unfurled

For purpose so much purer than the gain and pride of lust

For peace past understanding though we suffer what we must

And when we reach the Parting that approaches day by day

What joy to know a Greeting/Meeting waits to wipe all tears away

© Janet Martin