A Prayer and A Humourous Parable

 It's a busy life isn't it?!

Hopefully never so busy that we forget what truly matters!

Building for Eternity!

Our church is adding onto its building because we are running over with

the future church aka young families/children!

We are all invited to be part of the donators Big Picture

in these exciting times of growth!

I was convicted humorously yesterday in my Sunday School class of grades one-to-three girls...

One big sister was so delighted because
she earned four mini chocolate bars after finding the verse first in a Bible sword-drill.
Her little sister, quite envious was sobbing quietly.

Big sister put her arm around her and whispered, 

"don't worry! Jesus is still your friend and you can still pray to Him"

...cold comfort to the one who looked at the chocolate tucked securely in her big sister's pocket!

How often are we guilty of the same kind of response!

'praying' for the 'needs/needy' while our pockets bulge?!

Giving is the one thing with a guaranteed return!

God loves a cheerful giver!

 Then Lord, I pray...

That greed should never bid me turn from need, unfeeling, bold and cold

That love would walk the second mile where no one but You will behold

And Lord, that whereas I am able I would give with meek intent

Remembering You set the table heaped with what Your mercy lent

That leer of fear won’t render fruitless the labourer of Your field

That far, far more than duty bids me to be mindful of the yield

That the purpose of loves' endeavor would never be self-apprised

And Lord, if I should spurn Your whisper that I would return, chastised

That the ever-dwindling measure of my numbered days on earth

Would not be spent seeking pleasure but bent on far greater worth

That a kind, careful awareness would keep mind and conscience keened

Lest seared by the repetition of love’s perfect law demeaned

That, when my time on earth is finished and the final battle won

That then full joy will be accomplished when I hear these words ‘well done’

And that the Substance of Things hoped for, evidence of things not seen

Will instill in me such a hunger that nothing can come between

© Janet Martin

Of The 'Commonplace'...

 Many are the times, whether as a young mother or a middle-aged mother and grandmother

I have gazed at loved ones and thought,

"I want to remember you exactly like this"

but I never do...

Time always replaces the old with the new

reminding me that what may seem like a common Monday morning mess really isn't at all!

I want to remember you

How you are right here, right now

But I know I never do

Time erases you somehow

Lending to love's subtle chase

New and precious commonplace

I, with all my best intent

Cannot seal upon fond gaze

Images of endearment

For Time cannot change its ways

Kissing to each form and face

Whole new frames of commonplace

I have dared to shake the cage

That insists upon its due

Futile to grapple with age

Time insists upon the new

Turning into treasured space

That which seemed so commonplace

Then, with kind humility

I will love with tender heart

This small part of you and me

Where the brush that grants its art

Leaves me breathless by the grace

Of ‘no such thing as commonplace’

© Janet Martin

Summoning of Seasoned Senses...(a sort of farewell to sweet September)

 It is so difficult sometimes to reconcile our Want

to the will of Time...

Farewell, September, I hardly remember you

as you flowed through much to do!

As the days like sea-waves roll

Fading on dusk’s westward break

As mere moments take their toll

Strewing seasons in their wake

Seems I sense where echoes cling

An immense unraveling

As the years their fears resign

Sweetness tinged with bitter truth

As the tears with smiles entwine

Like a vine with blighted fruit

Seems I sense where seasons spill

An immense and binding chill

As the refuge once I sought

In some future fantasy

Crumbles where a world of thought

Tumbles through roused reverie

Seems I sense amidst its din

An immense calm closing in

As Time, neither friend nor foe

Turns the green tree russet-gold

As resistance yields its show

Where what once was young grows old

Seems I sense, on leaf-strewn yards

An immense changing of guards

© Janet Martin

Dear Lord of Loving Kindness

 Have you yielded your heart/life to Him?

Dear Lord of loving kindness

He knows our tendency

And how human-inclined-ness

Is prone to misery

Dear Lord, so rich in mercy

Because of His great love

Rather than leave us cursed, He

Died, love’s fullness to prove

Dear Lord, so slow to anger

Though we deserve His wrath

He forgives sinful languor

If we confess and ask

Dear Lord, He longs to gather

His brood beneath his wing

Yet sadly some would rather

Disdain His offering

Dear Lord, so kind and tender

Because of His great love

His mercy curbs the anger

That we justly deserve

Dear Lord, of loving kindness

No one escapes His gaze

He knows the dust that binds us

And cups our numbered days

© Janet Martin

Psalm 117:2

For His lovingkindness is great toward us,

 And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 63:3

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.

Psalm 36:7

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! 

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Psalm 103:8-14

 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

He will not always accuse us,

nor harbor His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are dust.

The Sower and the Seed

In Ontario harvest-season is in full swing.
It often makes me think of another plant and harvest scenario and
  reminds me of  one of my farmer-dad's favourite hymns...

 

The commission of word and deed

Which each of us employs

Is like a sower panting seed

In fields of need and noise

How sure the kernels strew the field

Where grace extends its lease

How certain, what seems yet concealed

Will render its increase

How hard the grind of honest toil

And earnest diligence/vigilance

How easy seems the striking spoil

Of pleasing indulgence

But Lord, whatever be our lot

Ere death our breath will bind

Help us to tend time’s tender plot

With Harvest Day in mind

Dear Lord, with conscience keen and pure

Let love for Thee implore

…to plant a crop that will endure

Upon the threshing floor

Where, when we meet Thee face to face

Should there be sheaves of grain

These but by merit of Your grace

Thy mercy didst sustain

 

Then, let us labour undeterred

By those who scorn and laugh

Lest, when sifted through by Thy word

All that remains is chaff

Lord, let our seeds of say-and-do

Be worthy of our days

Where purpose is our love for You

And labour is our praise

© Janet Martin

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, 

gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Matt.3:12