The Glad Truth (of what Time cannot change)

 Because it promised to be a lively one...

 ...into the crock-pot early this morning went one thawed beef blade roast along with

potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, onion , salt, pepper 

and a handful of fresh from-the-freezer chopped parsley (flakes work as well)

Seal crock-pot with foil, put on lid and turn on low all day!

Nothing makes Victoria, the family smile like beef browned potatoes!

So simple. So good on a cold winter night!

One of those delicious delights that time cannot change!

Dawning upon us like love’s madrigal

Hails the glad truth of what time cannot change

Darling, the things that matter most of all

The Chieftain of progress can never estrange

In spite of all it seems to rearrange

It cannot alter the thrill of hello

When face to face, long-missed loved ones we meet

It cannot tarnish the garnish of snow

Soft on the rooftop and woodland and street

Spilling a canvas we scribble with feet

Time leaps with joy in ahoy blush and gold

As we set sail on a sea of new morn

Nature’s surprises will never grow old

Each bloom as fresh as the first ever born

Bestowing beauty to worlds weary-worn

 Modern-day mayhem’s most impressive boasts

Cannot claim credit for sunset or rise

The Hand that grants what accomplishment toasts

Is not affected by time’s age and size

No matter how swift the season-clock flies

Thus, the best things in life will remain so

 Leisurely picnics and much work to do

Teachers to learn from the tots in their tow

Hilltops to offer, if scaled, quite a view

Heaven-glimpse in four words, ‘I love you too’

Laughter that lilts like a gilt butterfly

Butter to better the best have-a-taste

Chatter of children as pure as the sky

Pleasure when we find the keys we misplaced

Twilight on velvet blue, quarter-moon graced

Thank God for puppy with mischievous lad

Sunshine that cannot be stoppered and sold

Beautiful baby and proud mom and dad

Humbled and whelmed by the charge in their hold

Thank God for wonder that never grows old

Wonder to startle the most wizened sage

Music to sweeten sometimes-sour notes

Too many poems to tender to page

River that rushes with autumn’s leaf-boats

Farewells that leave aching lumps in our throats

Supper that spells happiness in a dish

God, rich in mercy whatever our lot

Darling, the things that most satisfy wish

Time cannot altar one tittle or jot

No matter how many years it has caught

© Janet Martin

 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Heb.13:8

So Much To Live For!

I've just returned from a few nights in New England 

where I was treated to a year in Tasha Tudor's gardens! 

Oh, the bliss of book-travel! 

This trip was such great inspiration to start those seedling-dreams now!

Here's a sneak-peek to a trip you can take too (if you can find the book!)

I had this unexpected pleasure thanks to a friend 

who lent me a book she borrowed from a friend so

unfortunately you will need to find your own 'ticket' to borrow or buy!😀

A trip like this can remind us of so much to live/love for!

So much to live for where moments soft-wed

Wellsprings of waiting with wishes fulfilled

Morning is breaking, mercy is not dead

Rife runs the river that death has not stilled

Where life is granting so much to love for

Four-season circuits of hold and let go

Leaving us torn between graces of yore

Before the faces we kiss with hello

So much to reach for from dawn’s pulsing prow

Where soon high noon then twilight sweeps the lea

Meteor-showers of right here, right now

Sparkle and fizz into echo-debris

Beckoning us to be all that we can

Before the hour of reckoning comes

Where still so much to learn vexes the plan

Caught in the flux of Bygone’s tallied sums

So much to hope for where seasons soft-shed

Petals of farewell for buds primed with plume

Soon we will transplant the dreams in our head

Into the gardens that leap into bloom

So many poems still waiting to be

So many moments to measure and pour

Turning time into opportunity

Where today wakens so much to live for

© Janet Martin

Nostalgic Nocturne

My blog is a bit of a poem-diary as years go by...

sometimes it's interesting to look back and see what I wrote on this date 

7 or 8 years ago...

in 2012 I  wrote

The Little Brown Nest 

I still participated in more poet-communities back then, before my days grew shorter lol!

No, it's more like before I had to get to bed earlier in order to function the next day.

Sometimes I feel like I had more time to write back then...

(I didn't) but sometimes it just feels like it
... I guess the point I'm trying to make is that 

we can always only do what the day/season we are in allows.

The trick is seizing the opportunities as they come

and appreciating what each season in life offers (heart-tugs are love's bonus)

We cannot turn time back to when the days were freer, greener then

Or touch the place that seems so fine as we retrace its blurred design

And we cannot return to where we threw echoes into the air

Nor by the might of wish incite what drew away by day and night

Or by the charge of thought revoke the rules we broke, the words we spoke

Where what we leave behind still weaves

The scenes we’ll rewind on some far-off winter’s eve

© Janet Martin

Today-List (or To-do List)

 This is the day the LORD has made; 

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Vivid blue and gold beginnings are thinning...

Let's make today the best we can, okay?

To honour the Giver of its gift!

Today list, or today's to-do list...

...to make its quest to give my best

To tasks both great and small

And bear in mind not far behind

A youngster’s footsteps fall

To recognize with patient eyes

The time it takes to learn

To humbly host and make the most

Of what will not return

To not give up but seize the cup

That brims with grace and light

To trust the One who draws the sun

From morn to noon to night

To make love’s care a living prayer

To make the prayer a hymn

To choose the right, fight the good fight

Until today grows dim

To see God’s art with thankful heart

And praise him for His works

To seek His Hand to help me stand

Where deceit’s army lurks

To keep my eyes fixed on a prize

Beyond death's camouflage

To keep hope sure and motive pure

To hate pride's decoupage

To tune this barge to heed the charge

To love God first, then man

And not to fret about the 'yet'

In some tomorrow-span

But to propose to smell the rose

Before its petals drift

And treat today in such a way

That we honour its gift

© Janet Martin

 
Psalm 106:2
Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise?

Ah Faith! or, The Substance of Things Hoped For, The Evidence of Things Not Seen

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Col.1:16-17''

Luke 7:50
And Jesus told the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Luke 18:42
"Receive your sight!" Jesus replied. "Your faith has healed you

Luke 17:19
Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Mark 9:23
Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.

Mark 9:24
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears,

 “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

We cannot prove what faith alone compels us to believe

And who can spell the Essence of what doubt seeks to dethrone

The only faultless confidence that mankind can receive

Must be accepted on the merit of God’s Word alone

Intangible, Invisible its substance we embrace

And cling to where its evidence evades imagery

Impassable, invincible the power of His grace

Where only belief can accept what the eye cannot see

Then pray to God for healing through the faith that makes us whole

Ere death doth come a-stealing like a bandit in the night

And pray that we cling to it for the comfort of the soul

Until that glorious moment when faith will be turned to sight

Without faith we cannot please God; it is man’s go-between

He who created all things both in heaven and on earth

This substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen

Is all we have to testify and justify truth’s worth

Aha, aha, the scorner jeers and mocks what faith holds dear

Not knowing (without faith) the depth of unbelief’s decree

Then pray for faith that works will testify of, loud and clear

Hope’s Substance and the evidence told for eternity

© Janet Martin

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.

 To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Thomas Aquinas~ 

Sharing a post from FB about faith

(I don't know who the author is)

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD good ?
Student : Sure.
Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?
Student : Yes.
Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent.)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?
Student : Yes.
Professor: Is satan good ?
Student : No.
Professor: Where does satan come from ?
Student : From … GOD …
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Professor: So who created evil ?
(Student did not answer.)
Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them ?
(Student had no answer.)
Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.
Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student : No, sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)
Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?
Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)
Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class was in uproar.)
Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter. )
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH.
That is all that keeps things alive and moving.
P.S.
I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?
Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.
 By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.