Of Receiving What We're Given and Seeds

Last Sunday we drove through the farming community 

where Jim delivers a lot of cattle he brings from the west

(Badger Rose/Dundalk...)
Gorgeous countryside! 

The land is flooded with June’s green for everyone the same

The Giver of each good and perfect gift knows all by name

And we, created in His image all hold equal worth

None less or greater in the eyes of God of Heav’n and earth

Faith’s substance fits inside a seed; and all depend on He

Giver of life, of sun and rain to sustain earth’s bounty

Not one possesses power to refill wellsprings run dry

From which we all draw water as on Mercy we rely

We, all creatures of need by now should surely recognize

That none are least or greater in a Loving Father’s eyes

For He loves all His children, shame on we who are unkind

God grants to all the breath of life for purpose He designed

Then, lest an evil seed takes root within our heart of hearts

Let’s consider where we would be without what God imparts

Inhale, exhale, warm lips wear smile or scowl, we make that choice

As our hearts pump means whereby He gives His children voice

Let's untwist flawed perception and hate's awful prejudgment

Let's think on things true, noble, right, lovely and excellent 

Let's spur each other on toward more love and its good deeds

 Mindful how all that grows begins with nothing but small seeds

 

© Janet Martin

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. 
If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 
apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

I was baffled for a moment yesterday as I wondered
at what was sprouting among the rocks in the front flower garden
then I recalled an incident earlier this spring...

Grand-sonny was helping me fill the bird-feeders
but finding the full feeder to heavy to maneuver as his short legs tried
to climb over the rocks he heaved/threw it ahead of him 

and it landed in three pieces on the next layer of rocks planting many seeds!

'It was an accident', he wept, and Grandma reassured him
there was no harm done and we can fix it,
and we did and smiles reigned once more.

'We all have accidents' I told him.

It got me to thinking about how many seeds we plant by accident...

Oh, if only our accidents were as easy to fix as a bird feeder.

Heb.10:23-24

Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess,

for He who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how to spur one another on 

 to love and good deeds.

Work Waits!

'Why are you holding me? I'm a big boy' said Grandsonny 

as I scooped him up in my other arm as we walked across the yard. 

He looked across at his sister who is The Baby 

and wanted to make sure I wasn't mistaking him as one! 

'Oh, I know you're a Big Boy' I reassured him as I kissed his curls.

 'but sometimes Grandma wants to hold the world in her arms'

A bit of a challenge to capture nice keepsakes at this stage...

youngsters don't necessarily look at the camera or smile on command😀
especially if there is a cool tractor going by!

Work waits; but not the little lad or lass with silken curls

And not the bloom where petal-plume its brief bearing unfurls

And not the scene of June’s lush green soon scorched by July heat

And not the tune tapped by the metronome of child’s bare feet

And not the he or she that pulls toward life’s wanderlust

And not the frame dawn hoists and dusk folds back into the dust

Work waits; but not the season spilling wonder wild and free

Work waits, thank God or else there never could be poetry 

So take the time to climb the hill, dash through Wander-lands gates

Or hold to heart's content the child and be glad that work waits

How sad if all we have to celebrate at End of Day

Is to-do lists completed while the fledgling flew away

© Janet Martin

Awe's Treasure Hunt

 I remarked to my sister this morning that sometimes I mourn 

the myriad beauties I miss because one must sleep!

 I am reading Stars Come Out Within  by Jean Little

as she recounts her battle with worsening eyesight 

that pushes her to the edge of blindness!

It renews thankfulness for the gift of sight!

Here are a few thrills I witnessed this week...

Each day ought to be a treasure hunt for awe
whether outward or when stars come out within.

I know a place where wild trees bloom unseen by living soul

We witness much but still only the fringe of wonder’s whole

The tender touch that begets beauty’s manifold hurrah

Makes getting up each morning like a treasure hunt for awe

Where momentarily I might mourn for majesties missed

But cannot sorrow long where a new throng of thrills untwists

Like mist that drapes earth’s eastward edge as morn’s heavens declare

The glory of Creator God who gilds this thoroughfare

With beauties none can number or find ink enough to pen

But be glad we have eyes to behold again and again

And vow to never simply look, but let sight’s mercy spur

A hymn of thankfulness to Beauty’s Divine Creator

© Janet Martin

Birth Beckons Celebration

Birth beckons celebration; whether babe, a bloom, a pup

New day that spills o’er yonder hills from Mercy’s brimming cup

Hope, like a hearty handshake, refreshes happiness

As beauty, God’s stayed signature anoints life’s ugliness

Where we, a host of beggars by the grace of Holy God

Are treated, free of charge to awesome art of sky and sod

Over the ash of ages and the bones of silenced cries

Birth frees from fettered cages the proof of God’s kind replies

Where death spills blood and stills the pulse (sometimes ‘neath human hands)

But breath that ushers birth only Life’s Bestower commands

For once life has departed no one can its voice revive

And only birth can keep the earth rejoicing and alive

Birth beckons celebration; like a poem penned by He

The author of salvation, to His beloved family

Where, midst the groaning turmoil beneath man, death would be chief

But hark; a puppy barks, a baby cries, dawn breaks, buds leaf

We lift our heads, a melody woos above brutal wars

And from Time’s teardrop riddled trench the human spirit soars

© Janet Martin

 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

Psalm 36:9 

The whole glorious psalm here,

as fitting for these days

as in days of old!

I have a message from God in my heart
    concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:^[b]
There is no fear of God
    before their eyes.

² In their own eyes they flatter themselves
    too much to detect or hate their sin.
³ The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
    they fail to act wisely or do good.
⁴ Even on their beds they plot evil;
    they commit themselves to a sinful course
    and do not reject what is wrong.

⁵ Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,
    your righteousness to the upright in heart.
¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me,
    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen—
    thrown down, not able to rise!