When On Love's Wounds We Meditate...

 ...lest I make a fuss about things not needful!😆

(it's not that bad, really!)

Who knew all these years later the hanky from my gramma

that became church-mice and babies in a  hammock
and many other folded creations,

as I sat for two hours in church every Sunday morning,

would become a mask!!!

I also have a 'real' one, don't worry!

(sometimes when I forget what's really important it's good to

take time to revisit and remember.)

When on love’s wounds we meditate

And contemplate the price

Of He who left heaven’s estate

To be sin’s sacrifice

Then what we suffer here below

Begins to dwarf in scale

For He, whose grace whereby we go

Grants love that will not fail

When we revisit Calvary

And stand among the men

Who nailed his body to the tree

(and we were one of them)

Then we begin to humbly see

How filthy we had been

How utterly unworthy we

That His blood washes clean

Then we with sorrow-mingled joy

Are overcome with awe

God’s grace is free without decoy

His love is Mercy’s law

And should I take my eyes off He

Who suffered in my stead

Lord, lead me back to Calvary

Beneath the blood You shed

© Janet Martin

Hope (No Holds Barred)

Where we tripped over stumbling blocks we laid

And plans we made succeeded to our shame

And choice now bears the price we blindly paid

And we have no one but ourselves to blame

When deeds, meat for repentance, proved The Fall

Our God so rich in mercy forgave/forgives all

When consequence abounds in bitter fruit

(For root of pride can yield no goodly/godly gain)

And if repentance is not absolute

We weep and beg upon our knees in vain)

But if we have surrendered, no holds barred

God reaches down with hands, redemption-scarred

When we groan ‘neath the weight of Wisdom earned

Through what we yearned for, long returned to dust

While Thought by human nature too oft spurned

Kind admonition contrary to lust

When we with contrite spirit make amends

Then God so rich in forgiveness defends

When we battle with demons, dark with doubt

And eyes are drawn from Hands, still grace engraved

Then call on the Him, for no one is cast out

Whoever calls on Jesus will be saved

There is room at the cross for everyone

Where God so rich in mercy gave His Son

When we are tempted to despair, press on

For all we bear for Christ in not in vain

And ought we not to suffer for the One

Who bore our debt so that to die is gain

Now then forget what lies behind, instead

Press on toward the Prize that lies ahead

…for when we trust in He who keeps His Word

Engrossed in more than subjects sight-defined

Then we can live with passion undeterred

Vision no longer blurred with double mind

And when at last we pass through death’s cold gates

God who made Heaven possible there waits

© Janet Martin

 Phil. 3:13-14 (BSB)

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind 

and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize 

of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

Summer To-do List (lest we miss it!)

Drink in the songs of summer

The sigh of where zephyr blows

The teal cajole of waves that roll

From skylines to our toes

Ah, feast your eyes on flowers

A colourful buffet

That spills its art from earth to heart

In a most perfect way

Linger longer in gardens

Be florally content

For soon Time’s way will have its say

In blooms withered and spent

Harvest a host of echoes

To tenderly retrace

After gold-green has lost its sheen

And silver takes its place

Pour second cups of laughter

Beneath leaf-canopy

Let happiness dissolve our stress

For what must be will be 

Bask in beauty with boldness

And humble gratitude

That God so lent a season bent

With Mother Nature's brood

Absorb gorgeous sun-sparkles

Before it is too late

Get close enough to catch the Love

Climbing trellis and gate

...and feel life's friendly welcome

Greet us like next of kin

Where flowers nod and we sense God

Walking somewhere therein

© Janet Martin  

Common Bond-age

We all have a cuppa sorrow

Harbour hungers, hurts and fears

No one knows what waits tomorrow

To arouse laughter or tears

We all feel that vexing yearning

Complex to articulate

We are all still always learning

Learn to listen, learn to wait

We all hold a world within us

From whence hopes and dreams beseech

While the flail of seasons winnows

Times and places from our reach

We all sense the verge of progress

That is out of our control

But we also all have access

To the Keeper of the soul

…who sees wounds and longs to bind them

In whose presence abides peace

Pray then that we seek and find Him

Before grace withdraws its lease

We all have a cuppa sorrow

Battlegrounds no one can see

Save the One who holds tomorrow

With Supreme Authority

Not one of us is forgotten

God so loved the world that he

Gave His Son, Jesus begotten

To redeem humanity

So, though life is full of hurtles

And the sufferings of dust

We all instilled with Immortal

Have a God that we can trust

© Janet Martin

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 

and I will give you rest.

Matt.11:28

I Heard My First Cricket of Summer Today...

 Cricket-stages waiting to be filled with invisible minstrels...

I heard my first cricket of summer today

And it made me a little sad

For these are the minstrels that chirp-chirp away

The beautiful summer we had

I heard the first cricket of summer today

It tugged at my heart with its call

Knowing its rhythmic backdrop will play

Until the frost-chill of the fall

I heard my first cricket of summer today

Plaintive soloist, but not long

For soon a whole hidden cricket choir will play

August and September’s earth-song

Aha, close your eyes; can't you feel the skies lower

Balladeer rousing both teardrop and grin 

 Drawing its bow over heart-strings and clover

Velvet vibrato from a black violin

I heard my first cricket of summer today

And it made me both sad and glad

To know that the crickets did not lose their way

And will play till ‘the summer we had’

© Janet Martin