We, By Ourselves Cannot Love

 “I am the vine, you are the branches. 

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; 

for without Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

We watched a much needed rain fall these past few days!

This rain however did not dampen the spirits on the weekend
at our family reunion/Jim's mom's 89th birthday celebration

because love is bigger than weather and such...

(Cake credit to Daughter-in-law Lucille )

Dear Mother,

Through the years in tears and laughter you were there,

 gentle and tough

Teaching us the tender meaning of this four letter word; love

Hard and heavy were the sorrows that you weathered

by God’s grace

Showing us by your example how to shoulder what we face

Through the ups and downs of living you found strength 

for care through prayer

For the taking and the giving that a mother learns to bear

Mother dear, we want to thank you

for all that you are and do

And a birthday is the perfect time to say that we love you

© Janet Martin

Love fills in the gaps that otherwise would gape with want.

Love comes in all shapes and surprises,
often wrapped in disappointment and trouble!

Love is not a solo-sport!
 Love is our solace and support!

And we only find love from God through others.

 How often does getting what Self pined for, fall short of the happiness-mark?!

We alone do not have within us the means to make ourselves happy!
We alone do not have within us, love...

We by ourselves do not possess noble ability

To love; it lacks genuineness of true humility

No matter how good the intention, thought is self-inclined

And often needs God’s intervention to keep motive kind

We, by ourselves will never find true happiness, it lies

Within the hustle-bustle of love’s hellos and goodbyes

It overflows in hearts and eyes as we hold and let go

And grants a glimpse of paradise still scarred with shards of woe

We often overlook the lining in burdens we bear

Or misunderstand the refining that is wrought through care

Where we all need each other to accompany and aid

Us in this sister-brother-father-mother promenade

When life’s sailing is smooth, soon Self becomes careless and cold

And undermines the truth of Who lends all we have and hold

The ties that bind us close both to God and to fellowman

Are woven not with threads we chose but oft by change of plan

A branch cannot bear anything unattached to The Vine

A dead and fruitless withering, ah, this is God’s design

For we by ourselves cannot produce flourishing fields

Love and humility, the fruits only Attachment yields

© Janet Martin

'Wasting' of Self...

 So many forsake/deny/reject faith in God, 

disillusioned by circumstance and feelings...

rather than realizing after His grace and mercy detailed and explained 

in the first 11 chapters of Romans what our response ought to be...

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,

 in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, 

holy and pleasing to God—

this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

These pages from the book Building of Character by J.R. Miller

Not in vain, the pain of learning

‘Neath the chisel as He shapes

Hearts agape with hope and yearning

As the artists sculpts and scrapes

Harsh and hard may seem the process

Firm, the Artist wields the knife

As He carves away, with losses

At the fabric of a life

Many with stubborn refusal

Flee His method; present-blind

Never becoming the vessel

That the Artist had in mind

We must let the Master labour

As He chips and strips at pride

Teaching us to love our neighbour

Until we are Self-denied

Until what we once thought worthy

Outside of the Artist’s plan

Lies in waste, as grace and mercy

Shapes a truly godly man

© Janet Martin

To Live/Love Without Reserve...

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.

Samuel Johnson~

May we be a Son-flower/sunflower in the garden of life!

Happy last-day-of-July

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.

1 Cor.13:4-8

The best we have to live

Exists right now, right here

All we may keep is what we give

It is enough my dear

To love without reserve

To brush insult aside

For we have more than we deserve

Hope lives because He died

Then daily death of pride

Should be our wholesome quest

To live a life of self-denied

To give our humble best

With kind and utter thanks

For all that He has won

And trust Him to fill in the blanks

Still gaping with undone

The sting of verbal slights

Of love misunderstood

Cannot distract He who delights

To work for our good

Love, long-suff’ring and meek

Does not ‘settle the score’

But rather turns the other cheek

To author peace, not war

…to honour He who gave

Himself to manifest

The way true love ought to behave

When it is put to test

Love is more walk than talk

It speaks evil of none

But turns a would-be stumbling block

Into a stepping stone

© Janet Martin

A Very Big Event (and prep preceding it)

I know a person doesn't need to paint weathered, peeling surfaces
or wash mil-dewy soffits or snip-trim-edge-scrub-a-dub-dub,
 but when preparing to host A Big Event it does give one the motivation
 to blow the dust off an ever-growing should-do list and git-er-done! 

What is the Big Event, you wonder? Jim's mom's 89th birthday!

(So the families I do childcare for were gracious and found alternative childcare this week )

We gladly go a lot of extra miles and pay attention to details 

we otherwise would not when prepping for An Event. 

Then amidst merry chatter and laughter and "long-time-no-see!" 

(many not since Christmas because of Covid-19) the event passes.

There is a Very Big Event of Great Importance impending...which will never pass!!

How are we preparing for That Day?!

  

Blow the trumpet in Zion;

    sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—

Joel 2:1

"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. 

And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn 

when they see the Son of Man coming 

on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.

Matt.24:30

An oldie but as relevant as ever!!!

 

 

Nearer and ever nearer draws that great and glorious day

When then at last the burdens of love’s laws are borne away

In power and great glory on the clouds He will appear

And the whole world will mourn in awe and holy, holy fear

Nearer and ever nearer draws that dark and dreadful Day

When all who have not yet believed behold too late, too late

In horror and repentance they will call on rock and mount

To hide them from the One to whom we all will give account

Nearer and ever nearer draws that Day; then watch and pray

Lest by the lure of 'litter' we are blindly drawn away

In prayer and supplication let us make our calling sure

So on that great and dreadful Day God's grace keeps us secure

© Janet Martin

Luke 21:36
Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man.

 (preparation instructions)

2 Peter 1:3-21

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life 

through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

  ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, 

so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, 

having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; 

and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; 

and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  

⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

 ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, 

they will keep you from being ineffective 

and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, 

forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. 

For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 

¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom 

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prophecy of Scripture

¹² So I will always remind you of these things, 

even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

  ¹³ I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 

¹⁴ because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  

¹⁵ And I will make every effort to see that after my departure 

you will always be able to remember these things.

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you 

about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 

 ¹⁷ He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^[b] 

¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven 

when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

¹⁹ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, 

and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, 

until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture 

came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 

²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, 

spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.