Not Long The Float of Day is Stayed...

Love in Action;
Romans 12:9-21

Love must be sincere.
Hate what is evil;
cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in love.
Honor one another above yourselves.
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
12 Be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer.
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.
Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
16 Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.
Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends,
but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord.
20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Not long the float of Day is stayed
In time’s ephemeral parade
The audience of Now and Here
In ash and dust will disappear

Not long to leave a life behind
Or toil the harvest’s sheaves to bind
Or prove by speech and action’s verve
The God we have chosen to serve

Not long to make the Soul secure
To make Calling’s election sure
Before we leave this groaning place
To meet our Maker Face to face

Not long to thwart the darts of sin
Or bring the bleeding harvest in
Oh, darling sojourner of sod
Not long to prepare to meet God

 

Not long to put love into deed

And cultivate the fallen seed

To pay close heed to where seeds fell

Not long to guard and tend them well

 

Not long to train the little tot

Of what is right and what is not

Not long to be gentle and kind

Until we leave this life behind 

Not long to suffer for love's cause

Without the buffer of applause

Not long until the Name that saves

Will open long forgotten graves

 

Not long to watch the darkness fade

Not long the float of day is stayed

Not long the mind of man is tried

Not long the guilty clan can hide

Not long until the Lord appears
With bottles that have stored our tears
Not long until the enemy
Is overthrown in victory


© Janet Martin

 

O Lord Jesus, How Long? 

 

2 Cor.6:2

 For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, 

And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

 Behold, now is the accepted time; 

behold, now is the day of salvation.

Sad and Sorry Fellow...

Be it as little and lowly as a bowl full of beets...
 

 ...or as big as a double-load of straw-bales...give thanks!

A weight that crushes wonder
A tall and thorny hedge
A hollow filled with hunger
Language with bitter edge
A small and sullied window
To dark and dreary view
A shackle forged with sorrow
No fingers can undo
A rolling, tolling rumble
Of oceanic dread
A tongue inclined to grumble
A worry-creased forehead
A definite dream-stealer
A doleful woe-is-me
A hurt that has no healer
Self-pity's malady
A bent and broken cello
A pessimistic smart
A sad and sorry fellow
Is a thankless heart

© Janet Martin

Psalm 7:10-17

My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge
and a God who feels indignation each day.
12If one does not repent,
God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
13He has prepared His deadly weapons;
He ordains His arrows with fire.
14Behold, the wicked man travails with evil;
he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
15He has dug a hole and hollowed it out;
he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
16His trouble recoils on himself,
and his violence falls on his own head.
17I will thank the LORD for His righteousness
and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

All Part of the Pack That Yearns...for Happiness

 Inspired in part, by this: How To Show Up in Beirut as the Hands of Jesus

Need gapes at every turn; will we cast a blind eye
We, all part of the pack that yearns for love and food-supply
No one beneath, above; more deserving or less
Of that which bequeaths love; the common ground of happiness
The Golden Rule, my dear, thus everyone should heed
To feed the poor and dry the tear and minister to need

…need gapes at every turn; will we cast a blind eye
We, all part of the pack that yearns for love and food-supply…

© Janet Martin

 

 The Golden Rule; Matthew 7:12
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,

 On a personal note:

(I'm struggling to learn the new format of blogger's dashboard,
far more phone than desk-top computer friendly!!)
so if things come up a little wonky, 

apparently what shows on my screen is not always what shows on a phone screen!

We All Start Off So Young (in the School of Life)

We all start off so young to learn what time will teach
Youth’s years are like sun-sparkles flung to waves that wash the beach
The crucial length of it is like a balance beam
To test and hone the strength and grit of they who dare to dream

Folly goes hand in hand with those who do not heed
The wiser words of ones who stand upon the fallen seed

 They've seen how swift the sprout becomes a full grown tree
How dangerous shadows of doubt without counsel can be

Time is Teacher to all no matter what our age
Eons of seasoned rise and fall hinge to unblemished page
The One who supplies Need does not leave us alone
But grants the courage to proceed into the Great Unknown

Where we all start off young but soon begin to lose
The innocence of childish tongue as time fulfills its dues
And greenness starts to earn through blunder and faux pas
Gold wisdom so painful to learn but worth its humble awe

Ah, fear would be a noose without faith to defend
Nobody can remain footloose and fancy-free, my friend
Only a fool is crass and tries to dodge Love’s rod
Where we are all part of a class that will answer to God

Then, though lessons are long and arduous to learn
It is the fight that makes us strong and authors good return
Therefore, do not despair; the School-Master is kind
Remember, we all started where we left our youth behind


© Janet Martin

 See then that you walk ^[a]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

  ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Eph.5:15-16

 

On Learning To Learn...

Life is full of bumps, dints, scraps and scrapes...

that take the shape of lessons to learn

😟

No quick-just-fix-it buttons
When what is done is done
No technique to turn backward
Moments beneath the sun

Only onward and forward
We learn most from mistakes
Life-lessons are important
In spite of its headaches

The best that we can muster
From things we would undo
Is to forgive each other
And learn its lesson too


© Janet Martin

Wild-flower Whispered Hymn

This poem/hymn was inspired by the wordless worship of wild-flowers...

 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 96:1

The temple of wide-open fell is filled with nature’s praise
To He who tolls Time’s hallowed bell and numbers mortal days
To He who sees beneath facades; what fashions Passion's thirst
Whether we worship lesser gods or keep Jehovah first

The Ruler of heaven and earth is trustworthy and true
He has the answers that give birth to why-what-how-when-who
And we are called to worship He who has no origin
Whose thoughts and ways do not agree with human acumen

The altar of today exists in Mercy’s outstretched Hands
Where Offering of Self resists sacrificial demands
But still the father of compassion keeps a watchful eye
Redemption without ration flows in infinite supply

Then join the orchestra of flowered, feathered harmony
Let wonder be empowered by worship’s humility
Sing to the Lord in reverence without doubt’s albatross
Once and for all deliverance was purchased on the cross

Our self-serving accomplishments are worthless; without God
Life is a shelf showcasing arrangements of empty laud
Nay, sing unto the Lord; proclaim salvation day by day
For no one can afford the price that unbelief must pay

The temple of wide-open lea throbs with earth’s madrigal
While clocks count down mortality and markets rise and fall
While near and ever nearer draws the breath that severs ties
And dear to the believer dawns death’s farewell to goodbyes

Marvel at He who bled and died, whose perfect law is love
Godhead equality did not provide excuse enough
But rather love’s extravagance put on the form of man
And in humble obedience surrendered to Love’s plan

Then, not to sing unto the Lord, no words can justify
And not to have His praise out-poured deserves judgement’s reply
Jesus, the name above all names, deserves our worship now
For at the name of Jesus someday every knee will bow

© Janet Martin

 1 Chronicles 16:23
Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Proclaim His salvation day after day.
Psalm 13:6
I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.
Psalm 33:3
Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.
Psalm 40:3
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
Psalm 105:2
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonders.

Another Day That We Can Use...(a poem inspired by a journal entry from mom)

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, 

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not of more value than they?

Matt.6:26

‘Another day that we can use to let our light shine as a beacon to others.
May the Lord forgive us when we fail in this.’
This was the opening line in an entry of a trip-journal 

my mother wrote this spring as they traveled on a bus tour 

from Ontario to Arizona and many points of interest along the way,
but was suddenly cut short due to the coronavirus.
Her words inspired this morning's poem...


We have nothing to boast about without the Lord; He grants the means
Through what He lends by His mercy, to shine our little lamps for Him
Then as we recognize this fact it relieves us of futile stress
And reminds us with joy and peace of the Giver’s trustworthiness

How oft we fret and fuss, forgetting who we owe our efforts to
God who is ‘our refuge and strength’ has promised He will see us through
Then when the way we planned is thwarted by A Hand over our own
Our boast is still secure and pure because He is not overthrown

Then in the midnight of our lives when imprisoned with suffering
Still we like Paul and Silas did can rejoice as we pray and sing
Then, as others witness the hope as hallelujah-anthems brim
May others see God’s Light in us and draw the seeking heart to Him

© Janet Martin 

 

 Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,
nor the strong man in his strength,
nor the wealthy man in his riches.
But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion,
justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

 

 

Swift The Deed That Plants The Seed...

How swift the deed, how long the growing season as the seed takes root
The harvest, though the crop seems slow to show its kind will yield its fruit
The field of Time is filled people planting as we come and go
God is not mocked; and He has promised that we will reap what we sow

The seed, once dropped may seem stopped by the cover-up of dirt and time
But it is folly to believe there is no reckoning for crime
And we ought to be wary of the nucleus within our dreams
For idols will betray, no matter how harmless the worship seems

Take heart, dear little mother as you kiss and correct, scold and hold
The mission-field of home-sweet-home has so much harvesting to mold
Though modest seems the labour in this sacred little plot of earth
The seeds you drop and nurture none can equal in its priceless worth

Beware; dear young-but-not-for-as-long-as-the-season-may-appear
Wild oats are no small matter when the reaping of its crop is here
Where recompense, in spite of regret, grief cannot void or revert
Then ponder well the seeds you scatter; be vigilant and alert

…for swift the deed that plants the seed that sooner or later bears yield
Where we reap what we sow; and we are all part of a worldwide field
Where none can fool or trick the Ruler of temporal toil and strife
He who sows to the flesh reaps death but to the Lord, eternal life

© Janet Martin

 

Gal.6:7-10

 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

  ⁸ For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, 

but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 

  ⁹ And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 

 ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, 

especially to those who are of the household of faith.

 

 'Very much of our future life will depend upon our earliest days', said preacher Charles Spurgeon on January 15, 1893, then quoted Mr. Ruskins, not quite verbatim, ' people often say we excuse the thoughtlessness of youth, but he says no, it never ought to be excused. I'd far rather hear of thoughtless old age when a man has done his work, but what excuse can be found for a thoughtless youth? The time for thought is at the beginning of life and there is no period which so much demands or so much necessitates thoughtfulness as our early days...I would that all young men would think so.They say that they must sow their wild oats. No! No, my dear young friend. think before you sow such seed as that what the reaping will be. See if there is not better corn to be found than wild oats and sow that, then think how you will sow it and when you will sow it 

for if you do not think about the sowing, what will the harvest be? '