Let's Look If We're Able (at Mercy's set table)

 

Because all of our hearts are kinda in our throats right now

as we wait, pray and wonder...

He wasn't pretty

the first snowman of the year,

but he was loved!

Let’s look if we’re able 

At mercy’s set table 

And leave to the Lord what we ought 

This earth runneth over 

With joys to discover 

Like a four-season garden plot 

The blessings that matter, 

Like child’s carefree chatter 

As they slip their hand into ours 

The faithful adorning 

Of beautiful morning 

As night’s bud bursts forth in fresh flowers 

Let’s be boldly honest 

Because of the Promise 

-es God made, trustworthy and true 

Time’s delicate suture 

That holds back the future 

Throbs with what God said He will do 

So ours is to listen 

Where frosted fields glisten, 

Where orbit of season-tide tolls 

To usher the plunder 

That gushes with wonder 

That thunders through awe-smitten souls 

Let’s cherish the summons 

Of what may seem common 

But is mortal’s Magnum Opus 

The season’s first snowman 

The burst of affection 

From hearts still without prejudice 

Let’s savour sweet laughter 

To treasure long after 

Its sparkle of pleasure subsides 

Let’s look if we’re able 

At love’s laden table 

Where Goodness and Mercy abides 

© Janet Martin 

Every so often while snowman was in the works

Little Girl would ask,

Hot chocolate, cookie time?

Finally 'not yet' turned to 'yes!'

making the treat so much sweeter for the waiting!

The faithful adorning 

Of beautiful morning 

As night’s bud bursts forth in fresh flowers 

Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, 

that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? 

Does He promise and not fulfill?

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, 

the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion 

for a thousand generations of those who love Him 

and keep His commandments.

1 Corinthians 1:9
God, who has called you into fellowship 

with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

I Will Trust My Saviour, Jesus

Of Temporal Temples

The Thing to remember

while we are in this world

(but not of) is not only who, but what we are!

We are His temple, bought with a price!

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, 

who is in you, whom you have received from God? 

You are not your own;

you were bought at a price. 

Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Cor.6:19-20

He Will Hold Me Fast

Temporal temple this, tormented though it be 

The enemies of Righteousness cannot thwart ‘Christ in me’ 

The dwelling place of Hope chose frames of skin and bone 

As Faith receives the Holy Spirit; we are not our own 

Then, when the way seems dark and troubled waters roll 

Let His Spirit (whose temple now we are) our hearts console 

The merit of a man is nothing without He 

To Whom each knee will bow when we don immortality 

Holy, holy, the trek from cradle to the grave 

Where Time is but the speck before we meet Mighty to Save 

And temples temporal put on forever evermore 

The Immortality of He whose temple now we are 

© Janet Martin 

2 Cor. 4:16

Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Though outwardly we are wasting away, 

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

John 17:20-23

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20 “My prayer is not for them alone.

 I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 

21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. 

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 

23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. 

Then the world will know that you sent me 

and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Peek Into Poetic Passion (part two)

 

Peek into Poetic Passion (part two) 

(part one here)

This poem in reply to justified queries; 

How many poems (about August or Autumn) can one write?!

Just like the painter's tray...

Holds pictures to no end...

Just like the Painter’s Tray 

Holds pictures to no end 

The palette of the alphabet 

Is the poet’s best friend 

So many ways to spill 

Quill-colour into art 

Ten-thousand sheets cannot deplete 

The spectrum of the heart 

Thus seasons cannot drain 

Potentiality 

Where all of life is running rife 

With unpenned poetry 

Modern-day pioneers 

And trail-blazers of Time 

The poet’s Must kicks up star-dust 

On stilts of lilt and rhyme 

Thank God, He made no end 

To the extent of ways 

The poet’s heart can unearth art 

From ordinary days 

Thank God, so good and kind

He authors dawn, unscathed

Like a fresh page beneath the wage

Of scribbles, mercy-bathed

 

As long as earth remains 

Seedtime and harvest burst 

Through daybreak’s door with seas that pour 

To unrequited Thirst 

And nothing short of death 

Can quell the poet’s charge 

To softly snare from lofts of air 

Poetry, still at large 

© Janet Martin 

What Pity is a Bitty Ditty Then or (A Peek Inside Poetic Passion)

Often I'm a little super awkward and tongue-tied

when someone compliments and expresses appreciation for

the poetry here. 

Often  the embarrassed thank-you or the stutter

does not reflect the appreciation for the kind words of encouragement.

But I want to say a sincere thank-you/welcome! to visitors from

all over the globe who stop by this little poem-porch

whether for the photos,

 the blurb before the poem,

( some not-so-much-poetry-lovers have admitted

is why they enjoy dropping by) 

or the poem

Also, I want to attempt to give you a bit of a glimpse into the reason

I pursue passionately the potential of ink!

This blog is the offspring of prayer.

I pray about the poem,

the scripture, the picture.

I pray for and to God

be the glory!

And I pray for you!

That you are encouraged, blessed and challenged!

So to all who have suffered my fumbled responses,

there is an ocean of emotion behind

 each very heart-full

thank-you!!

This is the view from my porch this morning;

Quite a white awakening!

Far deeper than the pleasure of the poem 

The poet appraises the flight of ink 

The essence of a butterfly, a storm 

More than a tug on ties of Feel and Think 

Far broader than the page a poem ought 

To span. For man is merchant of the mind 

And heart. The war twixt emotion and thought 

Is like summer and winter intertwined 

Far weightier than pen, the parchment’s toll 

From belfries, paper thin and commonplace 

To influence the sacred crux of Soul 

With more than a half-smile upon the face 

Far mightier than sword is the effect 

Of written word. Far deeper than the thrill 

When inklings and emotions rush unchecked 

By the invasion of the poet’s quill 

What pity is a bitty ditty then 

If ink is but an entertaining nod 

If wonder is the plunder of a pen 

Rather than an awakening to God 

© Janet Martin 

1 Cor.10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 

do it all for the glory of God.

A Very Relevant Reminder

The eyes of the world are on the United States of America

and the impending election.

The eyes of God are over the world.

He is sovereign!

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.

Psalm 146:2-3

I shared this message before the last election.

I know it's a bit long for a blog-post but

it's a sermon that seems to grow ever more, not less relevant!

Canadians are deeply concerned and connected to what happens 

'south of the border'!

the above is a sermon preached by Peter Marshall  

whose later career included;

In 1937 Marshall became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. 

In 1946 he was appointed as US Senate Chaplain, 

serving from January 4, 1947 until his sudden death of a heart attack 

just over two years later, at age 46.

Click on the images to enlarge.

 It seems this message preached shortly after 

World War II is even more relevant now than then!
and not only for Americans.
This applies to all of us who value freedom!

The eyes of God are over all

The creature plots or prays

And often gets enamored by

The lie of captured gaze

Freedom's price tag is bathed in blood

The truth that sets us free

Is greater than the belly of

Fleeting mortality 

This is what the Sovereign Lord says

I lay a precious stone

A tested cornerstone for faith

To ever rely on

If we reject the Cornerstone

We spurn He who sustains

Lord, open up blind eyes to Truth

While mercy yet remains

The eyes of You are over all

You are Sovereign and just

Dear Lord, You see beneath flesh-shawl

Whether 'In God We Trust'

 

And as we see the Evidence

Of infidels increase

Enlarge through faith the confidence

That fills us with Your peace

© Janet Martin 

Of Living's Ways

The dark days of November are upon us! 

If it wasn't for God's mercy 'new every morning'

if it wasn't for his faithful forgiveness

His promises since The Beginning, The Word

we would all be doomed to dark despair.

Take heart, fellow believers, the darkest days of living's ways

run through the light and righteousness of God.

Psalm 37

Security of Those Who Trust in the LORD, 

and Insecurity of the Wicked.

A Psalm of David.

1Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

2For they will wither quickly like the grass

And fade like the green herb.

3Trust in the LORD and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4Delight yourself in the LORD;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit your way to the LORD,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it....see more

Hello Rainy first day of November!

October's thrills with all its colour-induced oohs and aahs

joins the cast where all Is becomes Was.

The door to Bygone’s corridors is barred 

The ebb and flow of hard and rosy days 

Slips to the place where only echoes guard 

The happiness and hurt of living’s ways 

What waits to spill through gates of dawn, none knows 

What tint and tenure pours then melds into 

Shadowlands of abandoned highs and lows 

Where only trains of thought can rumble through 

The way we are due to the aftermath 

Of choice and circumstance, is poised upon 

The entrance-way to an unbroken path 

That renewed mercy metes in every dawn 

…to lavish living’s ways with faithful grace 

That helps us face survivals of regret 

That run through God’s immutable embrace 

To author hope for roads not taken yet 

© Janet Martin 

God, the Uncreated One (King Forevermore) (Official Lyric Video) 

- Keith & Kristyn Getty

October-set

Jim, my most faithful compliment-or and critic

said this morning, 'bless their hearts, whoever they are

(who bother  take the time to read another autumn poem by Janet

And have any idea what she's saying)'

And I say Amen. 😀

(I usually try to finish writing before he is home but I got lost

outside too long this morning...

He said if he wrote an autumn poem it would say

In Fall 

We Rake 

Leaves. 

I told him most people would prefer his style to mine. 😂

He is for the most part very patient when it comes to my rhyme-fetish.

This morning's frost did it;

Earth is embossed in golden snow!

 

Earth’s halls are decked with Autumn-set 

Beneath our feet is splayed 

The fading strains of what remains 

Of foliage-promenade 

Ballrooms of air are gleaming where 

Leaf-ballerinas twirl 

And lure us in to laugh and spin 

With life’s Forever Girl 

Impressions of fond days we love 

Are transformed, leaf-by-leaf 

The Dancer shucked and gently tucked 

Into the Planter’s Sheaf 

The Best and Worst of Blessed and Cursed 

Are lavished with fine art 

Where time performs its season-storms 

Until death do us part 

Now dawn is tossed in yawns of frost 

The Silence, silver-kissed 

As green becomes the brittle sums 

Of Autumn’s amethyst 

Where gardens glow with golden snow 

Midst heart-throbbed hugs and sighs 

Because we sense the transience 

Of autumn’s paradise 

Weightless and soft medallions waft 

As nature’s tresses fall 

Into a wreath settled beneath 

The Framework of it all 

© Janet Martin 

More Than Swift Sweep of Seasons...

The older I get the more it feels like seasons sweep through years

like the wind through leaves...

 

Thankfully life is much more than a legacy of leaves

Seasons but the effecting of what dust-to-dust conceives

In this swift sweep of seasons spurred by rise and setting sun 

Of appetites we feed or curb with seeds soon spilled and spun 

Whether shadows of doubt dark-fall, or clear appears the view 

God knows the ins and outs of all with which we have to do 

The break of day with seamless sway folds into noon, then dusk 

While we, students of Learning taste the grains that drain the husk 

And in the course of smacking lips, of samples bitter, sweet 

We start to sense an Immense Grip instilled in hands and feet 

The Matrix from which moments flow is without form or cast 

Where from a foothold we call Now future turns into past 

And from the Hand that gives, a world of hands reaches to take 

Where everyone who lives is loved by He who holds time's ‘cake’ 

…and no one is forgotten on earth’s awesome glockenspiel 

No matter who we are the Author holds and turns a wheel 

Which ushers tears and laughter through the flue of day-to-day 

Until the Ever-after brushes out Mercy’s buffet 

Ah, what a feast for thought is this; The One who grants Because 

Metes more than the analysis of scientific laws 

In this swift sweep of seasons spurred by rise and setting sun 

He knows the inmost ins and outs of each and everyone 

And what some deem as nothing but a blue dot flung to space 

Is Human Being’s common ground abounding with God’s grace 

Where He is the Good Shepherd of Time’s season-thoroughfare 

And we are all together sheep in pastures of His care 

© Janet Martin 

Psalm 95:6-7

Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

7for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Oh, Gentle Shepherd

  

Psalm23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: 

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: 

for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: 

thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: 

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.