We Are All a Little Candle

 

We are all a little like a candlestick 

Potential, dark and brittle until someone lights the wick 

No matter how pretty or polished, the taper or jar 

We are just a knick-knack till we shine right where we are 

God instilled in everyone a little candlestick 

Oh, won’t you hold it up to Him and let Him light the wick? 

Then whether it’s a song, a smile, a bit of poetry 

We can brighten someone’s mile by shining cheerfully 

© Janet Martin

Go Light Your World

Choosing the Whether (for whatever waits to be)

 

Stunning start to what waits to be...

How easily and often we check the weather forecast, 

No one can choose what weather will be.

Thankfully not so with Whether;

And the Whether we choose makes all the difference in the world.

Our viewpoint is shaped by the 'whether' we choose!

Due to an unexpected week off I am on a closet-drawer-room fall-cleaning rampage!

Today, hopefully the living/dining-room.

tomorrow...um, let's wait till then to decide because plans

are always subject to change and rearrangement!

Heaven spills magenta oceans o’er emerging land and sea 

Dawn is like a door flung open to whatever waits to be 

We could hound the bounds of morrow with sorrows not suffered (yet) 

Or borrow from Present Mercy, faith to proceed step by step 

Fear is like a crouched predator too afraid to show its face 

Stalking doubt’s perimeter with harsh predictions void of grace 

Ah, we could fall prey to Dread’s bandit; fretting and forgetting He 

Who will never leave us stranded no matter what waits to be 

We are all today’s First-timers grappling with Time’s Now and Here 

Are we agile, faith-child climbers, or are we crippled by fear 

We are all in this together; tethered to the hand we’ve got 

Where God lets us choose the Whether; whether we trust Him, or not 

Happiness is not a lender favouring a Lucky Few 

It waits for all who surrender, heart and soul, to you know Who 

It is up to us to do it; take faith’s flying leap to see 

Whether God will help us through It, no matter what waits to be 

© Janet Martin 

"Be strong and courageous, 

do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria 

nor because of all the horde that is with him; 

for the one with us is greater than the one with him.

2 Chron.32:7

What The Lord Has Done In Me

I Wouldn't Trust a Pen (If I Were You)

Expectation is the creation

Of imagination; often felled

Before the very eyes that prized

The picture that they held

***

Sometimes, due to lack of practice 

Our small sacrifices seem large 

-er than they really are

We don't admit how slack our track-record is 

Until circumstance raises the bar

***

Sometimes hearts are arks of safety

We store in them fragments of yore

(sometimes hearts break; they do mend 

But never quite 

back 

To the way they were 

Before) 

***

Pens keep secrets 

But oh, they spill them too 

I wouldn’t trust a pen 

If I were you 

***

Life is give-and-take 

It makes plain the hidden man 

By how we give 

And what we take 

***

If love is

Patient and kind 

Maybe that is why 

True love is 

So hard to find 

***

Night ink is bolder 

Than the ink of day 

It spells things that morning

Never quite knows 

How to say

*** 

Loss is more than havoc 

Wreaked on comfort zones 

Some takes its time 

Like the surging sea 

Washing away stone 

***

Swift words are often hurtful 

If we want to be wise 

We should take a moment 

And cut them down to size 

© Janet Martin 

Unrelenting Blending, Wending...

 

yesterday's snow-squalls have tucked today beneath a thin white sheet

Unrelenting blending, winding 

Binding what was new to old 

Finding, where dusk drew yon awning 

New day dawning, gray or gold 

Blushing, rushing phantom river 

Coursing through a flue of dreams 

Forcing future to the suture 

Of Bygone’s unyielding seams 

Over, under, woe and wonder 

Easing seasons to thin air 

Teasing reason’s raging hunger 

With un-plundered thoroughfare 

Urging to emerging, surging 

Streams rife with life’s latest Must 

Dreams still pending, wending, mending 

Maybes with rekindled trust 

…where we stand on sands of gloaming 

Washed by foaming Bittersweet 

Crashed by waves that heave then vanish 

Over graves and under feet 

Reaching, teaching, students learning 

Caught in yearning’s undertow 

Not to grip the drip too tightly 

But hold lightly then let go 

Lest midst hug-and-tug-sparked duels 

Fueling fixed aftermath 

You or I miss God’s kiss-jewels 

Strewing Today's Very Path 

© Janet Martin 

Today's To-do list for the household of faith...

2 Cor.16:13-14

 Be on your guard; 

stand firm in the faith; 

be courageous; 

be strong.

 Do everything in love.

Still Thankful Hearts

 

 

The above photo is from this morning's devotional from Ann.

and helped inspire this morning's poem

along with all the clashing notes of learning to get along!

Lord, when the chords of living clash and all the notes seem out of place

When harmonies are harsh because of human nature’s lack of grace 

Wake within us a hymn of praise for all the ways that you are good 

And teach us to number our days with holy, humble gratitude 

Lord, when the music-sheet is torn and we are weary-worn and weak 

Help us to recognize new morn as Mercy’s kiss upon our cheek 

And help us speak words true and kind, keeping in mind the Thing they make 

Where today is soon left behind save for the echoes in its wake 

Lord, we are all broken and bent in one way or another, oh 

Still let us be an instrument of love and grace whereby we go 

Where what we know (not what we feel) will help us through the harder parts 

As hope and heartache clash and peal and wound and heal still thankful hearts 

© Janet Martin 

in everything give thanks; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thess.5:18

I Don't Believe in Luck

Playing a bit of catch-up on Writer's Digest's Poem-a-day prompts.

This was prompt 13: Write a luck poem

(still unable to log in to their site.

Nothing works. not reset saved passwords. Nothing)

"I believe in the One who steals our breath with majesty

His handiwork second to none on sod and sky and sea"

I don’t believe in four-leaf-clovers, charms like rabbit’s feet 

Or leaves of tea or stars aligned or fate or Easy Street 

Or roll of dice or pennies tossed into a wishing well 

I believe what must be will be and time enough will tell 

I believe in discretion, common sense and honesty 

That by the grace of God we go and ought to revere He 

Who grants the chance to choose this day who we will honour best 

I believe we should watch and pray and trust Him for the rest 

He knows the very numbers of the hairs upon our head

No matter what naysayers say we know God is not dead

I don't believe in horseshoes or in the luck of the draw

I believe in the kindly keep of  He whose love is law

I believe in the One who steals our breath with Majesty

His handiwork second to none on sod and sky and sea

I don't believe in luck; the gamble of all it entails

I believe in the grace of God whose goodness never fails

© Janet Martin

Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together...

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 34:3&8-10

I Believe In Christ

I Remember Spring

Writer's digest PAD Challenge 14:

For today’s prompt, write a memory poem.

I remember spring

The green of love and life

 Where thought unfurled a wonder-world

Of dream-streams running rife 

I remember spring

When time seemed on my side

Before it drew youth's years into

Its unrelenting tide

I remember spring

Uninhibited grin

Before the scars from fallen stars

Etched wisdom's start within 

I remember spring

Then summer came and went

Now Autumn's leaf I know is brief

Ere I am winter-bent

(optional)

I am Autumn-content

Long gone, spring's budding trees

That soft unfurled a wonder-world

Of moments such as these

or

Of precious memories

 

© Janet Martin

Meaning of More

Writer's Digest PAD Challenge 15:

For today’s prompt, take the phrase

"Meaning of (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase,

make the new phrase the title of your poem, 

and then, write your poem.

More Love to Thee

More Time said He who holds the key

That bolts the lease of days and years

More time said He; eternity

A destiny that

 never disappears

More grace said He who set us free

From debt of sin with his own blood

More grace said He; oh let there be

More who believe 

The grace of God

More love, Ah Me, that cannot be

Impossible, I AM's increase

Of All in all's totality

Of hope and joy,

Of life and peace

More love, more love, I cried to He

Who gave His all through love for me

More love for thee; oh let me be

A testimony of

Your love for me

© Janet Martin

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: 

I am come that they might have life,

 and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:10