Monday Morning Reveille

Reveille

Up and at ‘em

Herd or scat ‘em 

Hug and hold ‘em 

Wash and fold ‘em 

Training, teaching, 

Praying, preaching 

Hurting, hoping 

Seeing, groping 

Running, crawling, 

Flying, falling 

Laughing, crying 

Cheering, sighing 

Dawdlin’, hastin’ 

Time’s a-wastin’ 

Left foot, right foot 

Slipper, work-boot 

Slow or faster 

Let love master 

Sort and tally 

Hill or valley 

Squat or lanky 

Kind or cranky 

Old or younger 

Let sheer wonder 

Thunder, rumble 

Tremble, tumble 

Never grumble 

But be humble 

Winning, losing 

Waking, snoozing 

Seizing, yearning 

Leading, learning 

Lend or borrow 

Joy or sorrow 

Seen or hidden 

Bossed or bidden 

Don’t be lazy 

But keep busy 

Ev’ry season 

Make the reason 

In life’s story 

For God’s glory 

© Janet Martin

For you were bought with a price. 

So glorify God in your body.

1 Cor.6:20

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, 

do all to the glory of God.

1 Cor.10:31

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

 so that they may see your good works 

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matt.5:16

For from him 

and through him 

and to him are all things. 

To him be glory forever. 

Amen.

Rom.11:36

Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; 

whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—

in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 

To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. 

Amen.

1 Pet.4:11

Bit 'o Dusk Doggerel

I love the earth asleep beneath a sweep of snow and shadows cast ...

I love the earth asleep beneath a sweep of snow and shadows cast 

How daybreak’s oriflamme is lowered on dusk’s flagpole at half-mast 

And how wow is the only word that seems to fit the frame of mind 

As we behold gold blurred with blue turned into today left behind 

© Janet Martin

Daughter cooking dinner means time for a bitty dusk-ditty...or two💗

I love the way the heart feels snuggled 'neath a heap of down-duvets 

And earth is like a painting swaddled before our very gaze 

And dusk is like a dark blue blanket tossed across worlds lost from view 

And somehow as we stand and watch it we become a bit lost too 

© Janet Martin

Someday, Forevermore or Bond of Freedom

(for we who share the bond of freedom in Christ)

For now we are apart but someday

worshippers will sing together forever and ever!

This first song is very fitting for the times we are in

(worth the while to read the translation)

Simon & Max Khorolskiy - Не грусти, не рыдай

FILL MY CUP, LORD | THE LIVING STONES QUARTET

 

Glorify Thy Name

 

1 Thess.4:16-18

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, 

with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, 

and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

After that, we who are still alive and are left 

will be caught up together with them 

in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 

And so we will be with the Lord forever. 

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

From sea to sea and shore to shore we who believe are bound 

By a sweet and communal cord of common, holy ground 

The blood that washes sinners clean and sets the cursed soul free 

Is Mercy’s universal vein that binds God’s family 

Salvation, wrought through Jesus Christ is our saving faith 

His death, to pay the debtor’s price no offering could erase 

For blood of bulls and rams could not atone and justify 

Only a Perfect Lamb, the Son of God could satisfy 

And by His outpoured blood we are unified far and wide 

To be the family of God; His pure and spotless bride 

Not by our works (lest we would boast) but by the grace of He 

Who gave his uttermost upon the cross of Calvary 

From sea to sea and shore to shore, while onward ages roll 

A beautiful, mutual yoke binds soul to soul to soul 

Of we who are freed from death’s sting through He came to save 

Because He died and rose again, Christ has conquered the grave 

Jesus fulfilled salvation’s plan, His name above all names 

Has given to the soul of man, hope, without guilt’s past claims 

Redemption is the joy we share, His love the song we sing 

In universal praise and prayer to Jesus Christ our King 

© Janet Martin 

The Anticipation Proclamation

 

In anticipation of days to come...

No, not the Emancipation Proclamation 

which is the subject of this chuckle...

Barney Fife and  the Emancipation Proclamation😂

Summer will come again 

Its colours slip between 

Heaven and earth and turn its girth 

From white to glorious green 

First spring will stretch its legs 

Giggle and wiggle toes 

And tickle limbs with budded hymns 

That burst into full rose 

Where Old Man Winter’s chill 

Is still in snow-full swing 

His numbered numbing days of white-blue grays 

Will soon fall prey to spring 

Then we will stretch our legs 

And wiggle bare foot toes 

And splash into the green-gold-blue 

Of summer’s sweet hellos 

All children, young and old 

Beneath the beaming sky 

Where summer is a flower-kiss 

And time, a butterfly 

© Janet Martin 

He Restoreth My Soul

Psalm 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 He restoreth my soul: 

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness 

for his name's sake.

Whether our pastures are green or white

The Shepherd of our souls is not hampered by the season!

He restores our souls 

But only as we pause 

And only as we meditate 

On His statutes and laws 

And only as we pray 

And only as we trust 

And reconcile our willful way 

To Mercy’s perfect must 

…and only as we drink 

Where we will never thirst 

And only as we rearrange 

Our loves and put God first 

And only by His grace 

Through faith, that makes us whole 

He leads us to the quiet place 

Where He restores our souls 

© Janet Martin

Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace

by Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Adapting to Time's Changes

It's easy, when our comfort zones are not rocked 

to become more complacent than we think we are.

Yesterday morning's sky suggested a storm on the horizon...

...the afternoon proved it!

The times we are in suggest a storm on the horizon!

What are we doing to prepare?

This song has become a bit of a mainstay in my mind

in these changing times!

Rock of Ages  thank-you Augustus Toplady

Adapting to time’s changes that we sometimes don’t expect

Can introduce ourselves to strangers we have never met

How well love’s pieces fall in place when life is kind and good

But who are we when things don’t go the way we wish they would?

Change is a curtain-rise exposing foreign points of view

Principles will be challenged with popular say and do

And if we don’t know why we stand for what we do, look out

The fall will surely show who pomp and boast was all about

The Rock of Ages does not change but everything else will

The sacred pages of love’s law are pure and perfect still

Forbid we think about ourselves more highly than we ought

But humbly seek the One whereby meekness and Truth are taught

Who are we when push comes to shove and shove to shock and awe

When we are challenged by a mob ignorant of God’s law

Where will we stand when change arranges strange conspiracies

Will we look to First in Command or earthly hierarchies 

When change confronts us with sudden and unexpected spar

And introduces ourselves to who we really are

It sometimes comes as a surprise when stripped of love’s façade 

To realize how often we trust man, rather than God

Adapting to time's changes is more than fodder-for-past

For Time is not a liar; it will tell the truth at last

Of who we serve, what we preserve by faith or negligence 

And who we are by who we look to for our confidence

© Janet Martin

It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:8

Marvel-Medley

In the book The Dean's Watch

the Dean, Adam Ayscough's great sorrow was 

that he did not discover joy until near

the end of his life.

But when he did, how he marveled at

how wonder-filled life became.

Glimpse Him in sky-grandeur, 

in rock-wefted specks of snow

Marvel where a myriad of masterpieces spill

Crunching beneath footsteps and bedecking tree and hill

Waiting in the wake of winter to break boreal mud

Ensconcing earth in rich em’rald of unfettered bud

Marvel at the mercy that disperses second try

Meting, ever meting so much more than meets the eye

Like the wind that whispers in the winnowing of dark

Tugging at bare branches and strings tangled ‘round the heart

Marvel at stars lilting in the laughter of a child

Season-panoramas stitched like patchwork quilts run wild 

Fashion from thy ration of life’s lease, a counterpane

Pieced by sun and shadow, clover meadow, rush of rain

Marvel at the melody that throbs with God’s ‘behold’

All that He created waits, pure worship to unfold

Glimpse Him in sky-grandeur, in rock-wefted specks of snow

Savour the sweet flavour of joy, wonder’s afterglow

Marvel at the way mere man is lavished with God's grace

Fitted to love's masterplan with ways thought cannot trace

Permeating purpose into every single breath

"To God be the glory, Maker of heaven and earth" 

Marvel at the endless possibilities of awe

God's forgiveness is the bedrock and crown of love's law

Marvel at the hemline of Majesty trailing where

We behold but the fringes of His Everlasting care

© Janet Martin

Psalm 92:4-6

For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;

I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

O Lord, how great are Your works!

Your thoughts are very deep.

A senseless man does not know,

Nor does a fool understand this.

this marvel-medley was pieced together between

pre-dawn lego-creations, 

scrambled eggs...

second coffees 

and other such domestic marvels💗

(tell me, is not the sound of tea or coffee being poured

one of life's sweetest, simplest marvels?!)

Keeping Seeking Thy Kingdom First

 

Matt.6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 

and all these things shall be added to you.

Come, Let Us All Unite To Sing, God Is Love

The fine line between hate and love is sometimes blurred by word and deed 

We ought to give our thought-parade our utmost, honest, earnest heed 

…and guard our hearts; for from its parts the mouth draws the laws it employs 

We are called to stand firm and true, not loud and proud and full of noise 

Love, keep us kind; for soon behind us strews the ash of taste and touch 

I’ve watched where hatred raised a glass and toasted love, justice and such 

Whilst wild and bold a shameless throng swarms, storms a baby-blood-bathed street 

Lord, teach us how to suffer long and how to wash each other’s feet 

Let those who look see You in us; beholding joy in mortal glove 

Lord, fill us with your righteousness so that we are equipped to love 

For blessed are the peace-makers, the pure in heart, the poor, the meek 

And blessed are the thirsty, hungry who firstly Your kingdom seek 

© Janet Martin 

Col.3:1-2, 12-17

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, 

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God

. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things...

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, 

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

  13Bear with each other and forgive one another 

if any of you has a grievance against someone. 

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

  14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, 

since as members of one body you were called to peace. 

And be thankful.

  16Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly 

as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom 

through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, 

singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

  17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, 

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him.