Because Of The Lord's Mercies...(You and I were Not Aborted)

When we think of the millions and millions of unborn babies

killed and sucked from what should be their safest haven; their mother's womb SURELY,

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not all consumed, why?

 because his compassions fail not..."

Lam.3:22

Because of the Lord's mercies every single one of us was conceived in a womb 

where our mothers chose life!

Have we prayed, spoken out in the defense of the unborn?!

How are we helping our most helpless?!!

Here is the link to the video that partly inspired this poem

Senator Lankford asks; 'Is That a Baby?'

Because of His mercies our breath is stolen by wonder,

hearts leap with joy and break with love,

We get to choose...what we want to eat for breakfast,

what we will wear, what we say;

'Look at the gorgeous sunrise,

Wow, you like nice today!'

Because of the Lord mercies here I am and here are you...

Man may take life but only God gives it!

What an awesome charge and privilege then, this life is;

What an account we will owe.

Because of our Good Lord’s kind mercies, we are not consumed 

Because his compassions fail not, faith is not void or doomed 

Because his promises are sure, enduring to the end 

We have above all else a true and everlasting friend 

Because of His kind mercies flowers bloom and morning breaks 

Each winter wends its weathered way to summer’s sparkling lakes 

Babies still make us meek and kinder, puppies make us grin 

And Hope is like a sky wide window letting sunlight in 

And love, though scarred with life’s hard knocks and rocks flung from word-gates 

Still suffers long and returns good though hate retaliates 

And we wake up with strength renewed according to His will 

And though we do not always thank Him He blesses us still 

And does not hold against all the judgements we deserve 

Because of His compassion grace extends Time’s vim and verve 

And composes a hymn of praise from stones when we do not 

The brook still brims with babble-song by nature’s Maestro taught 

And little lambs still leap in spring and longing still inspires 

A little girl with her grandma still kindles joy’s home-fires 

A book-nook and a cup of tea, a young lad with his dad 

Are mementos of His mercy that make us humbly glad 

Because His compassions fail not; they are new every morn 

We might have second bites of bread and butter for our corn 

We might have friends drop by or be the friend that says ‘hello’ 

And be blessed with dear Holds we find quite painful to let go 

Where seasons leave their footprints in the garden of the heart 

And wonder weaves a tapestry from God’s master-pieced art 

Where sorrow is not without joy, because of Mercy’s Stay 

And morrow is not without hope, for Mercy leads the way 

Because of our Good Lord’s kind mercies, we are not consumed 

But without faith in He who IS our little life is doomed 

Because His promises are sure, His compassion is just 

He holds ajar Salvation’s door and beckons us to trust 

© Janet Martin

So, so much brokenness, the result of sin:

where we have not heeded the whole duty of man...

Eccles.12:13

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: 

Fear God and keep his commandments, 

for this is the duty of all mankind.

Deuteronomy 6:2
so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God

 all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, 

and so that your days may be prolonged.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good. 

And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, 

to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Analyzing Investments

Nobody knows what will have come to pass by the time the clock's hands pass this way again 

(or if they will!!)

Touch, taste and treasure humbly then, its mien of moment-measure 

as they but once softly spill

And look around to count the ways God's mercy makes 

His Presence known

And thank Him that because He Is 

nobody is ever all alone

Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. 

He will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Do not be afraid or discouraged."

Because we cannot see what waits, soon spilled and strewn behind 

Nobody can afford to be ungrateful or unkind 

Because we cannot tell what farewell will ever enfold 

Nobody ought to not live well the moment that we hold 

Because we cannot know what lies ahead each hour, each day 

Nobody is equipped to forego He who knows/IS The Way

Because we cannot bid what is still hidden to unveil

Nobody has enough without His love that will not fail  

Because we cannot understand all that we wish we could

Nobody ought to shun the Hand held out for our good

Because we cannot see what waits ere gates of dusk descend

Nobody can afford to be anything but a friend

© Janet Martin 

Investing in some laundry, tidy to-do lists today

while listening to this...

How are you making the most of today?

My heart is full of thoughts of my sister-in-law Karen today, 

suffering from ongoing infections and side-effects of them. 

Can you pray for her encouragement and some effective treatment for them?! 

So far what is being tried is not working. 

Today, no matter who, what we do, or where we are,

 it is a gift from the Hand who works for our good!

 May we all take encouragement in this as we work with our own Broken

.

Prayer for the Church

1 Thess.3:11-13

11 Now may our God and Father Himself, 

and our Lord Jesus Christ, 

direct our way to you.

 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound 

in love to one another and to all, 

just as we do to you, 

13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness 

before our God and Father at the coming 

of our Lord Jesus Christ 

with all His saints.

February's Gardens

 

We are continuously wowed with wonderful sunrises this winter!

as God 'breaks the bud of night with heaven’s hardy, hearty Majesty'

See! February’s gardens beam from dirt where dream-seeds start to stir 

To fill the scope of hope renewed with visions of spring and summer 

To touch the page of pictures pressed to winter’s laughing aftermath 

Where sunbeams dance and bare feet prance upon earth’s posy-pulsing path 

Look! February’s gardens bloom as spent plumes bedeck pristine halls 

To steal the eye a second time with tinsel soft as cotton balls 

To burst the hub of happiness into smile-storms from heart to ears 

Where nature spreads Her empty arms and gathers Old Man Winter’s tears 

Ah! February’s gardens brim from sunny south-faced window-sills 

To fill sweet home with friendly hints of field and fallow-harboured thrills 

To wake in weary winter-worlds a sudden, sacred sense of He 

Who breaks the bud of night with heaven’s hardy, hearty Majesty 

Come! February’s gardens brood and throb beneath heath, snow-veneered 

Where frigid noon will soon drip like ice-cream from Old Man Winter’s beard 

And hands a little softer now, not pushing plows of plant and reap 

Will be filled with forget-me-nots and other 'tots' roused from their sleep 

© Janet Martin 

ah! February's gardens brim from sunny, south-faced windowsills...

(my NOT very green thumb embarrasses houseplants...poor things!)

but they bring me sweet pleasure, all the same😊

 Jeri Landers from Hop-along Hollow got my garden-fingers itching with yesterday's video, 

but alas, in Ontario we are still bundled in blankets/banquets/bank-ets of white

Jeri Lander's Winter-sowing/Gardener's Hot Lunch/name the new duck

A Little 'Light' Reading

A little 'Light' reading to begin a new week and a new month!

Happy February; 

the month we celebrate and hopefully examine love

Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works 

and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matt.5:16

Because this morning is flat gray and at first glance, not particularly striking

I am sharing a few Saturday morning stunners

Lord, be the hope within our tear 

Let your strength be our joy 

Bid faith to cast away dark fear 

Oust doubt’s deadly decoy 

Lord, fix and fill and still our hearts 

With everlasting Truth 

And let the light Your love imparts 

Shine through in living proof 

Amen

© Janet Martin 

Each New Day...Pray!!

So maybe you don't have time for this whole video below?

Even the first four or esp. the last four minutes are Wonder-Power-full

and will likely pique your desire to listen to the rest😊

True Prayer, True Power-Charles Spurgeon

We must believe prayer to be what it is

or else it is not what it should be~

Charles Spurgeon

Each new day is like a wagon laden with want, wish and need 

Trundling from the arc of heaven to the bark of word and deed 

Each new day wayfarers waken to a Hand outstretched to pour 

His new mercy not yet taken to we, pounding on Want’s Door 

Each new day demands Full Armour where distraction’s lure is tossed 

Where like modern day Gomorrah and Sodom, virtue seems lost 

Each new day is weighed with reason to bow before Holiness 

Lord, let not vain repetition mock you with rote emptiness 

Each new day groans with important, earnest opportunity 

More of faith and more of love and more of true humility 

Each new day our faith has access to more than compulsion’s curse 

We have access to the greatest power in the universe 

Each new day, prayer is the chariot to the promises of He 

Who, compelled by His own promise breathes through man, divine decree 

Each new day, without exception, we may kneel before the One 

Who ordained sinner’s redemption through the shed blood of His Son 

Each new day, pray righteous pleasure mingles with each earnest plea 

As the treasure of faith’s measure echoes through eternity 

Each new day, though we may not bear witness to His full reply 

Pray, lest we deny the power that no other can supply 

Each new day pray; as hope’s Prancer charges from thought’s courts of clay 

Already God’s perfect answer meets the whisper on its way 

© Janet Martin 

1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 

15And if we know that he hears us—

whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

God Lifts His Voice

 

God lifts His Voice

and darkness drifts...

into the gift of brand, new day...

God lifts his voice and darkness drifts into the gift of brand, new day 

Snow slips and drips into spring’s grinning, winning, thinning hip-hooray 

Flawless vision with precision aligns commission of the stars 

Wonder thunders, whispers, plunders, drives asunder hunger’s wars 

God lifts his Voice; svelte veneers melt beneath the Whisper of the One 

Who ordains and orders cosmic borders dwarfing stars, moon and sun 

Who causes fire to rain and rain to fall and fall to winter days 

Who tires not while we inquire at His higher thoughts and ways 

God lifts His Voice; bittersweet charter metes the mortar of the clock 

Mercy gushes through ambushes of quicksand around Solid Rock 

Mankind rushes, recedes, pushes at brushes beyond our control 

Sensing an immense propensity of Mortality to Soul 

God lifts His voice; and dawn deploys the sorrow-joys of smile and tear 

Until the final crepuscule will frill the hill and disappear 

And stars will fall like ripened figs when the wind wildly shakes the tree 

God lifts His voice; the earth melts into the scroll of eternity 

© Janet Martin 

...he lifts his voice; the earth melts...

Psalm 46:6 

 

The Futility of 'Should'

 

Sore foot (mentioned here) feeling much better today after

reaping the rewards of folly...

And turning 'should' into

'did' put There, a pair of shoes to wear

while splitting wood.

Jim split this pile for me.

(because when I get the axe stuck 

in a stubborn piece of firewood

it's quite a performance to un-stuck it!😟)

Oh! nothing like a picture to make us notice things...

 I should sweep 😐!!

Good choice or bad 

Well, aren’t you glad 

Each time you choose the good? 

Where oft trouble 

Is the rubble 

Of ignoring ‘Should’ 

Why is it 

That we resist it; 

Wisdom’s greater good 

Learning after 

Reckless laughter 

The shrewdness of Should 

Stumbles, tumbles, 

Fumbles, humble 

This foolhardy brood 

…long the lesson 

of confessin’ 

Disregarded Should 

What good are 

These super-star- 

Sidekicks of Could and Would 

If we never 

Take it further 

Wisdom’s whispered ‘should’ 

Good intention

The invention

Of many a 'should'

Just imagine

What attainment

If we only would

© Janet Martin 

Should on its own has never accomplished a Thing!

What's on your Should-list?

(because we all have one...or should)😉

Battening down the Heart-hatches

 

Wisdom prepares for the storm before the storm.

Before the storm grows harsher still 

And tests the arciform of will 

With what seems anything but love 

Thy very perfect love to prove 

Before the harder heartaches press 

Against temporal palaces 

To try its happiness with rains 

To see if anything remains 

Lord, keen the Creature to your care 

The would-be pride to humble prayer 

Equip, through fellowship, this worm 

Bucking surrender’s cruciform 

So when the storm grows harsher still 

And tests the arciform of will 

Then, though life's ills may still increase

Trust will keep us in perfect peace

© Janet Martin

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 

whose mind is stayed on thee: 

because he trusteth in thee.

Isa.26:3

Who is wise and understanding among you? 

Let them show it by their good life, 

by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

James 3:13

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all

 pure; 

then peace-loving, 

considerate, 

submissive,

 full of mercy 

and good fruit, 

impartial

 and sincere.

James 3:17