The Master's Touch

(update: I wrote this poem yesterday to send with a meal for my sister!

They are planning a wedding for Friday 

while her husband's beloved oldest brother is on his deathbed. 

During last night God rescued him from his suffering)

Rest in peace, Murrell.

So much beauty midst broken

So much joy midst sorrow

So much broken midst beauty

So much sorrow midst joy

So much more God

 above, beneath and through it all!

Touch us, oh Lord, with beauty’s chords

Where nature’s orchestra enthralls

Lift our eyes unto the hills

To hear creation’s madrigals

Unto the flowers of the field

Unto the fledglings of the air

Unto heaven’s vast music sheet

Where thy great glory is declared

 

Touch us, oh Lord, with mercy’s chords

When waves of sorrow wash the soul

Let not despair consume our hearts

But grant us faith to make us whole

As from your everlasting word

Love’s melody of hope resounds

Then, even in the dark of night

A hymn of humble joy abounds

 

Touch us, oh Lord, with love’s pure chords

In songs of grace and sympathy

Let earth be longing’s pale prelude

To heaven’s perfect harmony

Then open up our eyes and ears

Until the only Strings we clutch

Through The Unseen, wakes evidence

That tunes us to The Master’s Touch

 

© Janet Martin

...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

Eph.5:19

I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?

Psalm 121:1

Behold Our God

Life's Kind and Sweetest Years of All...

 

Today my husband's mother turns 90!

Yesterday, surrounded by her greatest joy, family, 

we celebrated this milestone.

Once again we were blessed by the talents of sister-in-law Lucille

with a beautiful cake to celebrate this momentous occasion!

(front row is Mother with remaining sisters & brother-in-law and her children)

Mother is the one with a blanket over her lap. 

It was very cool for August!!

In the afternoon a drive-by birthday greeting shower

allowed over 100 extended family and friends

the opportunity to bring birthday blessings in person.

Dear mother, as time passes by

And strength and energy decline

May love bear fruit in rich supply

Where years hang heavy on life’s vine

May you be blessed without reserve

And honoured as long as you live

Because dear mother, you deserve

The very best love has to give

We pray that Motherhood’s reward

Begins on earth, by what we do

To show you that we thank the Lord

Dear mother, for the gift of you

Then, as the love of family

Brings joy where twilight shadows fall

We pray your sunset years may be

Life’s kind and sweetest years of all

© Janet Martin

Her children arise and call her blessed;

Prov.31:28

Ultimate Joy

Today we are have a family reunion/ 90th birthday party for my husband's mother.

It looks like there is the potential for a lot of rain to fall in that time frame.

How often in life do we pray for sun but rain is sent instead?

Yet, if we pray 'Thy will be done' He helps us, dry or wet!

My kiddos that come during the week LOVE a good rain-shower

because it always brings sweet splashing puddles.

This week it poured while toddler wailed and tugged my hand because she wanted to play outside.

But the thunder rolled and lightning flashed and Janet did not relent.

Little One, in the moment, did not understand why. 

A bit like us toddlers sometimes, with our Heavenly Father, isn't it?

Heavenly Father, help us to remember You know best!

Help us to...

 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 To him be glory both now and forever!

 Amen.

2 Peter 3:18

...and not to throw toddler-tantrums when we don't get

what we want when we want it!

We pray for sunshine but if rain is Thy reply

Lord, help us to give thanks and not to fret with futile ‘why’

We pray that we would be a lamp your love shines through

Reflecting, in humility, the love we have for You

Then, whether loss or gain, wish granted or denied

We pray dear Lord, in sun or rain, You will be glorified

We pray for grace to meet the day with hearts at rest

As our joy is made complete in knowing You know best

© Janet Martin

A blessed day of rest and worship

to you and yours!

Oh! and Happy August💕

God Hath Not Promised Skies Always Blue...

The author of this hymn is living testimony of its words

Here is a link to her story.

The Story of Annie Johnson Flint

Almost August...

 'Where harvest fields surrender yields that capture heart and eye'

'In the sheen of sunflowers beaming from sage-bristled stalks'

'Where gardens grin and we begin to gather in toil’s laud'

Its almost August; month of age-old accolades renewed

Where morning, ripe with golden sun highlights sweeps silver-dewed

Where harvest fields surrender yields that capture heart and eye

As crickets start to serenade the ending of July

It’s almost August; beauty-tones delight the commonplace

In purple loosestrife, chicory, yarrow and Queen Ann’s lace

Where gardens grin and we begin to gather in toil’s laud

As fruit and flower melodies spill through our touch to God

It’s almost August; heartstrings get tangled in hollyhocks

In the sheen of sunflowers beaming from sage-bristled stalks

In the keening awareness in each honey-suckle bloom

Of moments weaving echoes from the threads of summer’s loom

It’s almost August; hummingbirds and honey-bees abound

We take off shoes to stir the dust and dew of holy ground

To revel in the bevel of a bowl tipped upside down

To showcase blue, blue eons on a cloud-disheveled crown

It’s almost August; weep not for the parting but give thanks

For bloom-embellished garden paths and lily-laden banks

For arms we cannot see that draw and sweep us off our feet

As wonder and desire meet in tangos, bittersweet

It’s almost August; farewell, farewell, my darling chérie

My sweet July, we cannot keep at bay time’s surging sea

But, come what may, of August’s day, July's memories made

Are gathered in a coffer no hand of time can invade

© Janet Martin

Prime of Grace

As I opened my eyes after

bringing before the Lord my fears, cares, gratitude and hopes

the sun burst over the horizon to crown new day 

with the declaration of God's glory!

Psalm 5:3 BSB

In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;

 at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

In The Morning When I Rise Give Me Jesus

 

The prime of time is blushing where Today is always new

The rhythm of Reason rushing its melodists through and through

Past’s phoenix taunts trust’s trial-run where oft we slip and slide

(So many wily ways to sun and preen feathers of pride)

The prime of life presents itself in Time’s most perfect form

Where, with crumbs brushed from yester-shelf a brand-new day is born

Soft-wafted pink and gold beguiles and fills our smiles with awe

While lofty ‘think’, oft bold, defiles, if thought rivals God’s law

The prime of hope and dream’s crescendo floods the earth with light

The clime/climb forged from bygone’s memento births morn’s maiden flight

Where all together we must weather what dawn’s spawn will bring

To test the leather of faith’s tether, oft with suffering

The prime of time is streaming through the Hand that gives and takes

Where live-and-learn is teeming with happiness and heartaches

As we proceed where want and need in fearless fathoms flow

But never can exceed God’s primal grace whereby we go

© Janet Martin

Lam.3:22-23

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Momentous Joy

My heart melted with joy

as I hosted my first guests in the new garden nook today😊💗

And the conversation was second to none!

Such as; what they will be when they grow up!

One is going to take over the home-farm 

and become a vet so they will never need to pay a vet again!

One is going to be a dietician like her mother

and one is going to be a ballerina

(guess which one is going to be the ballerina😍)

Wow! How I love these gals💕

a moment's joy is plenty as it fills our present cup

and drips in friendly cadence to the heart-shape we hold up

from love's big tea-pot tipping somewhere out of reach and sight

a moment's joy fills the mundane with sunshine-steeped delight

a kind reward to whispers poured from Learning's broken jar

a moment's joy makes beautiful exactly where we are

Janet Martin~

Eden's Shadow or Enchanted By Glimpses...

I finally have a garden bench!

(After 'rescuing' a dilapidated wicker bench

on a Sunday afternoon drive

from a backroad ditch.)

Nothing that a quilt and cushion

 and a few strings to bind sags

couldn't fix!

A person can get downright comfy in a garden corner

at the end of a busy day!😊

The place where Eden’s shadow falls 

is framed in friendly hollyhocks

Sunflowers deck its bower-walls; 

breeze-batons tease bean-vines, corn stalks

Love’s toil is sweet where spoil of seeds 

enchants us with glimpses of He

Who smiles, while stunning us indeed

with isles of creativity

The place where Eden’s shadow lies 

is crowned with skies, cerulean

Its glints and hints of paradise

unbound in nature's diadem

Where garden dirt is mined for treasure 

carrot-orange and beet-red

A gratifying kind of pleasure; 

hand of God and mortal wed 

The place where Eden’s shadow spans 

is cursed with pestilence and pain

Unlike the first garden where man, 

because of sin could not remain

But still, the beauty of the Lord 

is poured through gourd-pod-plumed goodness

Where duty reaps a rich reward 

of culinary happiness

The place where Eden’s shadow waits 

to fling ajar gates that God sealed

Grants glimpses on heaped dinner plates 

as we give thanks for harvest-yield

For mercy’s lavish 'let there be' 

As you and I with hope and hurt

Touch the hemline of Majesty 

through windows set in garden dirt

© Janet Martin

 

  

Of Logic and Love

 

Logic and love (aka head and heart)

Can be at constant odds

until we humbly strive to start

to serve no other gods

Until we love the Lord our God

with heart, soul, strength and mind

We cannot be all that we ought

For we are God designed

In writing there is the constant battle 

of blending both heart and head.

To write with only the heart we tend to end up with Beauty

but not always truth. 

To write with only our heads may spout wisdom's facts and truth

but without beauty!

When we parent/love with only our heads 

we are at the risk of being too harsh.

When we parent/love with only our hearts 

we risk being too soft!

Lord, as new day dissolves the dark

and we embark anew

Lord, birth in both our heads and hearts

fresh awareness of You

By the direction of Your Word

To seek You with faith undeterred

The head hosts logic’s hot debates

The heart, the part that loves and hates

The head can wield a rigid rod

The heart, the part that yields to God

The heart is vile without God’s voice

To reconcile the guile of choice

The head holds the tower of thought

The heart holds God’s power, or not

Until the head and heart align

And one to the other resign

The head will be the part that fools

The heart with logic's art of rules

© Janet Martin

 “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart 

and with all your soul 

and with all your strength 

and with all your mind’ 

and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Luke 10:27

The heart is deceitful above all things, 

and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Jer.17:9