Heart-effect

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

Psalm 141:3

Let the words of my mouth, 

and the meditation of my heart, 

be acceptable in thy sight, 

O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

A winter wonderland to set the heart singing this morning (I hope) 😉

Contemplating what comes out of our mouths today

besides breath-clouds on the frosty air!

How cold the heart of spite doth burn

How mean then, mind doth mete

To tongue unlovely words that turn

To sorrow and defeat

How warm the heart of love doth leap

How kind then, mind doth spill

To tongue goodness and mercy’s sweet

-ness of grace and goodwill

How destitute are you and I

Without humility

To turn sharp edges of reply

To tender sympathy

© Janet Martin

All Part and Parcel Of...

I always have mixed feelings about sharing a post like this:

I think about the families/couples who would love to be able to share in

this kind of joy but for some unknown reason

it is withheld or Baby is gathered back to God before it is born, or right after.

We cannot explain these heart-breaking 'whys'.

My heart cries and bleeds for longing-to-be parents and grandparents!

But, on the other hand, as we remember all we have is lent to us from

a God so much bigger that anything we ever can grasp

we owe to Him joyful thanksgiving and praise

for every good and perfect gift that comes from above...

where we are all part and parcel of His Perfect love!

So we are beyond delighted at (Lord willing)

welcoming another little 'parcel/gift' into the family in May 2022!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 

and comes down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

James 1:17

Grandma got the above shot while mommy was getting this one below...

Humbly grateful...

Where weight of want and wonder wars

Where dazzle of moment-mist pours

Where hope and heartache’s breakers roll

Across shorelines heart and soul

Where what is brief binds sacredly

To what is Chief; eternity

Where we all bear the common bond

Of Here hinged to The Great Beyond

Where life, akin to lilt of leaves

Soon slumbers beneath welkin eaves

Where what we hold, we soon entrust

Back to the mold of dust-to-dust

Where we are part and parcel of

God’s heart of Everlasting love

Where unlike leaves our bloom will fall

Back to the Hands that lent it all

Then, though want and wonder may war

We are a part of so much more

Than time’s sparkle of sun and sod

We are part of the heart of God

© Janet Martin

Grand-daughter and gramma matching outfits 😄💖

In Case Joy Should Falter...

Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

 Everything under heaven belongs to me.

Job 41:11

This poem was inspired after reading Job chapters 38 through 41

Stupendous! Wow!

and what can we do but echo Job's reply 

at the beginning of chapter 42

 (if ever we stoop to doubt)

 "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know."

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,

Job 38:12

Hope hoists it hymns on morning’s scrims as love its vow renews...

To place our prayers into the hands that laid earth’s cornerstone

To know He cares and sifts the sands that mete each steppingstone

To see each season’s treasure trove spill into hill and dale

Grants us reason enough to trust the love that cannot fail

To recognize that our eyes see but the fringe of He

Who paints the skies and cuts to size the proud waves of the sea

Who authors birth and tunes the earth’s orbit around the sun

Who puts his worth in human dearth through death’s curse fought and won

To lean on He whose majesty we cannot comprehend

Yet yearns to be to you and me an everlasting Friend

To touch His robe that fills the globe with glory none can dim

Instills earth’s road with Heaven’s goad as time draws us to Him

To have God’s Word, truth undeterred midst mortal fallacies

To guide and gird and keep souls stirred with hope through centuries

To know that He will always be at faith’s meek beck and call

Grants you and me security, whatever may befall

Hope hoists it hymns on morning’s scrims as love its vow renews

Where Mercy brims and nothing dims or thwarts the Giver’s views/dues

Where come what may no hand can sway what His will has decreed

Where when we pray, He leads the way, ah, what more do we need

© Janet Martin

Rejoice in the Lord always,

and again I say, rejoice

Phil.4:4

Who is our fount of joy?

Jesus, Only Jesus!

I Do Not Want To Grow Too Old...

blink-blink and another day is in the books!

My youngest sister hosted our annual Mom's Birthday Tea this morning!

(Photo used with her permission😀)

So, from this...

 to this one below

in a matter of a couple hours

Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza

The highlight; tasting everyone's contribution!

Every day we all have one thing in common; getting older!

I pray I may never get too old to lose the wonder of it all!

I do not want to grow too old to thrill when morning’s rose unfolds...

(or dusk's purple and gold)

I do not want to grow too old to thrill when morning’s rose unfolds

To miss the grace-kissed joy unfurled in a four-season wonder-world

And find no kind delight that sings from life’s most sweet and simple things

Or lose the spark that lights the fire that keens the flame of love’s desire

Or in seasoned consistencies walk blind to fresh discoveries

Where life’s Orchestrator instills and fills each day with miracles

I do not want to grow too old to cherish what no one can hold

But learn to love as if today was the last mile on life’s highway

And treat time’s tip-o’-hat and nod for what it is; a gift from God

That grants no guarantee but one; eternity when life is done

Thus, in this very sacred flit I want to make the most of it

To stand beneath the poetry of God and glimpse His majesty 

I do not want to grow too old to lose the sense of moment-gold

I do not want the circumstance to drown the music in the dance

But, pray each day life’s happiness begins and ends with thankfulness

Where fellowmen are fellow friends weathering whatever life sends

For we are altogether bound for that immortal common ground

And no one knows how near or far to that last steppingstone we are

I do not want to grow too old to marvel at Mercy's 'behold'

Behold the day the Lord has made, behold the debt that he has paid

Behold His everlasting love, His Word's abundant treasure trove

Behold the promises we claim if we have trusted in His name

Behold the beauty He bestows to crown life's thorns with hope's red rose

I do not want to grow too old to grow wonder one-hundred-fold

© Janet Martin

A copy of this Psalm was in one of mom's birthday cards...

I do not want the circumstance to drown the music in the dance...💖

November Bliss

PAD Challenge day 10: For today's prompt, write a nature poem.

To linger in the golden rains of autumn’s falling leaves

To steep in farewell’s fond refrains awash with memories

To wrestle with the afterglow of Glints of Paradise

As November puts on a show that takes us by surprise

To look a little longer where the grove is turning gray

To satisfy soul-hunger from nature’s dwindling buffet

To read between fence and skyline, the kind of poetry

That needs no words to dignify the Author’s mastery

To wear with kinder fervor time’s small dust-stitches of skin

And magnify the Server of each breath that we draw in

To tread upon the rustling hush of woodland’s winnowed song

With something like a lover’s blush beneath Autumn’s ‘so-long’

© Janet Martin

I'd say it like Samuel Taylor Coleridge if I could...

Worship Renewed (With Gratitude)

Life felt a bit heavy when I first got up this morning...

Doom and gloom headlines can steal the bloom of joy

just like that...

Better to lift our cup up the the One who overflows skylines

and timelines with everlasting wonder and/of love...

'Ah, see the world dew-pendant pearled, where daybreak steals the show'...

It is not hard on a morning like this

to 'Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; '

and to 'give thanks to him and praise his name.'

Psalm 100:4

Do not give up; but lift life’s cup of learning to thy lips

Trust in the Hand that pours time’s sand through scars to fingertips

Who breathes upon the dark of dawn until it disappears

Who stokes the reed of soul and seed with Mercy’s smiles and tears

Count not for naught the noble thought that sparks the kindly deed

Revere the care that stirs the prayer that groans from frames of need

And lean on he who drapes the lea with silver scarves of mist

Who stuns our gaze with wonder’s ways though hurts and griefs persist

Aha, the bell twixt heav’n and hell tolls with mercy renewed

And fills the earth with living’s Worth that births meek gratitude

And heaps Hope’s trays that leap with praise that snuffs the foolish plea

Till all we truly covet is more love, My God for thee

Ah, see the world dew-pendant pearled, where daybreak steals the show

And bends the commonplace with grace as skylines overflow

From fathoms of goodness and love dawn throbs with ‘I AM He

Who fills thy cup that you lift up with My sufficiency

© Janet Martin

I was going to share only verse nine from Psalms 96

until I read the whole chapter and wanted you to have the pleasure too!!

Psalm 96

Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2Sing to the LORD, bless His name;

proclaim His salvation day after day.

3Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonderful deeds among all peoples.

4For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but it is the LORD who made the heavens.

6Splendor and majesty are before Him;

strength and beauty fill His sanctuary.

7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the nations,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;

bring an offering and enter His courts.

9Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness;

tremble before Him, all the earth.

10Declare among the nations: “The LORD reigns!”

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved;

He will judge the peoples with equity.

11Let the heavens be glad

and the earth rejoice;

let the sea resound,

and all that fills it.

12Let the fields exult,

and all that is in them.

Then all the trees of the forest

will sing for joy 13before the LORD,

for He is coming—

He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in His faithfulness.

Let the fields exult...

As Long As Life Remains

PAD Challenge day 3: For today's prompt, take the phrase "As (blank)," 

replace the blank with a new word phrase, 

make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

(Playing with these prompts as time allows!)

Oh there's another title for this prompts haha! '

As Time Allows

Young at Heart Frank Sinatra

As long as life is granted, pray

That I/we may learn the art

(Though nothing keeps the years at bay)

Of staying young at heart

Then though the seasons take their toll

Beneath their staid finesse

May I/we retain in heart and soul

A youthful loveliness

Where as the winds of change persist

To weather wizened limb

Beneath the tresses, silver-kissed

May Youth’s sparkle yet brim

Like a gnarled tree laden with fruits

Of pure and humble truth

May Beauty’s finest attributes

Inspire green of youth

Each season is a work of art

Like links in daisy-chains

To keep us ever young at heart

As long as life remains

© Janet Martin

Love Does Not Promise Easy Street...

 

Love does not promise Easy Street

Or lap of luxuries

But pulls plans from beneath our feet

To bring us to our knees

Love, though a many-splendored thing

Kindling desire’s sighs

Soon startles dreamers with the sting

Of ashes in our eyes

Love hones hearts to humility

With others first in mind

In the face of hostility

Love is patient and kind

No matter what thrills and delights

It will not be enough

Until we set our keenest sights

On learning how to love

The lifelong scholarship of love

Would drain all grin and grit

But for the faultless Promise of

The One who authored it

By loving grace and discipline

He helps us all life through

To wear the shoes that we are in

With purpose, glad and true

  

Then, when the gold of love runs blue

And snuffs the wishing star

Love is not something that we do

But something that we are

  

© Janet Martin

Col.3:14-15

And above all these put on love, 

which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 

 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, 

to which indeed you were called in one body. 

And be thankful.