Of Trampled Diamonds...

Time is the treasure!

Spend it well

The kiddos LOVE when on a sunny afternoon

 I twirl the disco balls  in the window downstairs.

As dazzle of diamonds dances and disappears

it feels to me a little like the glance of days and years...

Time drains life's treasure/measure from its flask

In sweeping strains of toil and task

It seals in veins of Season Spent

Refrains that none can circumvent

Time takes its charges by surprise

Each day that breaks soon dormant lies

To wake in Them/us a noble grit

To make the loving most of it

Time traipses through stitched capes of skin

In stern goulashes, whisper-thin

Momentous splashes skim the air

With liquid diamonds none can snare

An orchestra of hands and feet

Of eyes and lips and sighs compete

While wonder duels with dismay

And hunger fuels workaday

Time composes, where moments brim

A rose and thorn anointed hymn

And stuns arms with the sacred grace

Of loved ones to fill their embrace

It humbles grumbles as it grants

Life’s rough-and-tumble song-and-dance

From shale of joy and dust of dreams

A trail of trampled diamonds gleams

© Janet Martin

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Eph.5:15

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,

An orchestra of hands and feet

Of eyes and lips and sighs compete...

 

Reminders That Bear Repeating

Dawn's glory bathes the tarmac of time's temporary place

Kind of like a reflection of our God's goodness and grace

Though shadows hide the face of He from whom new mercies brim

Faith sets its feet on what must be and fixes eyes on Him

Today's sort of poem is often written as  a reminder to myself

as much as anyone, to not get consumed by what I/we see

but what I/we know!

So there is nothing that has not been said or written before

in today's rhyme but only truth that bears repeating 

so we do not get side-tracked in our faith-journey... 

In this old world of woes we bear

Abides God’s everlasting care

No fear or threat can overthrow

The One whose grace whereby we go

Though hills and valleys mar the view

Goodness and mercy follow through

No matter where our path may lead

His faithfulness will intercede

Do not despair, come what yet may

God’s ear is just a prayer away

There is no groan He cannot hear

He understands the wordless tear

Life leads into the great unknown

But we do not go there alone

Through high and low of hill and vale

The hand of God will never fail

Hope tames the tempests of dismay

It flickers on wicks of decay

It pierces trouble's dark façade

And beams with the Presence of God

Our strength is not in what we see

Our freedom mandated by He

Who has gone to prepare a home

For all who seek City To Come

Then bend the knee and bow the head

And bring before the Lord each dread

In this old world of woes we bear 

Abides God's everlasting care

© Janet Martin

Lean on His Arms

Isa.52:8-10

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God.

The Heart of a Child

Yesterday I was so touched and astounded

by the eager astuteness of our Sunday School kids age Gr.1-3,

as they answered the questions they were challenged with!

God bless you, diligent moms and dads aware

of the sacred blip before the heart of a child

becomes the heart of a young man or woman!

Eccles.12:1

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, 

Before the difficult days come, 

And the years draw near when you say,

 “I have no pleasure in them”:

The heart of a child is like a pure, precious plot of sod

Pray, there we start to plant the seeds of faith and love of God

For when the soil is tender seeds of goodness gently root

And even in the green of life begins to bear good fruit

The heart of a child is such sweet and sacred innocence

Pray, there with utmost care, we are aware of Influence

To guard its supple yard with caution’s kind integrity

And to remember seeds are strewn by what they hear and see

The heart of a child is not soft and tender very long

How swift the gift of childhood turns into yesterday’s song

Then pray, we nurture well the plot where seeds we scatter grow

For the heart of a child is the most sacred soil we sow

© Janet Martin

Like Raindrops...

Happy Monday!

A whole new week of words not spoken...yet!

(Today's weather may have influenced the title of this poem a little😊)

Why is it after I feel like I've had 'My Say'

more often than not when I have cooled off

I am remorseful rather than pleased?!

because in those retaliatory moments I fail to reflect 

every single fruit of the Spirit! 

Gal.5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

23gentleness, and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Sometimes I think of these scenes in You've Got Mail

as less-than-kind comebacks that feel justifiable in the moment

inevitably lead to regret! 

First Zinger...

Nothing But a Suit

 

They glance and gleam

And dance and stream

Like raindrops on the lane

They praise, they pierce

Civil or fierce

Reverent and profane

They crush, they cheer

Estrange, endear

They defend and betray

Oh, let’s think twice

And make them nice

The words we speak today

They pelt and spill

They soothe, they kill

They injure or they heal

With pleasant poise

Or narcissist's noise

How much a few reveal

They flare and fade

Afflict and aid

An olive branch or dart

Words glance and gleam

And dance and stream

Like raindrops on the heart

© Janet Martin

James 4:11-12

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.

 Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] 

or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. 

When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, 

but sitting in judgment on it. 

12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, 

the one who is able to save and destroy. 

But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?  

How Oft, How Oft

The Wayside Cross

 

Unto the Hills

  

Because the Lord is my Shepherd

Psalm 32:6
Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found.

 Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.

How oft my soul-wrought bark would drift

But for the gales that test

How oft my own decrees would shift

From paths of righteousness

Without plans dismayed and upset

How oft, how oft I would forget

Goodness and mercy’s higher ways

To satisfy my numbered days

How oft the gods of greed would rule

Desires of the heart

How oft love would seem cold and cruel

By what facades impart

Without God’s Word to show the way

How oft, how oft I would fall prey

To doubt and dread’s defenseless street

Without His lamp to guide my feet

How oft I could not bear the weight

Of care that love bestows

But for the vision of a gate

That beyond death’s strait glows

Without the anchor of sure hope

How oft, how oft, I could not cope

And oh, how oft I would ignore

The Hand that draws my bark to shore

© Janet Martin

Beholding Beauty (or its Prelude)

I originally entitled this poem

This Broken World Could Drown Joy

then, just after posting it something like a bud

broke inside of me

resulting in adding the photo below,

another verse as the ending

and changing the title.

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken...

The beautiful words of this hymn are so fitting for the days we are in

Sometimes I struggle with a sense of insecurity

(no longer guilt, because I have committed to embracing my calling)

but still, in a world war-ravaged and hurting...Poetry?!!

Yes, by the grace of God, yes!

Because worship is beautiful 

and timely, always!

And Poetry is the culmination of

beauty and worship

when pursued with passion to

glorify its Giver!

"This is the law of being

That links the threefold chain:

The life we give to beauty

Returns to us again."

From Earth Voices

by Bliss Carmen

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross- Mercy Me

Many are the woes of the wicked,

but the Lord’s unfailing love

surrounds the one who trusts in him.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalm 32:10-11

This broken world could drown joy

Beneath dread’s sullen wave

Despair could be an envoy

That bears us to the grave

Beauty could go unheeded

Beneath brute, crushing blows

And worship’s fount depleted

By glaring needs and woes

We could fall prey to reasons

To hate rather than love

And stumble/grumble through time’s seasons

Without ever enough

But beauty is not cheated

By evil’s intercourse

And joy is undefeated

If we have found its Source

Truth's Hope becomes an anchor

That nothing overthrows

The thorns that pierced our Saviour

Bloom with redemption’s rose

This world would turn us dour

And drown all hope of joy

If it could overpower

What nothing can destroy

‘Unless the seed is broken

It cannot bring forth fruit’

Praise God, joy is the token

As faith and love take root

After the darkness, morning

After bud-breakers part

Joy beholds God adorning

The thorn-scars of the heart

© Janet Martin

Brenda's post 

Something Beautiful in a Broken World

helped me corral today's thoughts into poem.

And caused me to open my book

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

To God be all the glory!

Below are a few excerpts  from Adorning the Dark

that spoke to me personally...

March Melody/Medley

This poem began percolating on the first day of March

while I watched the birdies celebrate with unbridled abandon

before the next day turned the bird bath back to a skating rink

They do look a bit shivery though, don't you think?

March kindles in its coming dreamlands of sun-drenched delight

It sparks a sense of celebration to worlds tucked in white

We start to hear an orchestra as tempos ebb and flow

While poetry of petals trembles beneath drifts of snow

March stirs in winter-frazzled hearts spring-hunger’s hope renewed

And reignites the flame that harvest-weariness subdued

As once again thoughts turn toward the flow’r and fruit of seeds

Duets of plant-and-prayer that God would supply our needs

March teases our emotions as temperatures dip and soar

One day it kisses faces that it froze the day before 

While we, of past experience, embrace this yearly spar

Because we hear the songs of spring within its tug-of-war

March matrons pummel pillows heaped on Old Man Winter’s cot

They free a feather-frolic to a world tenderly caught

Between the throes of winter and the crocuses of spring

We smile because we know what time will most assuredly bring

...soft pussy-willow kittens, fragrant violet-starlight, strewn

Farewell to toques and mittens, hello, yellow afternoon

Pretty pink tulip chalice, in a palace fit for queens

As white on white yields to earth's brightest hues of spring's first greens 

March wakes in us a sanguine splurge of soon-emerging thrills

Like brooks bursting with babble, like hills strewn with daffodils

Like gardens ringing with reintroductions of bare feet

Like robins singing in the raindrops dancing on the street

March makes us gently gladder for fine weather yet to come

As Old Man Winter’s numbered days are dwindling one by one

We feel warm welcomes grasp our souls, we glimpse rose-gilded gates

Beneath earth’s blanket full of holes, spring’s world of wonder waits

© Janet Martin

March wakes in us a sanguine splurge of soon-emerging thrills

Like brooks bursting with babble,

We feel warm welcomes grasp our souls, we glimpse rose-gilded gates

Beneath earth’s blanket full of holes, spring’s world of wonder waits

Sweet Little Girl

With permission from her mommy,

sharing a picture of Birthday Girl! 

Last night after she left  my intent was to make a little 

mommy's helper (or Janet's helper) apron,

which led to a tiny apron for Dolly

as well as a book-bag and dolly-blanket!

Her delight is the sweetest thank-you I could ever wish for💝

This morning she saw a picture of a donut and she remarked

"I like donuts!"

which inspired the birthday treat...

Sputniks/Timbits! (recipe at the end of this post)

The sparkle of a sunbeam

The blush of summer’s rose

The pleasure of a daydream

Goodnight-kiss on the nose

The gladness of a giggle

The treasure of a pearl

The best of all things beautiful

Is you, sweet little girl

The joy of June in winter

The awe of innocence

Your pure and carefree chatter

Teaches the heart to dance

You fill the world with Happy

Rainbows and stars unfurl

In the delightful company

Of you, sweet little girl

...a frilly, bitty bum-kin

A silly-me-oh-my

Princess without a pumpkin

A pretty butterfly

Tea-party guest of honor

A ballerina twirl

Life is such a charming wonder

With you, sweet little girl

You bring a bit of heaven

To earth; you make hope sing

And each day worth the living

With the loveliness you bring

You are a darling angel

Halo of hugs and curls

We are most blessed and so grateful

For you, sweet little girls

© Janet Martin

A frilly-'bitty' bum-kin...

Princess without a pumpkin...

Sputnik Recipe