Behold, He Walks on Gold and Purple Seas...

Jer. 33:25 NLB

But this is what the LORD says:

I would no more reject my people

than I would change my laws

that govern night and day, earth and sky.

Gen.8:22

“As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night will never cease.”

Behold, He walks on gold and purple seas and bids the darkness dim...

Behold upon yon boundless deep dawn’s Author sweeps the stars away

The Architect of Ages keeps His ancient vow of Night and Day

To a world plagued with unbelief and disease of body and soul

His love still binds the wounds of grief and grants the faith that makes us whole

Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us

To be the sons and daughters of Who Is, Will Be and Always Was

Oh, Lord our God, how great Thou art for though you know us through and through

(For You behold the heart and see how wicked we are without You)

…You love us still and hoist the banner of Thy kind Mercy Renewed

As we behold the manner of Thy love, fill us with gratitude

Subdue the thought that does not trust but fixates on what it perceives

Create in us a clean heart and renew the spirit that believes

Behold, the old is new again; dawn brims with what has never been

Grace crowns Time with a diadem of hymns never yet heard or seen

The Architect of Ages keeps His ancient vow of night and day

No war that mortal wages will God’s faithful Hand of mercy sway

Let not our hearts be troubled (though this world with trouble’s curse abounds)

But let the Word that God imparts be that which succors and confounds

For He will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on Him

Behold, He walks on gold and purple seas and bids the darkness dim

© Janet Martin

Behold What Manner of Man Is This?

Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again: Rejoice! 

Let your gentleness be evident to all. 

The Lord is near.

 Do not be anxious about anything, 

but in every situation, 

by prayer and petition, 

with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God. 

And the peace of God, 

which transcends all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds

 in Christ Jesus.

Phil.4:4-7

Happy 21st Birthday Victoria

I did not yet, when First Gaze met

Thy crinkled brow and downy head

As Greeting’s tender tears were shed

I did not yet quite comprehend

How joy that starts as Little Girls

While Time its silver baton twirls

Leaves in the wake of frocks and curls

So swift, love's sweetest gift; a Friend

love, Mom

aka

© Janet Martin

Happy 21st Birthday, Victoria!

Your gentle and kind disposition is such a sweet blessing!

You make our home a happier, 'fuller' place! 😅

God bless and guide you in the year ahead💝💖🙏

You are a girl of many interests, hobbies and talents/gifts!

Keep trying new things and give the glory to the Giver

of every good and perfect gift!

Besides being an awesome Auntie, sister and daughter,

a student and Hardware Store employee you are

An Artist...

Avid reader, writer, journal-er, historian,

cinema and music lover

and vintage cool-things/dishes collector

Needle-worker/embroiderer 

Green thumb-er-ish...

Baker...

Num.6:24-26

May the LORD bless you

and keep you;

25may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

26may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you

and give you peace.’

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...