The Answer to My Favorite Question...Why?

Why? asked the little boy beside me 

where I was just finishing touch-ups to a poem when he arrived!

Why do you do this?

Ah! my favorite question! I smiled to myself

while replying simply that its good for my heart and head because

making a poem makes them work (and pray) very, very hard!🙏

and because it helps me remember pieces of life I love...like you!

I do it to unlatch a door that else would seal forevermore

In verdicts of access denied as day is snuffed by eventide

…to forge from filament of time a sentimental bit o’ rhyme

And to capture the subtle toll of seasons winnowing the soul

…to create from a swollen brook impressions of a picture book

With clouds adrift on listless seas above a copse of leafless trees

I do it to attempt to find treasures cherished and underlined

To seize spring’s youthfulness that plays in melting snows and longer days

…to bind, though we are far apart, the tender tendrils of the heart

And make each other feel at home in the kind kinship of a poem

…to carve a keepsake from the fray of gorgeous glints of yesterday

To waken from forsaken veldt how mother’s smooth, starched apron smelled

I do it to embrace the way the hand of time turns tresses gray

To learn the purity of joy taught by a little girl or boy

To try to frame, poetry-kissed, beauty, never wasted, oft missed

To make the most of now and here before its sparkles disappear

To snare in syllable, the hue of pictures time cannot undo 

Of blush and blue, green-gold run rife in mementos of love and life

To clasp the hemline of a robe that trails through ages of this globe

And with whispers of poetry hear Someone ask, 'did you touch Me?'

© Janet Martin

Dancing Shoes (or something like it)

Sometimes instead of picturing Time as a task master 

shouting marching orders

it's nice to picture Time as a tutor 

to we, wearing dancing shoes

in a ballroom called Today.

From Bud...

To Bloom...

To Flare and Fade...

to Fall

...in what often feels like not much time at all!!

Wishing us all more fly than fall

in whatever our dance-lessons bring us today!

Time takes its students by the arm

Resolute rigor, cheeky charm

Across the ballroom of today

It sweeps and twirls each hour away

Some struggle with new steps and fall

Some barely touch the floor at all

Time does not miss a moment’s beat

An instructor with tireless feet

This Choreographer of years

Composes songs with smiles and tears

Where it is up to us to choose

How we will wear our dancing shoes

Time grants the chance and melody

The dance is up to you and me

To make the most of Now to Then

And if we trip, to try again

Rather than simply sit and yearn

When there is still so much to learn

Time, diligent in its demise

Rends night's velvet veils with sunrise

That disappear into the blue

Above a mottled avenue

Of stars and amateurs that meet

To try new bars beneath their feet 

Time scrawls its seasons on our skin

In time, it tames the beast within

A scribe of sacred, high degree

Brought to naught by eternity

It teaches faith to leap and fly

Through hoops of hello and goodbye

© Janet Martin

See then that you walk [e]circumspectly,

 not as fools but as wise,

 16redeeming the time,

 because the days are evil.

Eph.5:15-16

Life's Little Luxuries

Matt.11:28-29

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

 and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;

 for I am meek and lowly in heart: 

and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

As our heavy-laden hearts pour out to God 

as we think of those suffering sorrows 

of war, sickness and death, 

suddenly our eyes are opened to innumerable luxuries...

This poem could quite easily quadruple in length!

(but due to six 'little luxuries' arriving any moment

this is it for now!)😉

God bless you as you thank Him for your

own version of life's little luxuries

Life’s little luxuries can be easy to overlook

Like fresh-brewed cups of coffee, dream-delights of a cook-book...

The everyday enchantment of God’s poetry run wild

(WOW! did it EVER run wild yesterday!!)

The heaven-ness of Happy, kissed with laughter of a child...

The pitter-pat of little feet becoming big too fast...

Complimentary masterpieces, sun and shadow cast...

Life’s little luxuries can be easy to overlook

Like fresh-brewed cups of coffee, dream-delights of a cook-book

The everyday enchantment of God’s poetry run wild

The heaven-ness of Happy, kissed with laughter of a child

The pitter-pat of little feet becoming big too fast

Complimentary masterpieces, sun-and-shadow cast

An afternoon when overhead March sunbeams melt the sky

Into impressions of a sea with cloud-ships drifting by

Life’s little luxuries abound in every shape and size

To sweeten Struggle’s common ground and take us by surprise

While we weather the ups and downs that it seems, needs must be

To hone the hurts and hopes of love into humility

To make us more aware of what today would like to teach

And wake our wandering wants to wonder-fountains within reach

And to pay earnest heed to what we discount, far too oft

Before the brunt of moments turns to mist where echoes waft

Life’s little luxuries cannot be recognized in haste

Slow down, slow down, the hour groans with so much joy to taste

Where He who helps us carry cares is ever undeterred

He hears our prayers and gives us rest as we lean on His Word

And then our eyes are opened to the beauties of the hour

That spills to Duty’s common cup a smile, a child, a flow’r

His love none can exceed; each morn His renewed mercies brim

He knows exactly what we need before we ask of Him

Life’s little luxuries like sufficient strength for the day

Like bird-song in the garden as the dark is drawn away

Like knowing, no matter what is or was or lies before

Nothing is too hard for the God we worship and adore

Like finding the gold lining, you, in overcoats of gray

Then letting the sheer happiness of Us drive gloom away

Makes what may at first glance appear like commonalities

A wellspring overflowing with life’s little luxuries

© Janet Martin

Below, the verse to which I cling, as

I lift (some years-long) requests to our God.

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.

 Is there anything too hard for Me?

Jer.32:27

Like finding the gold lining, you, in overcoats of gray

Then letting the sheer happiness of Us drive gloom away...

(used with permission)

This Is Not Heaven Yet...

Thank-you God for Your love,

making possible our love,

for joy and beauty that makes earth bearable...

this video sings of hopes of spring...

even if the weather does not😅

Happy Middle-March!

I’d like to be light-hearted, not a worry in the world

But this is earth, not heaven; this is ‘walk by faith’ unfurled

These streets are paved but not with gold, save when the sun goes down

The autographs of love engraved on crosses, not a crown

I’d like to leave behind the kinds of things that break our hearts

But this is earth, not heaven; this is where mercy imparts

Sufficient grace for what we face; the Unknown like a veil

We cannot rend but must depend on He who will not fail

I’d like to be carefree without a shadow of a doubt

But this is earth, not Heaven; this is what Hope is about

While human nature wonders at the higher ways of He

Of Whom creation thunders with Manifest Clarity

I’d like if well-worn happiness was not so full of holes

But this is earth, not Heaven; this is the garment of souls

Where, not for very long we weather whatever we must

While moments thin the tether twixt God and man’s shroud of dust

I’d like to be light-hearted, not a worry or a care

Because no one is suffering life’s sorrows anywhere

But this is earth; faith’s birthplace where we groan, weep, trust and pray

This is not Heaven yet; where God will wipe all tears away

(Some say that Heaven waits for all; if so, Christ died in vain)

Some turn hard hearts toward God here, yet hope Heaven to gain

Oh, pray we seek and know the truth of salvation and grace

Where earth, not Heaven is man’s sacred preparation place

© Janet Martin

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

 No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 5:1-4

Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a]we have peace 

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, 

and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, 

knowing that tribulation produces [b]perseverance;

 4and perseverance, [c]character; 

and character, hope. 

5Now hope does not disappoint, 

because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts

 by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

In Due Season

I settled on the title In Due Season after being torn between

Of Promises Fulfilled and Under the Climbing Sun 😅

What inspired this poem?

Well, kinda the pretty morning

...where the sunshine, after a STORMY weekend

kinda kindles 'planting thoughts'!

and kinda from yesterday's visit 

as my husband and I mostly listened to

my parents in their eighties (or almost) 

my husband's aunt and uncle, mid-eighties 

and my husband's mother who is ninety, as they visited

with much laughter and fond recollection of days gone by

(no pic😐)

I am so thankful for our 'elders'

 and the truths they took the time to prayerfully

plant in their children so that we would be equipped

when our planting-turn came...

Because in due season we will all reap what we sow...

Gal.6:6-9

Let him who is taught the word 

share in all good things with him who teaches.

7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 

for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

  8For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption,

 but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

  9And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

(or, if we faint not)

Under the climbing sun, once more the dawn dissolves the dark

Once more upon the way to God, Time’s passengers embark

Beneath the great arc of the sky man’s numbered days decline

While what we sow begins to show by the fruit on the vine

Where we are always in the Ever Very Present Now

As doubt and expectation try the hand put to the plow

And often we grow weary as we wait upon the due

Of a Season out of this world somewhere beyond the blue

Tick-tock, tick-tock, a clock we cannot see is winding down

As crucial as the fallen seed are crucial seeds not sown

For Truth we do not learn cannot in turn plant what we ought

Where fruit we reap begins within the nucleus of thought

To author seeds of words and deeds from a most sacred fount

Granted by the Creator to Whom we will give account

Then pray, thought finds Truth’s Way before the reckoning is due

In a Season still waiting until planting time is through

Forbid we squander moments lent by Immortality

But like a husbandman of souls, with kind humility

Consider He who did not count equality with God

Reason enough to excuse love when called to bear its rod

But suffered unto death, yes even death upon the cross

Beholding in due season Heaven’s gain for Heaven’s loss

Then pray we too may see beyond the weariness we bear

To a due season when we reap what pray, we sowed with care

Under the climbing sun once more Mercy extols God's grace

Redemption runs it fingers over worlds no eye can trace

As kind compassion lends another ration to time's path

Where, slow to anger, He will not forever stay His wrath

Where disobedience runs rampant as seas with no shore

Where Conscience does not seem to reverence God anymore

Where still, He will not fail all who anticipate the due

Of fulfilled promises in a season of All Things New 

© Janet Martin

With what shall I come before the Lord

 and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

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

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly[a] with your God.

Micah 6:6-8

In The Sweet By and By

Who Could Ask For Anything More

 

Wonderful Words of Life

We have Your Word to gird us where without it, we would fail (1 Pet.1:13)

We have Your Word, hope's anchor when the storms of life assail (Heb.6:19)

We have Your Word, a trusty compass to direct and guide (Matt.6:13)

We have Your Word, the Bread of Life to keep Want satisfied (John 6:35)

We have Your Word, the full armour of God to help us stand (Eph.6:10-17)

We have Your Word, the shepherd’s voice, the hollow of His Hand (John 10:27) ( Isa. 40:12)

We have Your Word; the clothing of love's power from on high (Luke 24:49)

We have Your Word; nothing compared to You can satisfy (Ps.16:2)

We have Your Word, in death’s dark vale as comfort’s rod and staff (Ps.23:4)

We have Your word, a lamp to our feet to light our path (Ps.119:105)

We have Your Word, to testify lest false prophets deceive (Matt.7:15-20)

We have Your Word; salvation’s power to all who believe (Rom.1:16)

We have Your Word, a well of Living Water for the soul (John 4:10)

We have Your Word; a Great Physician where faith is made whole (Luke 17:19, Luke 8:48, Luke 7:50)

We have Your Word; the Great Commission’s Handbook for your work (Matt.28:16-20)

We have Your Word; the rubric for a call we dare not shirk (Eph.4:1-6)

We have Your Word; the everlasting law of grace and truth (John 1:17)

We have Your word; profitable for training and reproof (2 Tim.3:16)

We have Your Word; to cleanse our hearts and keep our minds renewed (Ps.51:10-Rom.12)

We have Your Word; to impart humble awe and gratitude (Ps.8:3-4)

We have Your Word; living and sharper than a two-edged sword (Heb.4:12)

We have Your Word; wherein we glimpse the glory of the Lord (Job:26:14)

We have Your word; a love letter that nothing can destroy (Romans 8:38, Psalm 119:89-176)

We have Your Word; in it we find true happiness and joy (Psalm 144:15, Ps.95:1, Jer.15:16)

We have Your Word; to cover us like a mother bird’s wing (Ps.91:4)

We have Your Word to show us how we ought to pray and sing (Matt:5-15, Luke 11:1-4)

We have Your Word; a strong tower to which the righteous run (Prov.18:10)

We have Your Word; a garden where we cry ‘Thy will be done’(Luke 22:42)

We have Your Word; a steadfast Rock of Ages none can move  (1 Cor.3:11) 

We have Your Word; eternity that no one can disprove (Matt.24:35)

We have Your Word; a confidante, a whisper in the dark (Ps.18:6) (Matt.10:27)

We have Your Word; a Door into the safety of Your Ark (John 10:9) (Nahum 1:7)

We have Your Word; love's riches and judgements past finding out (Rom.11:33)

We have Your Word to exalt You and fight demons of doubt (2 Sam.22:47) one of many exaltations!

We have Your Word; Hope undeterred, our righteousness and peace (Psalm 130) (Rom.14:17)

We have Your Word, the Word of God and it will never cease (1 Pet.1:25)

© Janet Martin

Propriety of Poetry (Part 1)

At the dentist, while the screen overhead

broadcasted the latest distressing/sobering war updates

the friendly young assistant and I chatted

(while my freezing was setting in😅)

about how we re-appreciate the simplest of things

(yes! even visits to the dentist!)

in the light of everything going on right now

And on that note, the propriety of poetry!

(yes! Even in times like these)

When Job lamented of his troubles

 (with what seems like extremely just cause)

God replied with one of the most poetic powerful passages of scripture

opening Job's and our eyes to His mighty wisdom and providence. 

May the poetry published here always

mirror the majesty of Him

and stir the writer and reader to

dearer awareness and awe

of He by whose grace we go

Over and over children remind me to pause

And take delight in simple things

The photo below I entitle

Poetry of Scrambled Eggs

or

On the Hem of the Master's Robe

Matt.19:14 NIV

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, 

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Inside scoop to photo: I looked down to see three curious, upturned faces

wondering at the noise way up on the kitchen counter 

where I was using the egg-beater to scramble the eggs for lunch.

 "Well, said Cook a little dumb-struck at the hint of halos...

 "what's to stop me from bringing it down to your level so you can watch and learn?

 So she did. And yes, everyone who wanted a turn got one. 

(some with a little help of course)😄

Imagine if we turned blind eyes

To penmanship of earth and skies

And could not, from this beveled globe

Perceive the hemline of His Robe

…and did not pause to trace the part

That stills the tempests of the heart

Or with glad eagerness and vim

Of children, did not notice Him

…the Master/Maestro of all poetry

Imagine if we would not see

Beyond the showcase of the frame

To recognize the Author’s Name

…then miss the joy that sings and sings

With thankfulness that His Name brings

And thrill to taste the ink that drips

To earth from heaven’s fingertips

…to tremble like a silver gem

In Time’s momentous diadem

And emphasize the praiseworthy

Vestige of Divine Poetry

The lesser poets of this world

Gape at masterpieces unfurled

Where inkwells of sky, sea and sod

Swell with the magnitude of God

Imagine if we bowed to doubt

And instead, let the stones cry out

And missed the sweet humility

Of listening to God’s poetry

...with childlike wonder to delight

In poems only He can write

Then if a verse should start to brim

What honour then to honour Him

© Janet Martin

this poem had the impetus to run wild!

Thus the title includes (Part 1)

just in case there's more

Job 38:1-3

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

 “Who is this that obscures my plans

with words without knowledge?

 Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me...

Post-Eden Post-Calvary Pre-Eternity

Inspired in part by a world washed white with snow...

after yesterday's sunshine, blue skies and robin songs!

But mostly inspired by today's devotion...

Above devotion from the book

Morning by Morning Daily Devotional Readings by Charles Spurgeon

Gen3:1

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field 

which the LORD God had made. 

And he said unto the woman, 

Yea, hath God said, 

Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Sin wields its will with wily art

To ease us into apathy

Unless we stand on solemn guard

We cannot fight the enemy

Or recognize ravenous wolves

Clothed cunningly in sheep’s disguise

Or war against the hiss that pulls

Its crafty wool over our eyes

Sin wants perpetrators to wink

At what should cause us agony

Deception hoists its sparkling drink

Without a care for Calvary

It soothes the sacred prick of guilt

And woos the conscience with excuse

It drowns the groans where Pardon spilt

With pleasure’s lure and laughter’s ruse

Sin is the foe, though hard to tell

It masquerades as friend to all

Sin decorates the road to hell

With what keeps us comfortable

No caution signs to notify

The crowd that throngs the downward slope

Ah, who will save them from the lie

That scorns the cross and Living Hope

Sin blinds half-seekers to the truth

The Tempter, a most subtil beast

Preys on the innocence of youth

It bribes desire with a feast

Without the whole armor of God

Not one would stand a fighting chance

Fooled by hell’s beguiling façade

And frauds that foster ignorance

Sin, surely sin has cursed us all

Its fruit, so pleasing to the eye

We ate and partook of the Fall

That caused the Son of God to die

But Death could not contain I Am

The victory it could not win

Sin could not taint the sinless Lamb

He rose triumphant over sin

Sin wields its weapons, but take heart

The blood of Christ cleanses its stain

And we can thwart its evil dart

If we on solemn guard remain

After we repent and believe

Sin is not master anymore

The Holy Spirit we receive

Will aid if we for aid implore

© Janet Martin

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves;

 therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, 

your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

Love's Dimensions