Let It Be...(an easier-said-than-done-outpouring)

This weekend Grandsonny and granddaughter

experienced the joy of lending a helping hand...

(work before play 😄)

and reaping some delightful rewards!

 

...the happiness of Maple-taffy-cone sweet thank-yous 

Where can you get a sweet thank-you treat too?!! Here!

Winding Road Maple Products

...the thrill of a ride in Grandpa's big truck

We are all children in a sense, earning a recompense of reward...

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,

 but in deed and in truth.

After a few recent devotions and yesterday's message

 I have once again been soundly challenged

 to weigh my love in the scales of His Word and choices I make

 to see if my love for God and fellowman is found wanting!

Lord, let it be Thy love for me that satisfies my want and need

Lord, let it be my love for Thee that shines Thy light in word and deed

Lord, let the witness of Thy love be more than Sunday morning rite

Lord, let the fruit of the tree prove Thy love to be my chief delight

Lord, let it be my faith in Thee (not what I see) that keeps me strong

And let my humble honor be to help a fellowman along

And let my joy forever spring from a Fount that cannot run dry

Thy love, Lord exceeds everything that my thought attempts to descry

Lord, let it be Thy love for me that crowns the motive of my will

And let the light of Thy love be like a city set on a hill

Lord, let goodness and mercy be a messenger in hands and feet

Thy love for me, my love for Thee to make life’s journey to Thee sweet

Lord, let it be my hope in Thee that reminds me how great thou art

Remind me of love’s sympathy that broke Thy body and Thy heart

Then, as I see Thy love for me let nothing hide Thy lovely face

The backdrop of a bloodstained tree, forbid, some lesser loves replace

Lord, though the storms of life increase, Lord bid the demons of dread flee

For thou wilt keep in perfect peace, the mind that is transfixed on Thee

And let it be Thy love for me that grants the courage to proceed

And let it be my love for Thee that helps a fellowman in need

© Janet Martin

No one can help everyone but we who are blessed to have

can all help someone who does not have!!

Love's Sweet Assurance

I enjoy watching golf, partly because it's so easy

to get emotionally connected to the highs and lows

of those little white balls and the drivers behind them...

I also find so many metaphors for life in the game

with its challenging courses, 

the exhilaration of an eagle, 

and the frustration of the bogie

What a competition it was last week

 for all who participated in the Players Championship 

finally completed on Monday!

And of course, tears at both ends of the emotional spectrum;

Anhirban Lahiri's tears of disappointment in loss...

and Cameron Smith's tears of joy in victory!

(Big hug from mom)

Cameron Smith, when interviewed, told reporters that the

joy of the win is secondary to the joy of being able to see

his mom and sister face to face for the first time in two years

due to covid restrictions.(he now lives in Florida)

 (smiles and tears from girlfriend, sister and mother)

His mother and sister flew in from Australia a few hours earlier

to share what turned out to be a celebration with the Champion!

Isn't it wonderful to have love's sweet assurance no matter 

what the results of a day's effort brings?

Love shares in both highs and lows of life💓💔

Here's to all our personal 'Sawgrass 17th holes' 

We are all in a Challenge with very grave stakes...

Imagine if we put the time and passion/effort into training like top athletes do!

And for the victor, oh the joy of that face to face meeting at last!

This life of highs and lows composes opportunity

To help us stop to smell the roses midst adversity

To let our words and meditation honor He who grants

His gift of grace, salvation, to the sinner who repents

This life of hope and heartache is a course of down-and-up

One copes with loss and heartbreak while one hoists the winner’s cup

But all of us are equal in the eyes of He who holds

Soul’s very sacred sequel to Time’s very temp’ral molds

This life of want and wonder thunders with faith’s wait-and-see

Time’s little haunt of hunger harbours immortality

Where the gift of salvation is no temporary prize

But seals our vindication through Lamb’s blood that justifies

This life of Good misunderstood and dreams never come true

Could drive us to despair and would faith’s quest for Best undo

Without love's sweet assurance proclaimed by Jesus, our Lord

All who run with endurance will receive Endless Reward

© Janet Martin

Heb.12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, 

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Blessed Assurance

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