Beyond Comprehension (John 3:16)

Poem-a-day challenge day 5:

For today's prompt (the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month),

write a make sense poem and/or don't make sense poem.

There Is A Fountain

You loved the world so much You gave your Son; for none could earn

Enough to pay sin's ransom; what can I give in return?

For whatever I think of in the name of love seems small

Compared to what You gave; sinless, You came and gave Your all

No matter how I ponder it I cannot comprehend

Such height and depth and breadth of love all sinners to defend

The cross you bore, the bloody gore to redeem human race

Defies all explanation except one; amazing grace

 

...and all that You ask in return, redemption to receive

Is faith to take what none can earn; to repent and believe

Thus, surely it makes sense, in the light of eternity

That I should trust love so immense, that You would die for me

© Janet Martin

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;

 but that the world through him might be saved.

Can You Smell It?

Poem-a-day Challenge day 3:

For today's prompt, write a smell poem.

It fills picnic baskets with quilt-and-book dreams...

It flutters and twitters in finch-frilled treetops...

It gleams in each sunbeam...

It gleams in each sunbeam, streams where brook-song brims

It sparkles in jewels that gild barren limbs

It quivers and gushes from heaven to earth

A river that rushes death’s graveyards with birth

It lilts in the lyric that landscapes compose

Hint of minty tincture and pink wink of rose

It wafts in the softness of purple mist-crowns

Hiding yonder hill, still steeped in grays and browns

It billows in breezes that test laundry lines

It melts in mosaics of last summer’s vines

It purrs in the fur of pussy willow trees

And laughs in the garden that wakes from its z-z-z-z’s

It spills like a love-song we had long forgot

A duet of bluebell and forget-me-not

It fills picnic baskets with quilt-and-book dreams

The shrieking of children knee-deep in cold streams

*It romps in the rollick of puppy and cat

It makes happiness feel so jolly and fat

In spite of mud-messes and shivery show’rs

Washing dowdy tresses and waking the flow'rs

It takes winter-weary woodlands in its arms

In renewals wrought only by nature's charms

It reinstates pulpits and preachers named Jack

And carpets its chapels with violet bric-a-brac 

It flutters and twitters in finch-frilled treetops

It shimmers in puddles, glimmers in raindrops  

It runs in the sap boiled to maple-sweet yum

First harvest's gold gathered in drum after drum

It flings wide the sense of a rust-jaded gate

Where havens of trillium and daffodils wait

Where choruses warble in numberless laud 

It rouses from slumber the gardens of God

It bobs in the step of farmer’s pep restored

It steams up from cups where outdoor tea is poured

It makes home-sweet-homers feel like queen and king

The pure, pungent, heady aroma of Spring

© Janet Martin

* click on link for a pure-happiness treat

Catch Me If You Can

Poem-a-day challenge day 4:

For today's prompt, write a catch up poem.

I'm playing poem-challenge catch up today after a busy weekend!💖

Always so much to do/love/write...

This morning was no exception...

Beauty dangled its poetic lure for all the world to see!

Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent

With the renewal of love's covenant 

So between Beauty and Duty...

Poetry

So much to cherish in so little Time

Moment-mementos to capture in rhyme

Duty's staid summons to tend and disperse 

Beauty (never common) to secure in verse

Love-lassoed lyrics so when day is done

Though the dust settles the music plays on

So much to whisper to He who resides

Over the glister of dawn-to-dusk-tides

Morning to morning, night's mantle is rent

With the renewal of love's covenant 

So many sins to repent of, oh my

 Praise God, redemption's fount never runs dry

I know, no poet can ever deplete

Ink-wells refurbished with bitter and sweet

Still, the bard blissfully pledges to try/dare

Desire dredges its deeps with a sigh/prayer 

So many syllables to twist and tease

Into haiku, ballads, odes, elegies

Darling, I do believe poets are kissed

With the loveliest unmet to-do-list 

Forbid that ever I should live to see

The consummation of all poetry

For the fulfillment of poet's delight

Is the instilled bent to write and to write

Garden and galley, brook-creased countryside  

Hilltop and valley, fleece-cloud, blushing bride

Babies and butterflies, loved-one-come-home

Forming the font that turns into a poem

Turning what might be a most mundane day

Into a breath-stealing hip-hip-hooray

The alphabet fills an infinite pen

Spilling and thrilling, again and again

Thoughts become children we hold then let go

 Page after page falls like epical snow

Where want and wonder grapple and set free 

Life-sparkles canonized in poetry 

Blue, twilight shadow falls, troubadour's bliss

Snaring a madrigal from farewell's kiss

Only to be wakened by dawn's hellos 

Morn, noon and night; ink-delight ebbs and flows 

Where, no matter how many poems span

One more is calling 'catch me if you can'

© Janet Martin

  

Unbridled Hallelujah

A hymn of praise to our awesome Creator and Saviour!

Isn't being marveled speechless the best?!!

(as I was yesterday at Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto, Ont. Canada)

Gen.1:20

And God said, 

Let the waters bring forth abundantly 

the moving creature that hath life...

Whether we are poring over His Wonder-full Word or

witnessing wonders of His Hand,

whether we are weeping for joy as we behold

in our mind's eye, the cross of Calvary

or whether we are wonder-struck,

 beholding glimpses of God's majesty in creation...

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is [b]unsearchable.

 Ps.145:3

To the God of creation

Oh, may our honor be

More than mouthed adoration

But heart-humility

To the God of salvation

May our lives confess

With faithful exaltation

Redemption’s righteousness

To God, of earth and Heaven

May worship never cease

Through Him we are forgiven

Christ’s death, our death’s release

To God be all the glory

The beauty of His grace

Will reveal faith’s full story

When death unveils His face

For the God everlasting

Who will make all things known

Hears the cares/prayers we are casting

Before His glorious throne

God is hope's restoration

The Savior of the soul

The healer of all nations

The faith that makes us whole

The joy of the believer

Sin's pardon all may claim

The dread of the deceiver

Who trembles at His name 

To Alpha and Omega

The Beginning and End

Universal ecclesia's

Father and faithful Friend

May unbridled devotion

Compose love's fervent lay

Majestic as an ocean

That no shoreline can stay 

His goodness and His mercy

Without reserve, run rife

Absolute Supremacy

The Way, The Truth, The Life

Boundless heights and depths thunder

With evidence of He

Who eclipses awed wonder

Who will bend every knee

To God, love’s divine Author

May our devotion brim

All glory, praise and honour

Belongs only to Him

Mortal boast is folly

All we have, He gives

Through God, just and holy

Redeemed Sinner lives

© Janet Martin

Psalm 145:5

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And [d]on Your wondrous works.

(read whole glorious chapter here)

Reminded me of this song video

I Will Praise Him Still

Call To Dance

Writer's Digest poem-a-day (PAD) Challenge Day 2;

For today's prompt, write a second chance poem.

A ballroom, misty blue and gold dangles from waning moon

A sense of more than 'growing old' unfolds from night's cocoon

 The heavens, like a butterfly, spreads ethereal wings

 Hope's magnum opus fills the sky; creation sings and sings

For, to a track record of stumbles comes a call to dance 

 As from the Hand of mercy tumbles mortal's second chance

Upon its maiden voyage, morning's gleaming barge embarks

Laden with leaps of courage and the heralding of larks

Desire drives the dreamer wild with bud-bejeweled sweeps

Where quiet poet is beguiled to dredge ink-fueled deeps

And never waste the wonder that deserves more than mere glance

As boundless heavens thunder, soundless, with love's second chance

Janet~

Lam.3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Family...(or Best Gift Ever)

'This is the BEST day ever!"

declared Little Girl through a mouthful of raspberry jello and whipped cream💓😊

(don't we all feel like that when we have our mouths full of our favorite food?! lol)

Here's a fun little take on the poem-prompt below

Favourite Food

It is extremely hard to be rude

When one's mouth is full of one's favorite food!

So maybe the way to treat our fellowman

Is to eat as much favorite food as we can!😅

Happy April!

Writer's Digest poem-a-day (PAD) Challenge Day 1:

For today's prompt, pick a word that begins with F, 

make it the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Today, ah, what a gift

Of sacred tears and smiles

As morning sets a barge adrift

That dusk deftly exiles

Today, ah, what a course

Of forceful ups and downs

A gift that God’s mercies endorse

And twilight’s tableau crowns

Today, a tray that tips

And who knows what will spill,

But He who permits and equips

According to His will

Today, ah, what a lease

From God to man is borne

The canvas of love’s masterpiece

-es restored morn to morn

Today, ah, what a call

It bears for you and me

To remember that we are all

A great, big family

Let’s treat each other thus

And treasure each Today

For nobody knows which of us

Will next be called away

Today, always today

The page where ink runs rife

And writes with what we do and say

The story of a life

Today, let’s live and love

As kindly as can be

For you and I are all part of

God’s great, big family

© Janet Martin

Rom.12:9-21

Love in Action

9 Love must be sincere. 

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 

10 Be devoted to one another in love. 

Honor one another above yourselves. 

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

 12 Be joyful in hope, 

patient in affliction, 

faithful in prayer. 

13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. 

Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

16 Live in harmony with one another.

 Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] 

Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. 

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,

 live at peace with everyone.

 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends,

 but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 

20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Place Prepared (For We Who Believe)

 The Cleft of the Rock

Unto the Hills

Let not your heart be troubled

Through storms that toss life’s sea

My word is true; I have gone to

Prepare a place for thee

I am Thy tender Shepherd

And Lamb of Calvary

Do not despair; beyond life’s care

The place prepared for thee

Take up thy cross with courage

Though harsh the way may be

Each step, each tear, each prayer draws near

The place prepared for thee

Let not your heart be troubled

If ye believe in Me

Love will not fail; death will unveil

The place prepared for Thee

Then worship Me with gladness

This present misery

Is but the woo that draws thee to

Thy place prepared; with Me

© Janet Martin

John 14:1-6

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 

2In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions; 

if it were not so, [b]I would have told you. 

I go to prepare a place for you. 

3And if I go and prepare a place for you, 

I will come again and receive you to Myself; 

that where I am, there you may be also. 

4And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going,

 and how can we know the way?”

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Foretaste...

 Hymn of Heaven- Phil Wickham

I was introduced to the above song last night.

While we long for Heaven we delight in its foretastes...

hymns like the one above or

such as the heavens declared the past two mornings!

Yesterday...

Daybreak kindles expectation

Draws ajar starred crepuscule

Floats above unbound creation

Flaming frays of gauze and tulle

God’s hand ruffles welkin tresses

Lowers a translucent scrim

To showcase His masterpieces

Earth and heavens exalt Him

Wonder exceeds explication

Praise and worship interlace

For the Author of creation

And the glory of His grace/face

Daybreak, like a boundless ocean

Rushes over eastward shores

Delight turns into devotion

Mercy has not barred its doors

Daybreak ushers in fresh favor

Faithful hands tip love’s pure grail

Bidding us once more to savor

Promises that will not fail

© Janet Martin

Today...just now

(after gorgeous Sailors/driver's-take-warning skies; freezing rain/sleet has started)

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
And He who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who makes all things,
Who stretches out the heavens [c]all alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;

Isa.44:24