Earth's Exhibition of Glimpses...

Hate, war, sickness, sorrow,

greed, pain, apathy,

hearts hardened against God,

could destroy all hope of  present joy

but for the hope of the home of the soul

and the greatness of He within we who believe

so much greater than he that is in the world!

We cherish each gift of present joy

(like a foreshadowing of eternal joy)

 to balance love's ever-present sorrow)

My daughter just sent me the above photo of big brother's

good morning kisses to baby brother.

(and I weep as I pray for the families afflicted by war)

Earth's beauty (be it babies, birds or blooms)

 without Heaven's hope is futile.

Birds continue to delight...today,

a very rare and special visitor, a bluebird/indigo bunting? 

...and goldfinch

...and our resident downy or hairy woodpecker (absent for a while)

we are still thrilling to see the orioles

(sometimes our place seems to just be a pitstop on their way)

and a mediocre shot of a rose-breasted grosbeak

who eats his supper each evening around the same time we do

Chipping sparrow...

Song Sparrow...

mourning doves...

We rejoice to receive a much-needed rain!

The beauty of the earth exhibits Heaven’s Majesty

The work and word of God is man’s Supreme Authority

Nothing exists but what His favor fashions and allows

Surely at the sheer thought of this our haughty boasting bows

…Faith looks toward a rich reward beyond kingdoms of dust

Bestowed by He who shed His crown and gave His life for us

And wove Redemption’s royal robes with love’s bloodstreams outpoured

Not from goats, rams and bullocks but from Jesus Christ our Lord

There is no common cure for hearts hardened against God’s grace

Against the loving kindness of Jesus who took our place

Though sinless, to become sin’s sacrifice once and for all

The King of kings shed His own blood; no common animal

Sweet consolation for life’s tribulation, who could find

Without the goodness of God who is faithful, just and kind

Without hearts softened as belief begets wonder and joy

Without His promises that no enemy can destroy

Each desperate heart-cry would be too much to bear, but for

Faith’s hope, after salvation opens eyes to so much more

Where earth’s beauty exhibits but a small glimpse of the whole

As we press on until we see the Saviour of the soul

...until we behold He who held us through the storm and strife

Until once and forevermore we pass through death to life

Until The One to whom we pray and pray and pray and pray

Unveils His face, where, by His grace, all tears are wiped away 

© Janet Martin

Heb.4:11-13

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, 

so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 

12For the word of God is living and active.

 Sharper than any double-edged sword,

 it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. 

It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; 

everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him 

to whom we must give account.…

Savior Redeemer of My Soul - 

Dallyn Bayles, Jenny Oaks Baker & Lyceum Philharmonic, #Hallelujah

O, Why Not Tonight

  

May Morning Masterpiece...

Earth throbs with God's poetry on this mint-tinted May morning...

A quiet color riot flaunts

May morning’s mint-kissed ambiance

A sacred glimpse of paradise

Unfolds its hints before our eyes

Where perfect pleasure has begun

To spill earth’s treasure, flower-spun

Where song sparrow lilts rippling lays

To He who grants spring’s glory day

Where frond of fresh foliage imparts

A pink pendant of bleeding hearts

Where green in multi-splendored swells

Immerses hills, trees, fields and dells

Where we are like surfers astride

The virgin wave of morning-tide

Where we should never take in vain

This day that will not pass again

But let the heart that we lift up

Be tender as a tulip-cup

And let love’s calls of duty brim

With joy for the beauty of Him

Who fills the barrenness of earth

With May morn’s masterpiece of birth

© Janet Martin

John 1:3 - 

All things were made by him; 

and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 

Where May Runs Footloose...

So much to inspire this little tribute to May

and childhood...

The first two lines of this poem were birthed here, yesterday

while on a little brook-bank picnic with Granddaughter and daughter...

While half-leaf tree limbs splashed a shawl of shadow-holes over us.

So little left wanting where brook-babble gleams

With nothing but nature to nurture daydreams

Listening to lyrics no pencil can trace

Sprawled on a shadow-shawl of first-leaf lace

Watching the mantle return to the wood

Gently relearning the joy of childhood

So little left needing where May-breezes strum

The pulses of earth where all birth burgeons from

...thrum of an orchestra's ballad imparts

Green-gilded gladness that streams through our hearts

Seed that soon spills into tassels of corn

Dapples the hills of a landscape reborn 

So little left slighted where May runs footloose 

 Each tree like a taper of gold and chartreuse 

Each dell like a marvelous medley of hymns

Where the bare branch blossoms and the bud brims

Annual Genesis, granting a glimpse

Of Eden's garden and love's innocence  

© Janet Martin

Annual Genesis, granting a glimpse

Of Eden's garden and love's innocence...

"M-m-m! I eat it" said two year old when I told her Janet

is planting Candy onions...

 So little left slighted where May runs footloose 

 Each tree like a taper of gold and chartreuse ...

On this weekend's to-do list-- dusting😐

Seeds that soon spill into tassels of corn

Dapples the hill of a landscape reborn ...

Beyond Compare...

We are delighted and grateful beyond words to celebrate the birth of

a new baby brother for Big Brother and Sister!

Thanking God for the safe arrival of another grandson

yesterday morning...tipping the scales at 9lbs. 10 oz.!!

Mother and Baby are doing fine!

 

Of all the lovely blessings that this life allots, I think

The kind that comes all soft and squirmy, sweet, precious and pink

With button nose and hands and toes so perfect and so small

Must be life’s most sacred and beautiful blessing of all

Of all the beauties to behold one cannot be outdone

The miracle of Baby is beyond comparison

Love overflows the heart in utter thankfulness and joy

For this gift only God can give; a baby girl or boy

The heart becomes a wellspring where sweet wonder overflows

Into our softest kisses and the gentlest hands earth knows

As arms turn into cradles and gratitude into prayer

Because a baby is a miracle beyond compare

© Janet Martin

Beaming with Big-brotherly joy.

I had the pleasure of telling them the news yesterday morning

as well as sharing their first glimpses of him last night...

which tripled the joy💖

First glimpses...

(I couldn't keep up with them as they leaped from the car

and bolted to the house leaving the front door wide open behind them

and this is how I found them)

Psalm 139:14

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

 Marvelous are Your works, 

And that my soul knows very well.

Wonder-joy or Joy-wonder...

This poem was sparked by the caption above the first photo from Saturday's post.

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things

like laughter and love as a child's childhood wings...

(*grandkiddos tucked in with 'great-gramma quilts'

Quilts/comforters made by my mom)

They both graduated to bigger beds and new blankets last week because

we are waiting for new sibling to arrive!!!

This poem is a thankful medley of corralled recent joys...

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things

Like love’s many splendors as Child's childhood wings

...like bedtime sunshine from radiant smiles spilt

As youngsters are tucked beneath *'great-gramma-quilts'/warm handmade quilts

For four-season favour’s tender metaphors

For sweet satisfaction from completed chores

For spring gardens not pestilence-riddled yet

For doors flung and fettered by sunrise and set

For floors freshly polished with pastures of green

For hello, farewell and love’s points in between

For each ‘what’s for supper’s’ God-granted reply

From panful to plateful to stomach-full sigh

For hugs, hearty handshakes and ‘long-time-no-sees’

That turn, in a twinkle, to fond memories

For mischievous puppies and children to scold

For babies and bouquets and bushels to hold

For tables to gather around, for a chair

High on a hilltop, with wind tousling our hair

For spring birds returning after winter spent

For blue heavens crowning earth’s dust-covenant

Of seedtime and harvest, cold, heat, night and day

For brook-song that sparkles on its merry away

For each friendly flower that brightens life’s path

Through trouble’s dark hour and its aftermath

For gratitude deepened because of a Cross

For thankfulness sweetened not by gain, but loss

For courage refurbished by kind word or smile

For laughter to lighten the weight/wait of The While

For wishes recanted that never came true

Where God’s mercy granted a wiser ‘thank-you’

For holy appointments like ‘right here, right now’

Of ‘nose to the grindstone’ and ‘hand to the plow’

For life’s simple bests that money cannot buy

…cloud-frigates a-float in an ocean of sky

Orchard-wicks rekindled with pink blossom-frill

Final flurries swindled of bluster and chill

For pleasures made possible because of ink

Like poetry-treasures and good books to drink

Like lingering over a page-stunning tableau

Mesmerized by the sheer surprise of the show

Like finding a friend when we least expect it

So, then we just sit and enjoy for a bit

Before paper-thin farewells, page-turned appease

Dictional echoes and deferred fantasies

As we turn to tangible matters of fact

Like laundry-mountains and dirty dishes stacked

Like love-letters penned by those still near and dear

We thank God for joy’s wonders right now, right here

© Janet Martin

For pleasures made possible because of ink

Like poetry-treasures and good books to drink

Like lingering over a page-stunning tableau...

For spring birds returning after winter spent...

For blue heavens crowning earth’s dust-covenant

Of seedtime and harvest, cold, heat, night and day...

Of Mother-Heartstrings...

Love bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

Love never fails

1 Cor.13:7-8

A precious Mother's Day weekend without many photos...only echoes,

while chores, commitments and celebrations were juggled.

(Why a red cleaning pail on a sunny Sunday afternoon deck visit?!

It was filled with soapy water and thrown at the neighbor's dog after

he splashed through a 'manure-pool' then came for some affection 

after he 'helped' us round up some rambunctious cattle that had broken

out of said neighbor's barn while Farmer was away😅)

***

No matter how old or far a mother's children are

love's umbilical cord, aka heartstrings

is never severed...

As she celebrates each step of each child's independence

a mother's heartstrings are tested to new lengths

but never broken💗

In whatever season of motherhood we are

God is faithful! 

The song below seems fitting 

as we begin another week whether we are a mother

or have/had a mother...

So it begins with the first newborn cry

…the tug and tangle of mother-heartstrings

A hold-and-let-go that will never untie

Love’s weathered tethers that motherhood brings

Who knew that someone so tiny and pink

Could completely transform the world she knew

Laughter and tears sparkle, silver, I think

Highlighting places where heartstrings run through

Love is an ocean she carries inside

Wonder and worry and weariness reel

Time is a subtle, determined riptide

Dashing heartstrings, strong as cables of steel

…where she is always relearning love’s art

First steps, first school day, first road trip, first car

Hold-and-let-go, while the strings round her heart

Stretch-stretch to wherever her children are

Labour-pains last until life’s final breath

Bittersweet, happy-sad sorrow and joy

She is a warrior who’ll fight to the death

For the welfare of her dear girl and boy

This is no commonplace love that she bears

This love reflects God, faithful, kind and good

These are no common ribbons that she wears

These are the heartstrings of motherhood

God, grant her courage, strength, wisdom and grace

Bless her and keep her in Thy tender care

For in each hold-and-let-go she will face

 Nothing can sever heartstrings spun with prayer

Motherhood yields to ever-present tugs

Of duty's demands, affairs soon echo-etched

Hold-and-let-go, this is the way of hugs

But not heartstrings, as they are stretched and stretched  

© Janet Martin

Prov.31:25-28

Strength and honor are her clothing,

and she can laugh at the days to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed;

The Things That Don't Change...(never lose their wonder)

Thank God for joy's wonder in life's changeless things

like laughter and love as a child's childhood wings...

💖💖💖

Last night I dashed to a nearby farmer's field to

revel in the wonderful joy

of the heaven's declaring the glory of God!

While I ogled and ah-h-ed, the farmer who owns the field happened by with his tractor.

He hopped out to admire the view too.

Who knew that this burly, dirt-covered busy man and I shared in common

a sheer delight over nature's wonders...

that he too takes pictures every year of buds unfolding and barn swallows nesting etc.

that he thrills to the pink flood of daybreak as it rushes through his milking parlour.

We celebrated the fact that for all life's change and trouble

the things that never change, never lose their wonder💖

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that wrings Spring’s shower-bowers brings

Beauty to feed the soul’s ravenous hunger

A world unfurled with green and petaled things

Where the swallow swoops and the woodland rings

Heavens on fire with dawn and dusk glory

Tugging our gaze from earth’s cares for a bit

As if Someone bigger is writing love’s story

Where we are honored to be part of it

In spite of tests to Quest’s valor and grit

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills

Brook-laughter luring bare feet to its shimmer

Green is the valley and blue is the sky

Spread like a banquet-blanket heaped with dinner

Food for the spirit and feast for the eye

Tugging at tethers hinged to hearts, oh my

Mint tints in treetops long stripped of leaf-luster

First maple-plume is a daisy bouquet

Lark singing with all the might it can muster

While the dark arc of night turns to today

Stars fall, violet-strewn like noon’s Milky Way

Seeds fuel furrows, faith-jewels soft falling

Where sallow fallow will soon brim with hymns

Where Nature is like a kind mother calling

Where blithe breeze somersaults, where cobalt whims

Hum and strum yellow willow-cello limbs

The things that don’t change never lose their wonder

The Hand that authors them will never fail

To birth the beauty that feeds the soul’s hunger

Heaven and earth like a glorious grail

Tipped to wow us with creation’s regale

© Janet Martin

Wonder is the gem in life’s crown of troubles

Thrill of the hill decked with daffodil-frills

Joy of a child chasing rainbow-gilt bubbles...

Wealth of the bud as its treasure-trove spills

Over the edges of hedges and rills...

Psalm 136:1-9

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
3Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
4To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
5To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
6To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
7To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
8The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
9The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever...

click here to read the whole glorious chapter!

Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? 

Who is like You--majestic in holiness, 

revered with praises, 

performing wonders?

Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God,

 are the wonders You have done,

 and the plans You have for us--

none can compare to You--

if I proclaim and declare them, 

they are more than I can count.

Of Ephemeral and Eternal...

This passage is part of what inspired today's poem...

as well as praying for those who are enduring terrible suffering

whether close to home or across the ocean... 

It the same God to whom all the heavens and earth belong

 who 'sets His affections' on us...

Deut.10:12-21 BSB

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you

 but to fear the LORD your God

 by walking in all His ways, to love Him,

 to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

  13and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD

 that I am giving you this day for your own good?

14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens,

 even the highest heavens,

 and the earth and everything in it.

  15Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. 

And He has chosen you, their descendants after them,

 above all the peoples, even to this day.

16Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.

  17For the LORD your God is God of gods 

and Lord of lords, 

the great, mighty, and awesome God, 

showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

  18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, 

and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

  19So you also must love the foreigner, 

since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. 

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

  21He is your praise and He is your God, 

who has done for you these great and awesome wonders 

that your eyes have seen.

Here's to a weekend of counting God's

'great and awesome wonders'!

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath...

Finally, spring is untwirling daffodils!

Sometimes life’s clime of dust-to-dust loses its luster, oh,

Where we wage wars of love and lust on shores of want and woe

Where rivalry of faith and fear tests how we heed life’s call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Time’s carousel of seasons twirls until our final breath

When everlasting due unfurls a world immune to death

Where no one can undo the gates that no appeal can budge

Where endless joy or sorrow waits where God alone is Judge

The threshing floor where grain from chaff has not been winnowed yet

Drenched with redemption’s autograph and blossom pirouette

Is mortal’s pilgrimage of dust, though lusterless sometimes

Its suffering is but the must that every Soul-dier climbs

…to the unveiling of the recompense of The Reward

Where we will reap the consequence eternally outpoured

Where the Staircase of Now and Here resonates with the call

‘To love, serve, honor and revere our Lord God above all’

Earth thunders as the great and awesome wonders of God brim

No other power can create but what belongs to Him

Where our eyes have seen the hemline of His majesty

As lusterless landscapes turn green where winter used to be 

© Janet Martin

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past