Let's Live Today In Such A Way (as if we could die of a heart attack)

Jim didn't know his out-of-the-blue-question last night

(after we had ceased chatting for a little while and I was snoozing

 between pages of the book The Gauntlet) 

would spark today's poem.

He suddenly asked 'what if tomorrow is the day when people say

 'did you hear?!! Jim died of a heart attack today!'

Maybe you're laughing a little but...

It's not an impossibility for any one of us 

and perhaps a prudent/valid question to contemplate before

' the dust returns to the ground it came from, 

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.'

Eccles.12:6-7

Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped

and the golden bowl is crushed,

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring

and the wheel is broken at the well,

7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Why does it matter so much?!

Because the soul is deathless with only one of two destinations

depending on the preparation we have made!

Salvation-heaven

Rejection-hell

I can't even remember if or what I answered 

but Jim's last words last night set the tone for my first thoughts this morning!

And inspired today's poem🙏💗

Take time to thoroughly appreciate life's simple, temporary joys

but first, address soul-sacred Eternity

(Grandson checking out gramma's birthday espresso)

Second-cousins sharing a swing...

(Photo used with permission💖💖💖)

My sister's grand-daughter pulled a goofy face just as I clicked😂

To live today in such a way, that it could be our last

Transforms our sighs and what we prize where morning hoists its mast

For none can tell how near farewell draws its finality

As we embark toward that mark, we know but cannot see

To live today as if we may not have another, wakes

A sacred sense of recompense in every breath one takes

And stirs us to a humbler view of time’s momentous fount

…moments become the holy sum of which we give account

To live today as if to say ‘thank-you’ to God, who grants

Its gift of grace, each lovely face we kiss, each ‘second chance’

Will help us weave the steps we leave behind into a prayer

For those still in the thick and thin of love and living’s care

To live today in such a way will beckon us to be

More mindful of the thinning glove that cups eternity

How sweet the flask that metes the task for loved ones near and dear

How fleet the feet that rush to greet the mists of yesteryear

Where sorrows surge and morrows merge with splurge of seasons spent

This is the toll that weans the Soul from mortal filament

Pray, let’s be kind and keep in mind what lies beyond yon past

And live today in such way, that it could be our last

And live today as if to say ‘I love you, you, and You’

And live today as if we may meet God when it is through

© Janet Martin

I remember wise words spoken by my dad years ago...

"live in such a way that if God told you today or tomorrow you will die,

you would carry on exactly as you would otherwise have.

Live life always ready to meet God!

Eccles.3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work

that God does from beginning to end.

Heb.9:27-28

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many;

and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin,

but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Matthew 1:21

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,

because He will save His people from their sins."

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind

by which we must be saved.”

Acts 16:30-34

Then he brought them out and asked,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,

you and your household.”

32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord

to him and to everyone in his house.

33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them

and washed their wounds.

And without delay, he and all his household were baptized

. 34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them.

So he and all his household rejoiced

that they had come to believe in God.

Dear June (A Love Poem/ Song)

You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

Song of Solomon 4:7

I LOVE every season but I confess

I love winter mostly because of how it sweetens the dream-to-reality of June💖

My new middle-age passion is camp-fire cooking

inspired in large part by these enchanting videos on Country Life Vlog

Wow! We are already over one third through June's joy-opportunities!

June rambles through primed rosebuds with a raindrop song and dance

It ambles along laneways lighting purple wild-phlox lamps...

Green halos garnish arbors...

 and blue heavens crown each hill...

And from a vault of meadowland wildflower-jewels spill...

June dots the countryside with cattle herds...

... and flocks of sheep

June rambles through primed rosebuds with a raindrop song and dance

It ambles along laneways lighting purple wild-phlox lamps

Green halos garnish arbors and blue heavens crown each hill

And from a vault of meadowland wildflower-jewels spill

June rushes like a river made of beauty to behold

Of mesmerizing backdrops as dusk lingers, pink and gold

Of brooks luring bare feet, of dreamers drawn to dredge the deeps

Of darling nooks in curves and crooks of panoramic sweeps

Of temptation to trespass in a field of buttercups

Of peering into posy-bistros while bumble-bee sups

Of loitering in the fine company of flowers, oh

And forgetting just what it was that once we wished for so

June shimmers like a lily full of dew and morning sun

Gazillion diamond-glitters frilling fronds daintily spun

The willow is a minstrel and the chestnut tree a queen

At dusk translucent tinsel shines where dandel’ns had been

June rolls its verdant avenues out to banks, ethereal

The orchard sheds blush tutus for ranks more imperial

Cumulus masterpieces exhibit a grand buffet

Where beauty needs no thesis to prove perfect disarray

Where branches burgeon with gilt notes of noon-day lullabies

Where nature’s inkless lyrics lilt and float in leafy sighs

Where you are altogether beautiful in every way

Dear June, I thank thy Maker for thy loveliness today

June ushers in the season kissed by winter’s darling dreams

Where joy and happiness exist in sync, where gladness streams

Where everywhere one looks, one feels unworthy of it all

Pretty petal percussion peals from belfries one stem tall

June dots the countryside with cattle herds and flocks of sheep

The bard in all of us is stirred by what no one can keep

The die of destiny is cast; past woos new memories

Where June always fades far too fast; daisies bob in the breeze

© Janet Martin

June rolls its verdant avenues out to banks, ethereal

The orchard sheds blush tutus for ranks more imperial

Cumulus masterpieces exhibit a grand buffet

Where beauty needs no thesis to prove perfect disarray

Pretty petal percussion peals from belfries one stem tall...

June rushes like a river made of beauty to behold

Of mesmerizing backdrops as dusk lingers, pink and gold

As Long As Life Has Flowers We Will Never Un-kissed Be

 In Ontario it is iris, peony and lupine season...

...among others

Gerbera Daisies

Columbine

Spiderwort

Clematis

Every flower-lover is in constant awe at the myriad intricacies of each flower

designed by our Creator

The above beauties,

 plus Brenda's post,

plus this morning's devotion

...inspired today's poem

(it can be interpreted as written either about flowers or people.

God's love/beauty poured through us)

As long as life has flowers, we will never friendless be

God decorates earth’s bowers with such pleasant company

He stirs our hearts to leap with praise where oft a bloom beguiles

Us to marvel at countless ways that the Creator smiles

The loom within the bud unravels wonder, crease by crease

A miracle of fragile petals forms each masterpiece

Like symbols of kind pardon, beauty startles trouble’s plain

Glimpses of Eden’s Garden gild hill, hollow, field and lane

All things are possible with He who designs every fold

And strews to earth a starry sea of wonders to behold

Forbid one looks but misses mercy’s autographs of grace

God smiles and blows His kisses to us in each flower-face

© Janet Martin

Luke 12:27
Consider how the lilies grow: 

They do not labor or spin. 

Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory 

was adorned like one of these.

Faith's Unfailing Author and Perfecter

Gen.3:21

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, 

and clothed them.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

 my soul shall be joyful in my God; 

for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, 

he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, 

as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, 

and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Yesterday's birthday wish to Emily and a few devotions from the

book Streams in the Desert inspired today's poem,

continuing meditations on the fathomless topic of faith!

Today's devotion ministered to me very personally

as I woke feeling mobbed by dread's 'supposes'

so I fled to some scriptures of faith (so many to choose from)

 for a renewed mind🙏

The God of ages past is still the same as He was then

He ministers His perfect will and loves us all. Amen

Since Adam hid when first he did the thing that he should not

And yielded to the doubt the tempter planted in his thought

Thus, grace and mercy did begin, in spite of consequence

God clothed them in garments of skin and sin’s deliverance

The faith of Abraham, counted as righteousness, abides

The supremacy of I AM still shepherds and presides

The angel of the Lord that did bid Elijah to eat

Still bids us feast upon His Word; this is faith’s bread and meat

Our God is kind; He is still greater than the lion’s roar

The enemy behind and the mighty Red Sea before

Faith fuels hope’s ambition as we face its cunning foe

Derision and division charge but cannot overthrow

The God of ages past who Was, Is and Will Ever Be

The Genesis and Exodus of faith’s divine decree

Where, since we have been justified by faith we may have peace

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, though doom and gloom’s armies increase

If God is for us, all against us can never prevail

Let’s raise a worship chorus to the One who will not fail

And let the faith that we confess be not in word but deed

To live a life of holiness with meek and earnest heed

The anchor to which hope is fastened will not shift or sway

Because the God of ages past is still the same today

© Janet Martin

Rom.5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,

we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom we have gained access by faith

into this grace in which we now stand.

And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings,

because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5 And hope does not put us to shame,

because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Heb.12:1-3

Therefore, (read Heb.11) 

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

let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, 

and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the authora and perfecter of our faith, 

who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, 

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

3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, 

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Let Us Run

(I keep listening to this song recently

in the face of so much opposition)

O God, Our Help in Ages Past

Birthday Wish/Prayer...

Happy 30th Birthday, Emily!

(which means your dad and I are celebrating 3 decades of parenthood!!)

Wishing you...well, read the poem😊💖🙏

Love, Mom

A world of lovely wishes fills my heart for you today

I wish you health and happiness and joy along life’s way

I wish you friends and family to cheer the path you trod

But even more I wish for you a humble faith in God

…because all other wishes without Him seem incomplete

Without greater assurance than this sorry world can mete

So, though I wish you wonders that will make you sing and dance

I wish you, above all, the joy and peace faith in God grants

I wish you courage in the face of opposition’s dare

I wish you lots of laughter, lots of kisses, lots of prayer

I wish for you a crown of wisdom forged from smiles and tears

And faith in God that dearly deepens with the passing years

I wish for you, role models that are trustworthy and true

And love, because love makes worthwhile the smallest tasks we do

But above all I wish what only God’s Word can provide

A Light unto your path to be faith’s infallible Guide

I wish for you awareness of God’s mercy, new each morn

For motherhood’s (servanthood’s) sweet gladness that oft leaves love weary-worn

But, above all the wishes full of favor and delight

I wish for you true faith in God, until faith becomes sight

Today I bind my birthday wishes for you into prayer

That God would bless and keep you in His everlasting care

That through the highs and lows that love and life are sure to mete 

Your faith in Him will be the hope that makes your joy complete 

© Janet Martin

(a wish for all your siblings too for all your lifetime through)

Psalm 16:8-11

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.

11 You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

OH! the cake?!

Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake!

another first time fav!!!

Sacred Spree

Don't you find the older we get the more we realize each birthday is a gift.

Celebrating 56 years of God's goodness today💝

Yesterday my sister Lucy took this photo...

(a little pre-birthday outing with one of our daughters and her children;

her birthday is tomorrow!)

We dropped in to see the sheep someone is boarding at their place...

Oh!!! they are so cute and comical!

The older we get the more we cherish life's simplest pleasures...

(below; a few recent priceless pleasures)

(above) Making Rhubarb Squares😋

As days to years amass

As they pass through our skin

We sense in us an hour glass

Of sparkles growing thin

And though we cannot see

How many glints remain

We know that soon eternity

Will make the hidden plain

When dust to dust returns

And the Soul back to God

When Choice its last consequence earns

Beyond time’s frond of sod

…but for now, we are here

How sacred is this spree

Where life and love endow each year

With opportunity

Where, by the grace of God

We do not need to dread

The highs and lows we yet must trod

In the veiled road ahead

Then, with courage renewed

By mercy’s kind bequest

May humble, holy gratitude

Equip us for the rest/test

This transient tapestry

This season-metered flit

Is but a blip before we see

The other side of it

This bit of groan and grin

This prelude to the whole

This hourglass beneath our skin

Dwindles to Deathless Soul

Where ere one moment spilled

God numbered all the strands

Needed to weave each life He willed

Back to the Giver’s hands

© Janet Martin

Teach us to number our days, 

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

...redeeming the time, because the days are evil

Ephesians 5:16