Shadow-cups...

In shadow-cups, you catch the sun...

Poured through a sieve of leaves, 

you run

A sense of distant sea-song through

Treetops...

.... and larkspur blush and blue...

In shadow-cups, you catch the sun

Poured through a sieve of leaves, you run

A sense of distant sea-song through

Treetops and larkspur blush and blue

You laugh like a child free of care

You scratch sometimes and pull our hair

In periwinkle-twinkled glints

You steal our breath (and youth methinks)

With age-old form you fill fresh frames

With a storm of echoes and names

Some baby-new, some old, some gone

You fold your wings at dusk; at dawn

…you are a first-time butterfly

Shedding night’s dark cocoon of sky

You flit from Mercy’s ‘let there be’

And here you are, no entrance fee…

…you perch on pedestals wind-blown

As soft as tufts of thistle-down

You bob across the misty dell

And kiss each glist’ning flower belle

They blush beneath your plush caress

Forgetting that your fine finesse

Will wean the petal from its prime

And keen Her to the touch of time

Where, everywhere She looks she sees

A world caught between destinies

And suddenly she wants to run

And drain shadow-cups full of sun

Through meadows wild with Queen Ann’s lace

And golden rod, she wants to chase

Your essence ere you drip away

And drain the Cup of Summer's Day

© Janet Martin

…you are a first-time butterfly

And suddenly she wants to run

And drain shadow-cups full of sun...

Because We Never Know What Waits...

 

Because we never know what waits

While winter pounds on summer’s gates

While moments drip like diamond studs

Where Bygone’s velvet footfall thuds

On boulevards of misted gold

While what we have wafts through our hold

Like jewels we can never snare

But touch, as they slip to thin air

...we dare not stand and stare too long

Where life runs rife with yester-song

But thank God for each falling star

And make the most of where we are

© Janet Martin

Ah! These Are August Days (part 2)

This past weekend seemed to be a heartbreak of tragedies 

affecting friends, family and neighbours!😢🙏

It makes us re-realize nothing in life is ordinary💖

Here's to cherishing what and who we have while we have it

all by the grace of God!

Beloved, let us love one another...

1 John 4:7

Below, part two of cherishing August Days...

(This poem has been a work in progress since posting part 1)

Part 1 here

These are the days when rain-song plays in sudden, sparkling sweeps...

When rainbows run awry in frying pans, baskets and bowls...

When cobwebs catch, like silver thatch on fronds, to patch gnome-holes...

When monarch sport and birds cavorting make us smile and smile...

When shamelessly the honey bee burrows each pollen-nook...

(my attempts at photographing the bees in the Hosta-plume

 resulted in a whole bunch of 'bee-bum' shots!😂

When silhouettes etched on sunsets snag somewhere in the heart...

And the moon sails on silver trails that scale the velvet dark...

These are the days when rain-song plays in sudden, sparkling sweeps

When cricket-trills and petal-frills garnish volatile deeps

When poplars toss silver-glossed tresses, like medallion-manes

And earth is laid with gold and jade countryside-counterpanes

When first daybreak is like a lake of mingled mist and dew

When all day long the cricket’s song serenades me and you

When silhouettes etched on sunsets snag somewhere in the heart

And the moon sails on silver trails that scale the velvet dark

When every day is borne away like pictures in a book

When shamelessly the honey bee burrows each pollen-nook

Its happiness, contagious as it buzz-buzzes and hums

Unruffled, though resembling cookie-dough balls, rolled in crumbs

When jars begin to gleam and grin with summer-goodness snared

Because we know soon chill winds blow and we should be prepared

While growing old drips pink and gold from Twilight’s glist’ning chin

Like a peach-kiss or melon bliss it buried its face in

This is the jot when noon is hot and dawn is crisp and cool

As gossamer of Sweet Summer starts thinning on time’s spool

When rainbows run awry in frying pans, baskets and bowls

When cobwebs catch, like silver thatch on fronds, to patch gnome-holes

When outdoor scrabble duels fuel laughter and lament

‘if I had an ‘e’ cries The Lad, 'then I could make ‘content’ '

Ah, when did ‘small’ become so tall; love aches, sky-deep and wide

Because She feels Time's tireless zeal from which no one can hide

…where the bud grows into a rose that cannot keep its blush

Where it seems ‘winter-dreams-come-true’ are always in a rush

And why are we so suddenly surprised when every year

We wonder at the way August days daze and disappear

…a heart-lurch of workaday church and purposed idleness

When the mundane (hard to explain) throbs with sheer heaven-ness

When flower-sales fill pots and pails, when roadside-vendors grace

The rural route with veg and fruit; impromptu marketplace

When we experiment, invent zucchini firsts and favs

When those less keen on squash cuisine mistrust Miss Cook’s wild raves

…muffins, stir-fries, cakes, appetizers, loafs, quiche, casserole

Salads, soufflé, suspicious grayish ‘oops-soups', bless my soul😅

These are the days when hunger’s gaze is easy to beguile

When monarch sport and birds cavorting make us smile and smile

While swift and sweet, the heat-waved summer’s subtle shuttle weaves

Life’s lissome woo of blooms into a eulogy of sheaves

© Janet Martin

 

Much More Than Words Flung to Thin Air

Psalm 34:17, ESV

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears 

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

Isaiah 65:24, ESV 

Before they call I will answer; 

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

Psalm 18:6, ESV 

In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help.

 From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

1 Peter 5:7, NIV 

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Psalm 54:4

Surely God is my help;

the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Psalm 10:17

You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble;

You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

Rom.8:26-27

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people

in accordance with the will of God.

1 Kings 6:16-17

Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us 

are more than those who are with them.”

17Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.”

And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man,

and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha...

We are currently praying for a lost little boy!

(he wandered away from his family's campsite

and has been missing since 3:00 p.m. yesterday)

Will you pray too, for him and his family? 

Update 4:45p.m. He has been found.

He is with Jesus.

His Eye in on the Sparrow

How oft we pour our broken cries before Thy mercy-seat

The Author and Perfecter of faith that oft groans and weeps

We plead for thy sufficient grace to succour and defend

To help us run with endurance life’s race; true to the end

To help us trust in Thee who never leaves us or forsakes

Us. Who keeps all Thy promises; who never makes mistakes

Whose eye is on the sparrow, then much more on me and you

As we pour out our cries, You hear, and know just what to do

How much more than words flung into thin air, the humble plea

As we cast our every care, dear gracious Lord, on Thee

Amen

© Janet Martin

Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you

from the fowler’s snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

How Often We Are Thieves...

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

Rom.11:33 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who has blessed us in Christ 

with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms...

...In Him we have redemption through His blood, 

the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Eph.1:3,7-8 BSB

I would LOVE a whole sermon series on the

'depth of the riches' of spiritual blessing! 

(God bless the teacher/preacher of truth

by the power of the Holy Spirit 

able to verbalize thoughts I grasp at,

to stretch me beyond my personal and often inept

'wisdom and understanding' 

turned into words to encourage, exhort and edify)

Why should we obey?

What is the reward?

Do we dread the dire destiny of the fruitless tree?

and many more challenges and concerns

for myself and for all who have

'repented and were baptized'

as we are urged to,  then...(Eph.4:1-3)

'walk in a manner worthy of the calling you/we have received:

2with all humility and gentleness, with patience,

bearing with one another in love,

3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace...

***

Last night Victoria offered to do the supper dishes

giving me the glorious opportunity to soak in 

Summer Dusk in the Garden...

truly a glimpse of heaven on earth!

In goes a seed and out of it grows God's amazing handiwork!!

August is a vault of beauty and blessing...

 

...but August's beauty and blessing

 pales in comparison to the blessings

Invisible, without envy/awe-inducing attractive appearance;

the 'spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms'

for the reverent and obedient

both now and forevermore!

 Oh, pray we do not rob ourselves of this wealth

by becoming consumed with lesser riches.

how often we are thieves, though unaware of what we steal

we rob ourselves of riches beyond price, for ‘nice’ appeal

forgetting, in the forfeiting of what God cannot bless

we rob the branch/tree of bearing the sweet fruit of righteousness

forgetting in the whetting of a carnal appetite

we cannot taste God’s goodness, if we do not find delight

in the law of the Lord, if the desires of our hearts

are worldly, rather than craving what God alone imparts...

as we dredge His Word for wealth this world cannot comprehend

bent on one sacred mission; to be faithful to the end

lest, when weighed in The Balance we are found wanting, oh pray

we recognize the treasure that will never fade away

and keep our eyes fixed on a Prize only true faith holds dear

giving more earnest heed to what transcends Time’s transient sphere

lest, in the quest for more we care less about how we live

and steal from ourselves the blessings only God can give

...and rob ourselves of priceless wealth that money cannot buy

beyond the minute pleasure of things pleasing touch-taste-eye 

how often we are thieves, dear God forgive us and renew

our minds to hunger for the depth of riches found in You

...lest we thirst for what is cursed rather than 'riches of grace'

lest, by the voice of choice we worship vices, vile and base

lest, though our lips confessed Your name, our actions disagree

'dogs returned to their vomit' nay! oh, may it never be

obedience is better than off'rings and sacrifice

how often we tend to shrink from faith's fundamental price 

how often love unbridled is lured by he who deceives 

only God's Word to gird, keeps us from turning into thieves

© Janet Martin

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

For Your Name's Sake...

Unlike Queen Esther's husband, the Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), 

who, if any came into his inner court without being summoned, 

would be put to death, unless the king held out his golden scepter,

 The Kings of kings beckons all to 'come' 

because He came to break death's curse and bring us life 

and more abundantly!

His blood-wrought/bought scepter is stretched out to one and all!

What a high call and glorious purpose

is our freedom from slaves to sin/Satan, to servants of Christ!

Nearer, Still Nearer

  

More Love to Thee

For Your Name’s sake, help us take up our cross and follow You

And make love’s price of sacrifice an honor, meek and true

Kindle in us, Lord Jesus, faith’s vision, profound and keen

Of ‘substance of things hoped for, evidence of things unseen’

For Your Name’s Sake, Lord Jesus, wake in us the awesome sense

Of beckoning and reckoning; of Choice and Recompense

….and immense Aftermath; of grace or wrath’s eternal sum

(With blood-wrought streams, love’s scepter gleams and beckons all to ‘come’)

For Thy Name’s sake, Lord Jesus, make us more and more like Thee

Not vain, loud, proud, crowd-pleasers but full of humility

Thy pain and loss upon death’s cross our gain; You bore our shame

Forbid we boast save in love’s uttermost; Salvation’s Name

For Your Name’s Sake Lord Jesus, break the will that still resists

Open our eyes to want The Prize that some deny exists

Unclench the fist that clings to mist; with holy hunger wake

The sacred call to give our all for Your precious Name’s sake

© Janet Martin

Music To God's Ears

 

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

On Sunday mornings our recent messages

have been from the Book of James.

What a wonderful book full of wise counsel!

(And much to prick every conscience if we care about being more than hearers)

We all have in common the mercy that metes each new day...

and though our callings and circumstances vary...

(some days sweeter, cuter and tastier than others)

...we all are loved and will all give accountant to One God and Father of all.

Ephesians 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, 

and through all, and in you all.

Not hearers only, Lord

Let the law of Thy Word

Be more than grace and truth outpoured

But leaves the heart unstirred

As we hear, Lord, I pray

We heed Thy Spirit’s woo

So everything we do and say

Will bring glory to You

Where love abounds until

Our Self is crucified

Content to trust Thy Word and will

With nothing else beside

If we ask, you will give

If we seek, we will find

If we knock You will come to live

In faith’s heart, soul and mind

Then hope and joy and peace

Become reality

As word and deed yield love’s increase

‘Not I, but Christ in Me’

What music to God's ears

When His children obey

Then He, Who Is The Word appears

In what we do and say 

© Janet Martin

What music to a parents 'ears'/eyes, when we see our children take

loving counsel to heart...

 how ever much more our Heavenly Father!

All God's Creatures Have A Place in the Choir

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his[a];

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thus...Joy

Luke 18:1

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times 

and not lose heart:

Rock of Ages-Chris Rice

What weight of woe could crush my heart

The cross of creature care

(Where oft love groans beneath the smart

Of faith’s ongoing prayer)

Would be too heavy to endure

Without the joy of He

Who died my pardon to secure

And set my doomed soul free

Thus, I will keep on singing through my tears of joy and grief

While I cry ‘Jesus, I believe, Help thou mine unbelief

…Or else discouragement’s despair

Would hopelessly succeed

And I would find no solace where

Both joy and sorrow bleed

But for the One who calms the storm

According to His will

And tunes me to love’s cruciform

And whispers ‘peace, be still’

Thus, I will keep on praying through my tears of want and need

While I cry, Jesus, hold me closer, while You intercede

…or else the dark of fear and dread

Could never be subdued

No eagle wings of hope to spread

As faith’s strength is renewed

But, because I believe, you pull

Doubt’s blinders from faith’s eyes

With joy unspeakable and full

Of glory’s tear-stained prize

Thus, I will keep on trusting, even though heart-cries increase

While I cry, Jesus, help me, you reply with perfect peace

© Janet Martin

Isa.40:31

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; 

They shall mount up with wings like eagles, 

They shall run and not be weary, 

They shall walk and not faint.