Today-sums

After an incredibly productive, bittersweet, hectic week 

I am forcing myself to slow down a bit this morning,

something sometimes hard to do when so much to do seems always in the way!! 

So sometimes I need to consciously carve out little corners of refreshment 

lest Dear Duty blinds me to the Sheer Beauty of Today!

already Today has wowed!

this, the view through the window beside my writing desk.

Thank-you God!

(A view that faithful visitors are quite familiar with

because I love to share the delight of

 this view as it is transformed, morning to morning, season to season)

***

Last Saturday our son moved out for the foreseeable forever future!

As happy as I am for him, I am weathering the inevitable

mother-grief that comes with season-ends.

He has had brief stints of independence before,

but when I saw his books, basketball, fishing rod etc. 

on the heap of stuff piled at the door

I realized this move has a much more permanent flavor!

'Today' often dances across time's threshold so fleet-footedly

 we sometimes forget the cast Today-sums are creating!

So, lets fold hopes and hurts into prayer,

and place them in the hands of Today's Giver!

He is able!

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is best for you,
    who directs you in the way you should go.

Isa.48:14

The past is filled with all the things we always did ‘Today’

A cast instilled with echoes that sometimes come out to play

The loveliness of laughter in an afternoon beneath

The blue and balmy rafter that sweet summer days bequeath

Before the door we dashed through lowered a dusk-laden bar

On paint-trays that we splashed through on the way To Where We Are

The past, a vast collection of Love’s Once Upon a Time

Replays a frayed reflection of a muffled season-chime

Where once notes fell, keen and precise, in oft overlooked grace

Before the knell of Bygone’s bell enhanced the commonplace

As we are softly smitten by the sheerness of the flit

That scratches like a kitten with the sacredness of it

Look! Here a moment glimmers, ah, already it is spent

Past’s book of ages shimmers with pages once Present-bent/lent

How very velvet is the brush dipped into Time’s veiled tray

As its permanent ink arranges Tableaus of Today

And suddenly, how very rare Right Where We Are becomes

Aware of how a life is a Tally of Today-sums

The past is always hungry for the treasure in our hand

We cannot keep its measure from Yesterday’s shadowland

So, lest we are caught gazing at tincture on Bygone’s tray

Let’s keep a kind eye on the picture falling from Today

Because Love’s Once Upon a Time is always in full swing

A very virile season-chime of Today’s offering

…where God’s grace grants each new Today’s fresh opportunity

(Does it not bid us kneel and pray before we scale its lea?)

Lest boldly we set foot upon its very holy stage

Heedless of Who begets the dawn of Time’s unblemished page

And forget, what is spilled runs rife long after its foray

Because the past is always filled with life we lived Today

© Janet Martin

So, wherever in the world you are

Happy, holy Today!

Moments are a momentous gift!

'Today' sums up a life in no time flat!

Let's treasure the mementos moments make!

The Grass Withers

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isa.40:8

This verse inspired today's poem,

started at 7:00 a.m.

Why is it not getting posted till after 6:00 p.m.?

Well, before I was quite finished with it tot # 1 arrived

and was delighted to help with some chores 

connected with yesterday's garden-purge!

First job. Prep Swiss chard for freezing.

I cut off the leaves and he put the stalks in a pail...

Then tot # 2 arrived excited to peel beets!

Tot #1 politely declined to help with this very purple task😅

Victoria is taking roasted veg to a supper potluck.

When I looked for the pan, I remembered it's in the oven with a batch of granola

I put in along with lunch prep! 😅😐

In the spring I was the happy recipient of an air fryer

won at a stag and doe!

Today I used it for the first time, to cook our lunch! 

fries and chicken fingers for tots then squash for my lunch!

and I am in the process

of trying to give it a permanent home on my already full countertop...

because the squash was PERFECT with 2 tsp. of olive oil

and seasoning and a drizzle of maple syrup!

Can't wait to try all the recipes in the book! Next? Cabbage steak!

...back to the potluck!

The girl who was going to bring pie for dessert isn't feeling well

so suddenly in the midst of veg-eruption...pie!

now the tots have gone home

after some baby grandson cuddles, of course!!

Potluck food is on its way.

(insert chamber music lol!)

This evening I will pickle the beets...

and chop and stir-fry the Swiss chard to freeze for soups etc.

make a quick batch of tomato soup with the last of the tomatoes

oh! Yes, there was a poem on the back burner!

Now, do you understand the delay?!

The grass, it withers

The flowers, they fade...

The wind, it winnows

The tree of its shade...

The grass, it withers

The flowers, they fade

The wind, it winnows

The tree of its shade

The garden is quiet

Its rush hour through

Where once a riot

Of seed splendor grew

The orchard’s glimmer

Of garnet and gold

Wanes before winter

Turns corridors cold

Before the hustle

Of gales sweeps its halls

Where footsteps rustle

Where leaf-lyric falls

Where children frolic

And chatter and play

Before time’s music

Draws childhood away

Before they weather

The surge of a sea

Light as a feather

Yet wild as can be

The golden luster

Of leaf ambience

Pales in the bluster

That blows out its lamps

Leaving the streets of

Autumn softly strewn

With remnant glints of

Summer’s afternoon

© Janet Martin

Winnowed World

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, 

 that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14

Without More to live for than This

life would be a leap of lack! 

But by the grace of God

we may sing for joy

and be glad all our days!

Time's season-circuit seems to spin faster and faster

as the years fly by...

I feel like I just planned and planted this year's gardens

and already we are gathering its final fare

and 'tucking' flower-haunts in for a nap!

Season-circuits sweep the surface

Of the earth and disappear

Before-after, sorrow-laughter

Meld in mementos of Here

Soft and subtle, brusque rebuttal

Grinds the gears of live-and-learn

Bitter-sweeter, dusk-defeater

Fuels flues of No Return

Buds and flowers, barren bowers

Season-circuit spins and spills

Giving, taking, sleeping, waking

Want and wonder taunts and thrills

One door opens while one closes

Rearranging points of view

Rush of roses soon exposes

Dust to dust’s inherent due

Tend to duty bent with beauty

Dazzling dreamlands laid to waste

Working, playing, hoping, praying

Lingering while hours haste

Sacred splendor, mean and tender

Keens the crux of have and hold

Kind and cruel binding duel

Weans Time’s tux of autumn-gold

Where the embers of September’s

Mellow, yellow flickers fade

Where the mettle of the petal

Falls like music-notes soft-played

Where the flurry of our hurry

Stirs a blur of Must-to-mist

Unfurled, winnowed world of windows

Full of faces farewell-kissed

© Janet Martin

So Thankful!

Finally, a Thanksgiving post!

Life is keeping me hopping!!

Phil.4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication 

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 

shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 107:15,21,31

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

A Few Thankfulness collages

Family

Food

Flowers

Fall...

We thank You God, for Your love story nothing can erase

Your un-surpassing goodness, glory, faithfulness and grace

We thank you for the masterpieces of sky, sea and sod

Where wonder never ceases as You keep us humbly awed

We thank you for the beauty of the earth, the broken too

(For, oft it is the brokenness that births true want of you)

We thank you for your healing through the faith that makes us whole

Where hope is not a feeling but the anchor of the soul

We thank you for your promises nothing can nullify

Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus; you hear our heart’s cry

You know our secret struggles of temptation and dismay

In triumph and in troubles You are our Strength and Stay

We thank you for loved ones so dear, some near, some far away

For eyes to see and ears to hear what earth and heavens say

For teachers/preachers to advise, reprove, encourage, edify

Lest, wise in our own eyes we turn Your truth into a lie

We thank you for the lure of back roads off the beaten path

Where pure joy feasts on beauty goading praise where woodlands laugh

For friendly little faces, baby-precious, childhood sweet

For the echo that traces places swept with summer’s feet

We thank you for the way that daybreak’s debut steals the show

So thankful that come-what-so-may, You will not let us go

So thankful that your handiwork unfolds for all to see

Both rich and poor and young and old behold Your majesty

So thankful that each day is new, no two ever the same

So thankful for our work to do, lest sloth puts us to shame

So thankful for the ups and downs to make us more aware

Of gladness in the joy that crowns the sadness-es we bear

So thankful that in Heaven there will be no grief or pain

That when we are forgiven, we suffer nothing in vain

So thankful for a table that groans with Divine Delight

For Self, inept, unable to appease want’s appetite

So thankful for the cornucopia of harvest hymns

For all we learn through letting go that holding always brings

For holes we fill with happiness too delicate to clench

For nature’s seasoned friendliness no season can quite quench

So thankful for the simple things we dare not overlook

Small hands that make us feel as rich as kings, for a good book

For cups of milk or tea, for hugs so warm and wee, oh my

To melt our hearts and make life sweet as honeysuckle sigh

For supper-soup, and twilight strolls; for season tides we brave

Where goldenrod and aster tolls in countdowns to fall’s grave

Where roguish winds romance and winnow more than leaf from tree

Where we, not mere creatures of chance cradle eternity

Where, by the grace of God we need not grieve death’s grievous pall

If we receive (if we believe) what Christ achieved for all

The pardon for our sins; a gift so that no one can boast

The victory repentance wins through Mercy’s uttermost

We thank you for your Word, undeterred from age unto age

For how spirits are stirred as You speak from its ancient page

Your Word is our defense in a world rife with ruthless change

We thank-you for Your Presence that no power can estrange

We thank You that it is enough, Your love forevermore

That no amount of stuff can grant what we are searching for

Where each new day is like a love letter, fresh from Your hand

Where nothing could be better than whatever you command

With renewed gratitude we count our blessings, humbly awed

Dumbfoundedly confessing ‘there is no one like You, God’

Ah, You are so much more than pen can pour to poetry

With reverence we touch the hemline of Your Majesty

© Janet Martin

Wondrous Wellspring

Of all the countless things we give thanks for

One transcends them all!

Psalm 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

How Great Thou Art-Chris Rice

Not for boast or laud from mortals

Not for fame or vain success

Let me be a humble vessel

Yielded to Thy holiness

Tuned to the tender persuasion

Of Thy wisdom through Thy Word

For Thy counsel thwarts temptation

Quenches evil passions stirred

Pours me through and through with wonder

As grace and repentance wed

Satisfies want’s thirst and hunger

With living water and bread

Write in me Thy Great Love Story

Let goodness and mercy’s sea

Stun/run me through and through with glory

Only ever all for Thee

Fashion from the cares of living

And from meditation’s heart

A wellspring of pure thanksgiving

Singing God, how great Thou art

© Janet Martin

We Thank Thee-Jim Reeves

Long Live The Mess!

 Beauty is a messy business, isn't it?!

Fresh bouquets from gardens and fields

 spill petals and bugs.

Food prep spills, splashes and drops

before the delight of dining!

(hopefully LOTS of food prep happening today 

for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow...

In Canda we celebrate thanks-living in October)

And wow! the mess that we can make while enjoying dinner!

(esp. when children are present. ahem.

We love blaming messes on children, don't we? 😅💖)

And in the daily course of chores and joys,

From indoor to outdoor we go,

and even though we kick off shoes 

on the mat inside the door

we still somehow trail lots of outdoor in.

In the summer road dust,

 (Because our windows are big

and we live in farming country with lots of tractor traffic!)
in the winter, furnace dust

and wood stove ashes, but we are cozy!

Isn't it great?!!

The whole mess of a full life aka happiness!

coffee spills and all!

Before we can enjoy this...

This....

Before we can enjoy this... (recipe below)

This...

Midst lots of eager, curious, happy helpers/tasters!

And one MIGHTY mess!!

Oh! isn’t beauty worth its mess

Or joy its price of grief

Is not the bloom of happiness

So worth the tattered leaf?

The petal that falls from the stem

The crumbs from bit o’ cake

Are they not worth the diadem

Of stars strewn in their wake

Like teardrop, bittersweet, unfurled

Upon the cheek, soft kissed

Before the door shuts on a world

Of mayhem turned to mist

© Janet Martin

Veg Soup recipe...

I tweaked this recipe to my liking

omitting corn and adding black beans.

Also besides precooking the black beans

I mixed everything raw and water bath canned it,

steaming each canner full for 3 hours

(in case you would like to try it!)

From the old Mennonite Community Cookbook

Because You Can't Have One Without the Other

(I apologize to you who read, sometimes before I've found 

some editing flaws I missed previously...

These poems generally get penned and posted amidst 

MUCH more than merely writing)

Wow! going from 23C yesterday to 6C this morning gets one's attention!

There's no denying it: another garden-year is drawing to a close!

But the flowers are not going to fade without a fight!

They've shrugged off a few frosty kisses already!

Maple trees toss their fiery tresses, as if daring Father Time!

He just smiles because he knows who always wins in the end.

October's to-do list is bittersweet!

-cut back or pull out spent glory.

-Harvest final fare

-Dig out flower bulbs that can't withstand winter-brr!

-plant flower bulbs for spring tulips etc.

-Collect seeds for gardens not planted yet

-Tuck leaf-duvets over slumbering flowerbeds

-Plan for next year's growing season/gardens

The folding always follows the holding💞

Sometimes I tend to rue the shadows of longing’s despair

Forgetting that it is the sun that puts the shadows there

How quick the readiness of thorns beneath love’s lovely rose

Can prick the headiness of holding with soft curtain close

The hellos that fill hugs/mugs with happiness ignites the knell

That trembles in the offing that assembles fond farewell

The wind that woos the lover to the darling of his heart

Is the same wind that hovers, to dearly draw them apart

Oh look! The baby smiles and coos and sits, walks, runs, then flies

Time’s book full of spent centuries still takes love by surprise

Thus, I cannot afford to stand too long with mournful stare

To gaze upon a world that fell to pirates of the air

Where waves that roll across the shore and thrill children at play

Are followed by the waves that wash their sandcastles away

And the breath-taking beauty of life’s garden in full wreath

The prelude to the duty of the grave that lies beneath

Sometimes, I tend to rue the letting go of seasons felled

Until I look back, humbly glad for all I had and held

Sometimes, I tend to rue the rending ache for seasons spent

Until, with awe I thank God for the loveliness He lent

© Janet Martin

Sometimes, I tend to rue the letting go of seasons felled

Until, with awe I thank God for the loveliness I held...