A Few of the Reasons Why I Love You

Happy 6th Birthday, Grandson!

Yesterday marked six years since Jim and I became grandparents!

(yes, the hockey game was on during the celebration!)😅

When I was a little girl the high-light of turning six

was the dearly anticipated mommy-box 

(mommy pronounced with a short 'e' at the end:

    the word for 'gramma' in Pennsylvania-Dutch) 

I decided to surprise Grand-sonny and start the tradition too.

Now his sister will have the joy of the anticipation! 

A momme-box consists of a calendar-picture-pasted box

(like a shoe-box)

filled with treasures hidden in popcorn!

The inside also holds nuggets of wisdom and treasures from God's Word!

(bigger version of writing at the bottom of this post)

Sister was DELIGHTED... a treasure with her name on it💝

Baby Brother had no idea what was going on but it sounded fun so he joined in the joy too😘

I love you little lambkin with a sparkle in your eye

Or tell me, did a cherub softly flutter from the sky

To burst our hearts with happiness and remind us once more

As long as there are babies, life is worth the living for

I love you little tot with crinkled, freckle-sprinkled nose

As curious as a puppy and as pretty as a rose

A perfect blend of innocence with mischief woven through

To remind us, where there are tots, there’s lots of laughter (and hair-pulling groans) too

I love you little girl and boy eager to learn to fly

You startle love’s parental joy with discipline’s oh-my

Teaching mommy and daddy to talk to God every day

(Because)

As long as there are children there will be reason to pray

© Janet Martin

Below are a few pictures of my momme-box

(Long time readers of this blog have seen it before but not for a while)

received on June 7th, 1972

With a few treasures that came in it...

 

Where Multitudes Still Follow (and many turn away)

Matt.4:16-17&25

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned.”

   From that time Jesus began to preach and to say,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven [c]is at hand.”

Great multitudes followed Him—

It's been a gloomy stretch of weather here...

The billows of snow from a little over week ago reduced

in short order to puddles!

We long for the great light of the sun after a long stretch of none,

yet, this but a mild comparison to the light of the world that has already come

and eternally pierced the darkness of sin and death!

Are you living in the joyful light/awareness of God's great love for you?

***

Multitudes followed Him where a Great Light had dawned

In the manger at Bethlehem, 

then Egypt and beyond

The One, prophets foretold of glory’s suffering

Had stepped to redemption’s threshold, 

the hope of man to bring

…calling all to ‘repent, for God’s kingdom is near’

Goodness and mercy’s covenant 

would pour in gory tear

Where faithful unto death the Lamb of God became

For the believer’s dying breath, 

life only death can claim

…and Jesus is the Name whereby mankind is saved

No minor prophet, He who came 

to conquer death’s dark grave

With a great light unfurled throughout eternity

Jesus, the Savior of the world 

can set death’s captive free

The light that cannot dim still gleams unto this day

Where multitudes still follow Him 

and many turn away

But those who trust behold what bold doubters ignore

Of signs that prophets long foretold 

when time will be no more

When the clouds will be seared, and every eye shall see

And look upon the One they pierced

 with their iniquity

And the whole world will wail at the sight of I AM

His power and glory unveiled 

as all ‘behold The Lamb’

But lo, all who repent and died to self are saved

Their names are written on the hands 

that Calvary engraved

But oh, all who refused 

love’s grace and truth to claim

Are released, by their choosing to 

Hellfire's unquenched flame 

© Janet Martin

I kept veering from the last line,

inadvertently trying to 'soften' it

but why?!!

life/death is a Heaven or hell matter!

there is no in between!

P.S. it feels fantastic to be upright without a spinning head after a day in bed with the flu.

My heart and prayers have been rekindled for those who spend day after day in bed!

My sister-in-law (Karen) is in the hospital since last Thursday 

suffering from a twisted bowel. Please join me in praying for her healing and

her and her family's encouragement!

My cousin who is an invalid due to MS, 

and his family appreciated your continued prayers as well!

He Will hold Me Fast

Age Old Assurance for the Newness of Now

 O God, our Help in Ages Past

Nothing is Impossible With God

Whether at the beginning of a year

the middle or the end

the bedrock of 

faith's hope, joy and peace 

remains the same; trust God

A New Year.

A New Day.

The same God

Come what may

Though the way

No one can see

Faith in God

Seals victory

God's Word like

A steadfast Hand

Leads into

The Promised Land

His Word does

Not lead astray

As we hope

And trust and pray

In the power

Of God’s might

Faith will be

Equipped to fight

Pray we never

Run this race

Without God’s

Armor in place

Then and only

Then will we

Be fitted

For what will be

Then faith will

Be undeterred

Through the power

Of God’s word

Where without God

We are weak

And we know not

What we seek

… or what master

To obey

In the newness

of Today

A new day

and a New Year

The same God

To commandeer

...the same goodness

truth and love

Fills the Unknown

with Enough

© Janet Martin

Heb.11:8

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place 

he would later receive as his inheritance,

 obeyed and went,

 even though he did not know where he was going.

A New Year Revolution

Happy New Year!

Below is an image of a card that my grandparents received in/around 1937.

This book from 1949 is a vault of timeless wisdom-treasure!

Here is today's meditation/blessing/wish,

as relevant today as it was then.

(Don't you love how, as time passes still

life's best and true things are timeless?!)

Come, where a new year hoists a trove

Of hopes that we maintain

Where the best we can do for love

Is love and love again

Rather than lob slight’s stinging stone

Where we all slip and err

Come, let us help each other on

This God-ward thoroughfare

For all that fuels fret-and-fuss

This precious truth abides

Goodness and mercy follow us

All the days of our lives

Then come, where the old is made new

Where endings turn to starts

Where pray, once more we resolve to

Gladden fellowmen’s hearts

© Janet Martin

Psalm 23:6

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, 

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

The Poet's Yoke

 

A waltz with words that waft and twirl across a ballroom floor

The laughter of a little girl drifting from worlds of yore

A sense of imminence immersed in steadfast, common care

Of workaday and bills to pay and suppers to prepare

A sentimental ballad slipping through matters of fact

The art of bearing verses while keeping façade intact

And balancing the beckoning of worlds in want of ink

With sensible responses like cleaning the kitchen sink

To siphon from life’s thrum the rolling of a sort of sea

Rife with glints of spent summer and tomorrow’s mystery

Requires tireless patience while panning for lilt and rhyme

(This is not for the faint of heart, the art stealing time)

The poet’s yoke is made of air yet weighs a whisper-ton

With lyrics waiting to be snared and tamed and poem-spun

From brooding skies and sparkling eyes, from goodbyes and hellos

Each day unfurls a paradise of poems to compose

The merchant laughs and stuffs the chaff of trade into his sack

The maiden blushes; hopes he looks while she is looking back

The traffic rushes, the rain hisses underneath each wheel

The poet smiles and gathers manna for another meal

The poet's yoke is lily-soft yet claws the cloak of souls

With merciless persistence because always death's bell tolls

And who knows when the pen may fall prey to its solemn chime 

As the poet turns to behold the Giver of the rhyme 

 

Oh, pray they serve with honor the onus of pen and page

Because the life of written word survives from age to age

And who knows who will pause to read the stuff of wrangled ink

Therefore, the yoke should weigh enough to make the poet think

© Janet Martin

Okay, that's all for today, folks!

Wow! and maybe this year!

 Depends how tomorrow goes!

With much love, 

Janet

Wishing for us all, for 2023

 a fresh awareness of God

and a deeper reverence for Him,

 from whom all blessings flow

A Little Lilt of Everlasting Praise

A little end-of-year reflection of thankfulness

and worship that pray, has barely begun!

Life is a collection of moment-pixels!

Give thanks! 

I confess its a bit of a Poem-blitz today...

a way to keep the wick of gladness trimmed and hope's flame lit, 

where so much sadness threatens to permanently snuff it, 

without reminders of why it never can! 

hallelujah!

Thank-you for sin’s redemption paid through the blood of Your Son

Thank-you for full forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done

Thank-you for Your sweet promise as confession’s sorrows pour

When You forgive our sins, God, You remember them no more

Thank-you for the Lamp of Your Word to light the path of life

Because the throughway to Your throne is full of grief and strife

Thank-you that we have access where the temple’s veil is rent

To come to You, not through a priest but through Your covenant

Thank-you that what this world can never give, You will supply

Your wellsprings of goodness and love will never drain or dry

Thank-you for more than we deserve because You love us so

And nothing here is greater than the grace that You bestow

Thank-you for the true beauty of hope’s unmerited worth

To crown the countless beauties lavishing heavens and earth

Thank-you for what creation spills before our wond’ring eyes

Thank-you for what salvation seals, revealed in paradise

Thank-you for holy purpose in what would be commonplace

But love turns into worship’s joyful gratitude for grace

Thank-you for the gift of Today; where no two are the same

Thank-you that You hear everyone who calls upon Your name

Thank-you that You abide and that You work for our good

And that what we confide in You is always understood

Thank-you for eyes to see and ears to hear, thought to recall

Your precious promises and bounty's blessings great and small

For feet to walk and hands to tend to tasks or fold in prayer

Thank-you that whatever we ask, we know you hear and care

Thank-you for friends and family, for home, sweet home and such

For faces in our memory, we can no longer touch

For Your faithful companionship as we take up our cross

For the gain of your comfort in the pain of our loss

Thank-you that You are with us thus we are never alone

Thank-you, for every stumbling block, there is a stepping stone

Thank-you for food to eat and clothes to wear and work to do

Thank-you that You are absolute, omnipotent and true

Thank-you for what we learn through the bitter rue of mistakes

To humble wisdom's crown we earn as pride’s countenance breaks

Thank-you for gardens out-of-doors or on a windowsill

Thank-you for pups and kittens, for the birds that flit and trill

Thank-you for the raincloud that pours Your answer to our plea

For the wee baby that restores joy in humanity

Thank-you for soft sunshine that warms away cold winter’s gloom

Thank-you for seeds instilled with miracles of bud and bloom

Thank-you for toil’s gracious reward of slumber, sound and deep

Thank-you for vital vim restored after a good night’s sleep

Thank-you for a pricked conscience to rebuke the erring mind

For the refuge of perfect peace that all who trust will find

For Your green pastures and still waters, when courage obeys

For Your goodness and mercy to follow us all our days

Thank-you God for your faithfulness transcending time and place

For hymns made possible because You love vile, human race

Thank-you, oh God, that nothing is impossible with You

No matter what, there is nothing too hard for You to do

Thank-you that You have proven by what death’s tomb could not stay

Your power and Your glory and Your Kingdom now for aye

No army you can defeat You and no evil overthrow

For You have overcome the world, in spite of trouble’s woe

And all who repent and believe, fight a most worthwhile fight

For You will be the One they/we see when faith is turned to sight

Thank-you that You are slow to anger, abounding in love

And for your patient kindness as You chasten and reprove

Thank-you for living hope to spur us onward until we

Together with You Lord, thank you through all eternity

© Janet Martin

Psalm 103:1-5

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thoroughfares of Retrospect

Our mind is the control tower of our life~

Charles Stanley

As we look back on another year almost spent

we traverse thoroughfares of retrospect, don't we?!

My, oh my-oh-my!

What a showcase of mistakes and mercies!

Sometimes it appears technology has

reduced attention-spans to tik-tok sized snippets!

How much is lost at great cost!!

Listening to a message like the one below 

means taking the time to turn off distractions

in order to fuel thought with good counsel!

So worth the time it takes!

Will you join the millions and millions who 

have taken the time to listen to this message?

Taking Control of your Thoughts- Charles Stanley

And if life does not allow the freedom right now to listen to the whole of it,

The first two minutes offer SO much to think about, 

until you have time for the remainder!

In retrospect we realize what matters does not change

Where guests that the mind entertains proves who we love the most

And though we cannot keep so much of what the years estrange

We can take careful charge of thought’s dinner-parties we host

And prepare with a wary heart, the table where Thought lolls

Before the hand reveals that part that the mind first cajoles

In retrospect we find what wise and fool's proof  cannot null

Who we love most is soon exposed by time’s tender romance

Who we revere and hold most dear is clearly visible

By what we choose and how we use the blessings that God grants

Where Thought is like a banquet table laden with buffets

Where so much good and so much bad can capture our gaze

In retrospect we see how swift time’s subtle shuttle flies

While tears and laughter spill, while we are often filled with awe

At lifetimes woven with the threads of dawn-to-dusk’s demise/disguise

Where thought is like an evil god if left to its own law

And ignorance is like a noose dangling from gallows where

Time’s subtle shuttles fly while Thought offers Fresh Thought a chair

In retrospect we oft admit we did not do our best

To bid Thought to pay sacred, meeker, and more earnest heed

To what God says rather than what Well-meaning Thoughts suggest

Where holiness, not happiness should be Thought’s primal greed

Because the lot of the undying soul is undeterred

Thus Thought should feed its dinner-guests with counsel from God’s Word

…where Thoroughfares of Retrospect spread out a humbling feast

For Thought is always hungry and the Tempter always near

And we concede at best Thought is a needy, bumbling beast

Subject to err without God’s Word to gird and commandeer

Therefore, no matter what befalls Thought’s menus to arrange

In retrospect we realize what matters does not change

© Janet Martin

Col.3:2

 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

What is the Use?

I got a mega-reality-jolt as I lined up the calendars of years flying by!

Reminding me of this verse!

James 4:14

What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while 

and then vanishes.

What is the use of passing years

If at their end we find

When its last moment disappears

We are still no more kind

What is the use of each year’s cast

Fastened to ‘how time flies’

If when its final day has passed

We still are no more wise

What use is time’s swift no return

Gifted in day-to-day

If  love's lessons we ought to learn

Have not taught us to pray

What is the use of good intent

Of resolution's dare

If we are, at the old year’s end

No better than we were

What is the use, when looking back

With sentimental heart

We blush to see that we still lack

What we did at the start?  

What is the use of  all we chase 

Like a red, rubber ball

If God's goodness, mercy and grace

Have not changed us at all

© Janet Martin

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Eph.5:15-21

See then that you walk [e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

  16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

18And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; 

but be filled with the Spirit, 

19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

 singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

20giving thanks always for all things 

to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

21submitting to one another in the fear of [f]God.