Majestic Masterpiece (aka Mercy)

To the locals, no, this was not today!😅😅

The one below is this morning!! 

just as majestic...at second glance!

Gold-dipped daybreaks have been far and few between, the last few months!!

The first photo one of the few from mid-February!

But, whether gold or gray the Giver is the same, who grants each day

What a sound, 

like muffled thunder, 

or a rolling sea

must fill God's ears

as millions of feet touch down 

each morn on the façade of eternity 

Yes, at first glance it appeared to be

'another lackluster dawn'

But a longer look transformed it...

and suddenly I was smitten with

a rekindled desire to taste 

in full its sparkle of moments

far too precious to waste

It rolls from age to age

Unruffled by the years

It sits at front and center stage

As night unveils its piers

To bear the brunt of feet

Where raring highs and lows

Of eternal import compete

Upon its fleeting pose

It gleams with hope’s appeal

And groans with hope’s despair

And laughs with hope’s replenished zeal

As worry yields to prayer

And hunger to the Must

That none can long ignore

But hounds Soul’s vestibule of dust

With wolves that stalk death’s door

It gleams with dreams reborn

From shards that love will purge

It rises on the mist of morn

Like a majestic verge  

To grant to mortal berth

Another worthy lease

As God plants on the face of earth

Mercy’s fresh masterpiece

Anchored in swells of change

A surf, where seasons shift

And circumstances rearrange

The turf, but not the gift

God siphons from the ash

Of Bygone’s lifeless fray

A jewel for yon eastward sash

A phoenix called Today

How oft we trample it

Underfoot without thought

While, all the while we sample it

With what God’s grace has wrought

Forbid we haste, unawed

By God’s mercy displayed

But as we waken, first applaud

This day that He has made

© Janet Martin

Well known, well-loved easily forgotten verses

that really bear daily repeating, don't they?!!💓🙏

Lam. 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Psalm 118:24

This is the day the LORD has made; 

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Love Letter

How precious is time's parchment...

How holy is the script

Of word and deed...

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, 

but in deed and in truth.

For our benefit, aid and comfort we have a love letter

written for every one of us from the Giver of every life!

Oh, that we would pore over it as thoroughly as someday

He will pore over ours!

Life is like a love letter

Each day is like a page

That bears the font of care and want

And passions we engage

The voice of choice is telling

It draws on what we think

How sacred is the hug and kiss

Of love’s permanent ink

While we weather the hurtles

Of livings highs and lows

We oft forget the sacred ‘yet’

That smiles and tears compose

We should be very prayerful/careful

Love cannot tell a lie

Each new day thrums with what becomes

Testaments of reply

How precious is time’s parchment

How holy is the script

Of word and deed that will succeed

The life that authored it

...for a Most Sacred/Solemn Meeting

As God reads each page through

A tell-all tale that will unveil

Who we were writing to

© Janet Martin

Two Words Like No Other...

Watching something can often rock us emotionally

rather than devotionally,

but I am praying as I watch The Chosen series,

it renews humble awe, love and devotion to Jesus who loves us so!!

Jesus calls Peter/us-The Chosen

(imagine if, at the cry for help from fisher(s of) men,

 we would run to their aid like Zebedee and the other two

 at 6:29-6:30)

Two words test and prove

 every feeling, desire, motive and love...

(pondering Peter today...as well as all true disciples)

Two words like no other

Alters consequence

Test’s devotion’s ardor

With obedience

Transcends mortal merit

Rejects worldliness

Guided by the Spirit

Rather than the flesh

Blessing beyond measure

Love’s humility

With a promised treasure

Faith cannot yet see

As, with motive fervent

It counts all but loss

Save to be a servant

Carrying a cross

To give Him the glory

He who with His blood

Wrote redemption's story

 Jesus, Son of God

Two words, kind and tender

Probes utter need where

 Only full surrender

Can His calling bear

…two words like no other

Charge eternity

Pray, how will we answer

Two words;

Follow Me

© Janet Martin

Matt.16:24-26

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me,

let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,

and loses his own soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus-Lydia Walker

Oh, So Precious Three-Year-Old

This is the best birthday ever, said Miss Delighted Almost-three-year-old, (tomorrow)

over and over, especially after Pink Donut was set before her!

Dolly is part of EVERYTHING we do!!😘

After she blew out the candles she sat and looked at it without touching it!

What are you waiting for, I asked, puzzled.

'for you to get a knife to cut it, so you can have some too!'

and once again this almost-three-year-old almost-angel

left me speechless with joy💝💗

She: Would you like some tea?

Me: What kind is it?

She, without skipping a beat: Strawberry-bubblegum tea!

Me; Yum! I would love some!!😂💖

They drive us mildly wild with endless questionings of ‘why?’

While reviving the child in us that otherwise would die

A perfect mix of mischief and happy helper, so proud

They are so very darling and so very, very loud

They try last shreds of patience just before they melt our hearts

And make us cry with laughter at what innocence imparts

They teach us to look longer and walk slower than before

As we examine puddles, worms, bugs, leaves and so much more

They tug our hands and suddenly we feel so very small

Beside Pure Trust gazing up at us, not yet three feet tall

They steal our breath with sacred dues and aching happiness

And scatter in the wake of outgrown shoes, mess after mess

They sometimes make us wonder who is teaching who the most

While they serve cups of bubble-gum tea and marshmallow toast

They watch us closely, learning far, far more than they are told

My, how we love them; Sweet, smart, oh so precious three-years-old

© Janet Martin

Yesterday she served me a teeny-tiny cup of coffee

'You make the best coffee!" I said after a very noisy sip

'what do you put in it?!'

...and again, without a pause she answered

 'marshmallows!'😂😂😂

Today's story...

Psalm 127:3

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,...

March Morning Celebration Meditation

Happy, Happy March!

(because I didn't get this poem posted this morning as originally planned

I could include a bonus dusk shot as well!)

"it looks like its one of those pray-for-strength days once again',

I remarked to my daughter this morning, as she told me about her 

lack-of-sleep night because of sick children...

(don't you find most days are better if we draw from a

wellspring of strength beyond our own?)

Dawn... 

Dusk...

Like a black cushion, full of pins

The night sky fades; the earth

Reappears where new day begins

Its waltz of woe and mirth

Across creation’s stomping ground

(In full color, no less)

Hope and strength for today are found

In God’s kind promises

He hears our prayers, He knows our need

No matter what we face

No care we bear can e’er exceed

The measure of His grace

Thus, though we cannot see what lies

Beyond a moment’s sum

It is enough to realize

Where our help comes from

...the Maker of Heaven and earth

Watches o'er you and me

His mercy stokes night's death with birth

Dawn is a bird set free 

© Janet Marin

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

February/Winter Flowers

I picked the flower puzzle to do (see quandary here) 

because there's just something about flowers

in winter that can't be beat!!

even the pieces look like a handful of petals tossed on a garden path!

So, let's celebrate the last day of February with winter flowers

even if they are painted on cardboard💖😊

They kindle wild dream-pleasure for gardens not planted yet

They gleam with priceless treasure of fond memories to be

They rouse a youthful yearning in the appetites they whet

For perfumed pinks and purples heady with sweet nectar-tea

And like children with rosy faces, kissed by brisk wind-chill

They bloom a little rosier on winter’s windowsill

They delight hearts with visions of a sunny summer’s day

Where butterflies and laughter flit and flirt with honey bee

They make indoors feel friendlier while winter whiles away

As we stroll perfect gardens in a plot of fantasy

A welcome splash of color on a dolor afternoon

They garnish kitchen tables with a glint of May or June

They cheer us with old fashioned charm and make us humbly glad

To be alive where flowers wait to burst the bud with bloom

As blush and gold menageries drive poets gently mad

With so much beauty to behold from Mother Nature’s loom

Primed with a plethora of plumes no tombs can keep at bay 

Unfolding outdoor living rooms still snuggly tucked away

© Janet Martin

Speaking of outdoor living rooms

I would love to try this come spring!

Baking Lavash Bread on Stone Grill

From Country Life Vlog

 

Of Best Laid Plan

One thing we learn over and over is

no matter how important planning is,

and no matter how meticulously each detail is addressed,

or each prospect visualized,

plans, at best, are extremely volatile!

The 'best laid plan' therefore, with humble 'Thy will be done'

should always be entrusted to the Higher Hand

who orchestrates Purpose far beyond the frames we peer through

to hopes and dreams not accomplished yet!

With all the unexpected snow days this winter it seems like possibly

 I am being conditioned for the childcare break coming up.

...or, at least that is the plan😅🙏

Sometimes it feels like life is simply a constant sequence

 of changed plans/ misplaced puzzle pieces!

I'm trying to decide if today is the day 

I commit to starting a puzzle and if so, which one?!

Plans are like phantom pieces to a puzzle thought perceives

Of panoramic vistas wafting on volatile breeze

Where soon, even a child begins to learn the simple fact

How plans at best, are pictures that we cannot keep intact

No matter how meticulously we try to arrange

The pieces to fit perfectly; still, often plans will change

Teaching us to be patient as we reconcile the art

Of relinquishing pictures that change-of-plans pulls apart

How often heart shaped tatters scatter where no one can see

Save we who bear the brunt of Planning’s altered scenery

How often, as we grapple with the pictures we release

We are reminded of the Hand beneath each puzzle piece

© Janet Martin

James 4:13-15

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

In Winter's Storm (there is no place like home)

 Nothing like a winter storm to rekindle thankfulness for home!

Here winks the lure of friendly fireside

Cheering the labor’r toward eventide

Here, with loved ones to gather and to sup

Fruit of love’s labor filling plate and cup

Here the tea kettle, while centuries wing

Pours fresh-steeped comfort for pauper and king

Here, like a haven while wild wind-beasts brawl

Home in winter’s storm, is sweetest of all

Here wish-lists dwindle, snuggly satisfied

With hugs and slippers, while the countryside

Is tossed, lost in white brumal gusting swell

As Old Man Winter pummels hill and dell

…and we, borne on parchment catamaran

Sail into ancient worlds and back again

Where no matter how fair the climes we roam

Nothing compares to winter’s home-sweet-home

Here happiness is like a warm handshake

A steaming ‘cup o’ and a bite o’ cake

Here hobbies are like mini getaways

Here mother sometimes pauses work and plays

Here we have nowhere else we’d rather be

Than watching birds flit from feeder to tree

And wrangling thankfulness into a poem

As we thank God for winter’s home, sweet home

Here beckons the gold halo of lamplight

Here little tots are tucked in extra tight

And all is quiet save the howling gale

That overflows contentment’s hallowed grail

That crackles and pops as flame-dancers leap

And book soft-plops as reader falls asleep

Lulled by the lays that rake the leafless loam

While kindling thankful praise for home, sweet home

© Janet Martin