Perpetual Appeal

 A portion of some Psalm-reading...

from chapters 16-20...

and today's devotion from My Utmost for His Highest,

are part of what inspired today's prayer-poem,

because if I am honest and because God sees my heart

He knows my most earnest need...more love for Thee

With reverence and awe and praise

Honing humility

I have one plea, Lord, all my days

Increase my love for Thee

With wonder for Your love for me

Bid me heed Thy command

And keep my eyes fixed upon Thee

And joys at Thy right hand

Guard me from that which blinds desire

To pleasures evermore

The heat of love's refining fire

Oh, let me not abhor

Lord, let me unswervingly hold

To Thy judgments so true

For they are dearer than fine gold,

Sweeter than honey too

Open my eyes to see anew

That which should be most dear

And lest I have gods before You

Increase beholden fear

Lord, let the power of Thy word

Be all the strength I seek

And let the life Thy death incurred

Make every motive meek

Without complaint or dread, bid me

Take up my cross with praise

And a vision of Calvary

Always before my gaze

How great the loss, should I pursue

Anything else beside

And strive to fill my need for You

With selfishness and pride

Thus, as I think upon these things

Lord, hear my humble plea

In whatever this new day brings

Increase my love for Thee

Amen

© Janet Martin

So sharing this often-before-shared hymn seems fitting...

More Love to Thee

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).

Life Is Poetry Waiting To Be Written or Eaten!!

The endless possibilities of garden-fresh fare

is pure culinary poetry!

So worth the toil 

when the soil is rich 

and the rain is plentiful

and the roots thrive!)

Makes the humble laborer

So glad to be alive!

Yesterday my neighbor dropped of a pint of raspberries

so I texted the clan and let them know 

there is a surprise dessert at Emily's house

for anyone wo can make it...

Cornstarch Pudding topped with raspberries and whipped cream

'or as the garden spills with fare and thrills the happy cook'

I had picked the currants just before leaving for the special Dessert evening so

this morning's question was,

What to do with a bowl full of black currants?

this! Black Currant Coffee Cake

Beets are constantly being thinned...

Roasted Beet and Feta Salad

(I used white onion instead of shallots)

Before the ink of one is dry another starts to brew

As surely as you catch my eye or as the sky is blue

Or as a bud bursts into bloom or a bird into song

Or morning into blush-brushed light and night into so-long

As surely as the cricket hails the middle of July

Or as a season scales the height of a year slipping by

Or as the colour of its cast crescendos ere it fades

Or as the valour of the past augments its promenades

As surely as love holds and must let go, ready or not

As surely as a sense of sorrow stirs a tender thought

Or as a breeze rolls through treetops like waves on lofty seas

Or as a pang of longing tugs at World of Memories

As surely as tomorrow is forever held at bay

Or as a surge of gratitude steals humbled breath away

Or as the flicker of a lily showcases the sun

Or as the shadow climbs the hill where one more day is done

...or as kerplop of a raindrop ignites a giddy dance

As dust devils are tamed and liquid diamonds lavish plants 

Or as a summer afternoon entangled in heartstrings

Wakens awareness to the whir of time's gossamer wings 

...or as the garden spills with fare and thrills the happy cook

Or as the tea is poured and feet pulled up, nose in a book

*Or as the gladness of a child hearkens to childhoods spent

Or as the ilk of life runs wild with laughter and lament 

As surely as the green of spring turns summer bronze and gold

Or as delight is overcome with wonders to behold

Or as the grace of God ignites a rush of poetry

Before the ink of one is dry, another starts to be

© Janet Martin

*It was so amusing to watch my grandchildren wild with excitement and curiosity

hovering at the 'Mystery Dessert (hiding in a big bowl with a lid)

while we waited till everyone was there to start.

...made me relive a little of my own long-lost childhood.

Oh, the excitement of out-of-the-blue guests and surprises. 

Esp. surprises you could eat!!

Wild with delight...

We could literally write a little book right now entitled

'If Big Brother Can Do It

So Can I!!'😅😂💗

However Great or Small...

Before the Yet of dusk is met with setting of the sun...

John 6:28-29

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

 

Before today's bitty ditty was done I had an invitation from Daughter to join them 

so we could do groceries together, then they stayed for lunch,

Grand-kiddos eager for more fresh-carrot crunch...

(see pic on yesterday's post)

 so morning poem is now afternoon Poem!

Before this gifted day will wend its way to nevermore

Before it slips into the crypt with fellow days of yore

May what we do be kind and true, however great or small

A humble offering to bring before the Lord of all

Before it is too late to recreate its memory

Or recognize its fleeting prize of opportunity

May we commit to do our bit, however great or small

With willing heart embrace our part to praise the Lord of all

Before the Yet of dusk is met with setting of the sun

Before the Past secures the latest cast of moments spun

May we employ life’s tasks with joy, however great or small

Remembering its offering is to the Lord of all

© Janet Martin

Emily and I preferred a little more than toasted bagels and fresh-carrot-crunch for lunch...

A fresh from the garden mixed greens salad with thinly sliced white onion and beets, 

feta cheese and toasted sesame seeds.

 YUMMY!!

No Commonplace Charge (is parenting)

Baby is teething and objects loudly to being put down for long...

Mommy is so weary!🙏

...with these two to keep her on her toes (and knees) besides!

I am no longer parenting little children but

I am grand-parenting little children 

which makes the messages below very relevant to my season of life as well!

***

To leave children without principles is

not to make them free but it is to render them helpless

Alistair Begg in Teach Your Children Well Part 2 of 4)

We have within our keeping a very precious charge

of innocence soon reaping the harvest of its guards

no commonplace appointing from God, is parenthood

a baby the anointing of wonder, pure and good 

we have within our caring, besides child's sweet delight

the onus of preparing the soul-dier for the fight

no commonplace employment is the call they bestow

far more than mere enjoyment of watching Soul-dier grow  

we have within our reaching (for such a little time)

wide flung windows of teaching far more than nursery rhyme 

no commonplace vocation to all whom God assigns

the careful cultivation of very tender vines

What a priceless investment; the training of a child

how soon the world's resistance tests with lures, lie-defiled

no commonplace endurance, a parent's prayers outpoured

For wisdom and assurance established in God's Word

we have within our asking a very present Aid

Who tenders with love's tasking, commands to be obeyed

For this is no small gracing, a child, innocence-wrought

But a Soul-dier soon facing life, armed with what was taught  

© Janet Martin

Link to all four messages in this series below

Teach Your Children Well (Part 1 of 4)

Teach Your Children Well Part 2 of 4)

Teach Your Children Well (Part 3 of 4)

Teach Your Children Well (Part 4 of 4)

Hope's Happiness

Ps.144:15

Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Ps.146:5-6

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that is in them;

Who keeps truth forever,...

Hope reminds us of a debt owed but God's provision paid

And goads us on to rejoice in this day that He has made

To be a glad bondservant for the Lord of earth and sky

Then, find a kind of happiness no words can quite descry

(from My Utmost For His Highest-Oswald Chambers)

Hope’s hailing happiness endures, though disappointment-vexed

Hope cheers us onward and secures the anchor of the Soul

Beyond the realm of seasons that roll one into the next

Hope draws us to the Reason for its undefeated goal

And hones a humble foothold in the promises of He

Who helps us where new day unfolds whatever waits to be

Hope’s holy happiness delights the heart that trusts in God

Its precious confidence invites, nay, excites us to be

A vessel in His hands; the hands that rule sky, sea and sod

A vessel heeding His commands with unfeigned fealty

To love Him with heart-soul-strength-mind, and neighbour as ourself

As, filled with his Spirit we find the riches of hope’s wealth

Hope’s humble happiness reminds us we have all we need

As tick by tock the clock unwinds tethers of dust-to-dust

As we embark once more upon missions of word and deed

Hope’s sacred summons spurs us on toward the One we trust

Rousing in us renewed distress for vessels still adrift

Unanchored in the happiness of Hope; salvation’s gift

© Janet Martin

July-Content

This poem comes courtesy of a sudden thunder/rain-storm,

turning a Sunday night walk into a bolt,

pause,

puff-puff,

bolt,

walk-puff-puff

and dash like-the-older-age-dickens back home...

(of, course by the time this poem was finished the sun was shining once more)

No need to plead for what is not

Where flower-hours pour

Nor to scale heights of spent delights

To gaze to days of yore

No taunt to kindle Winsome Want

Where lily-lantern gleams

Nor to dredge deeps of Bygone’s sweeps

For unrewarded dreams

No hollow to wish-wallow in

Where winsome leaf-song sighs

And strums the soul with the cajole

Of high-noon lullabies

No good to yearn for the return

Of once-upon-a-clock

While arbors flaunt the floral font

Of rose and hollyhock

No ‘why’ to cast with wistful eye

While Time is July-crowned

Nor mourn to feel the westward keel

Of summer autumn-bound

For Here it is’ Sweet July bliss

In all its lovely forms

Wildflower flings, hummingbird wings

And sudden thunderstorms

© Janet Martin

I did not see kitty till I uploaded the photo to my computer😂💓

Endless Good aka Everlasting Love

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jer.31:3

Everlasting; adj. 

infinite, never-ending, eternal, immortal, abiding, perpetual, timeless, unending, enduring

How heartbreaking to  never move beyond the point of seeing God

simply as a kill-joy and rule giver, though we all want and need love

His greatest command!

How pitiful/terrible is the belief in the existence of Him

without the joy of the love from and for Him!!

The Love of God

(I've shared this song many times because I love it so much)

Ah, every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

From He who does not shift or change His everlasting love

Then cast your care on Him and trust in Him with all your heart

Receive the endless good in which unbelief has no part

…and pray the Lord, for love’s increase, the greatest gift He grants

Is like a glorious masterpiece in every circumstance

To anchor faith and hope, so doubt does not cause us to be

Like double-minded men, unstable as waves of the sea

Oh, what a precious family is the family of God

Whose trust is not in what we see but in His faithful word

His promises more dear than anything this world can boast

Like a wellspring of endless good unto the uttermost

For every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

And nothing can deplete the measure of love’s treasure trove

Where, as the love of God becomes alive in you and I

His joy is like a fountain that no sorrow can run dry

…no matter what befalls, love bears us up to bear all things

Christ in us makes love able to suffer all that life brings

Then, though we do not know what waits, Love none can comprehend

Through He who WAS, IS and WILL BE is faithful without end

Janet Martin  

everlasting adj.

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

timeless

unending

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

No Greater Grief and Joy Have I

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

How often in my own parental joys and sorrows

I think of my patient Heavenly Father, where I, his willful child

need his faithful goodness, mercy, rebuke and forgiveness!

Lord, I Need You

No greater grief has a (Christian) parent than watching a precious child choose the hard

road of rebellion ,(where we all once were, but by the grace of God have been saved!)

No greater joy has the same parent when watching a child

 choose the hard road of repentance, of truth, obedience and faithfulness!

All that I bring to Thee

Is but what you bestow

Nothing have I save love’s reply

Each gifted breath will owe

Forbid that I betray

My Lord and King of kings

As Want uncouth disdains God’s truth

To covet carnal things

Lord, purge all boast but One;

The faith that makes me whole

Through Jesus Christ who sacrificed

His life to save my soul

No greater joy have I

Than Truth that sets us free

With holy awe to keep the law

Of love’s humility/of perfect liberty

No greater grief have I

Than to bear witness to

Emboldened hard, cold disregard

My faithful God, to You

Lord, hear my heartful prayer

Where joy and grief travail

To praise and plead and trust each need

To love that will not fail

© Janet Martin

Dear praying parent! Keep on keeping on!

Psalm 5:3&11-12

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly....

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;

let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;

you surround them with your favor as with a shield.