Gift-Unwrapping Onus

Ps.78:4&6-7

We will not hide them from their children,

Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,

And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done....

...That the generation to come might know them,

The children who would be born,

That they may arise and declare them to their children,

7That they may set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep His commandments;...

Tug gently where dawn’s coral tulle

Gilt-edged, dissolves night’s crepuscule

Where mercy’s kind pledge is renewed

To author humble gratitude

Tread softly where a shadow-world

Beneath each sunrise is unfurled

Dawn’s wrapping paper falls away

Granting a gift, we call Today

Touch kindly its fugitive lease

Cherish it with love, joy and peace

Take time to pray-smile-sing, to sit

And worship the Giver of it

Tend wisely, what is given thee

And live as if today could be

The Gift that flings ajar The Door

Between time and Forevermore

© Janet Martin

A Prayer (as I prepare to face the day)

Oh! The precious, purifying, perplexing,

pressing, peace-pursuing, power-instilling

cross in prayer...

 

Above, Aug. 6 devotion from My Utmost For His Highest

by Oswald Chambers

Some days, for some reason it takes more discipline

 to corral a galloping stampede of thoughts , duties and desires, into quiet prayer...

This morning I struggled to find new words for old pleas of well-worn repetition!

Then I remembered 'he knows my needs before I ask'

better than I do, and supplies them!

He understands what it takes to fortify my fumbling stutters of faith 

Hallelujah and thank You, Lord

Ps.90:14

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

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

 In Jesus' Name, I Pray

Our Father, who art in Heaven

Ever hallowed by Thy name

By Thy grace I am forgiven

Free from guilt’s defeat and shame

Today, Lord, I pray, remind me

Of the love that will not fail

For Thy light, before, behind me

For Thy purpose to prevail

For protection and direction

For Thy Word within my heart

To perfect my meditation

For, how wonderful Thou art

For more faith and not more answers

For Thy rod, lest my feet slip

For more love toward my neighbor

For Thy armor to equip

For gladness for Thy salvation

To satisfy all my days

Lead me not into temptation

But anoint each breath with praise

Grant me strength for toil’s demanding

Yet, make me weak so I lean

Not upon my understanding

But upon Thy arm unseen

Let Thy law be my desire

Let Thy Word be my delight

Let Thy promises inspire

Hope no trial can requite

Let Thy goodness full of mercy

Follow me through all my days

Let me be hungry and thirsty

For Thy righteousness, always

Satisfy my 'poor in spirit'

With Thy everlasting love

When I cry, O Lord, You hear it

Let this knowledge be enough

To instill me with Thy comfort

To cast all my cares on Thee

Till we gather at a banquet

In Heaven’s eternity

Lord, my Lord, so many wander

Like lost sheep, hearts hard and numb

Pray, before Thou bidst them yonder

They will hear Thy voice, and ‘come’

To still waters and green pastures

To the joy faith will receive

Freed from sin’s death-cursed disaster

As they repent and believe

Lord, by Thy humble example

Pray, may all who follow You

Not cause another to stumble

By the things we say and do

But by the grace Thou hast given

Let faith, hope, and love proclaim

Our Father, who art in heaven

Ever hallowed be Thy Name

For Thine is the kingdom,

The power and glory

Forever and ever,

Amen

© Janet Martin

Matt.6:5-13

And when you pray, you shall not be like the [b]hypocrites.

 For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets,

 that they may be seen by men. 

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

6But you, when you pray, go into your room, 

and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place;

 and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [c]openly.

  7And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. 

For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8“Therefore do not be like them. 

For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

  9In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

[d]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 

Amen.

Because All Is Not As It Appears

 

Ephesians 4:29

Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,

 but only what is helpful for building up the one in need 

and bringing grace to those who listen.

Romans 14:19

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, 

and things wherewith one may edify another.

Hebrews 3:13

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day;

 lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Sometimes when we get an 'inside story' on a situation

we are reminded, nothing is ever completely as it appears.

Hopefully then, we strive to be kinder because who knows

what hidden cross our fellow-pilgrim is bearing!

This song from my younger days still makes me laugh😂

because most of us at some point can relate to at least one of

the frustrations he highlights😅

Some Beach

Be gracious, because everything is not as it appears

We all carry a hidden world beneath mortal veneers

And often what we might surmise by the posture of sheaves

Is but a glimpse of much more than the naked eye perceives

The aches and breaks of love and life are not splayed in bold font

For all to see the bare bones of necessity and want

Of tug of wars we weather as heart-tethers strain and groan

Of prayers poured out in secret tears, witnessed by God alone

Surely the common ground of stumbles and mistakes and such

Should sweeten words and soften hearts and gentle thought and touch

And make us far more patient with each other than we are

Where low blows from life’s hard knocks leaves many a hidden scar

Love’s lessons-in-the-learning do not spill for all to see

Therefore, we should defend each other with kind empathy/ sympathy

Rather than hurling insults, or quick judgment’s sharpened spears

We should be gracious, because all is not as it appears

© Janet Martin

The Older That You Grow...(A Birthday Poem for sunset years)

My mother-in-law turned 92 last week.

(below, a glimpse of after supper fellowship)

My dad turns 82 at the end of August.

Yesterday we attended a family reunion; my dad's siblings and families.

My oldest uncle, Dad's brother, turned 85 a few weeks ago,

We were missing a few fondly remembered faces.

One thing we all have in common is growing older day by day!

Let's cherish one another while we still may!

Don't you find, the older you get that below is a glimpse of as-good-as-it-gets? 

Fellowship around a table with friends or family, and a simple refreshment? 

(People cropped, out of respect for privacy❤.)

The older that you grow, the more we love you, *mother/father dear

Time does not slow but seems to speed up with each passing year

And sometimes we are prone to take for granted the kind grace

That allows us warm handshakes and fellowship, face to face

The older that you grow the more we keep you in fond prayer

And humbly ask God to bestow His kind and faithful care

With extra-tender mercies as the days to years run rife

To cheer you with His Presence in these sunset years of life

© Janet Martin

(*Word father/mother can be switched to aunt, uncle,

sister, brother etc.)

Earnest Entreaty...

Today's poem inspired in part by the messages below,

Esp. this line; nothing is worse than men who think that they see

when they are in reality, blind.

and when, in their delusion they make bold, to act as leaders

and guides for others.

Pictures That Tell a Story (Part 1 of 2) - 08/03/23

 Pictures That Tell a Story (Part 2 of 2) - 08/04/23

We love You, Lord, Because You first loved us, then pray that we

Live to be like vessels out-poured in glad humility

Not wise in our own eyes, with truth, imagination-blurred

But a people that dearly prize the statutes of your Word

Oh, may the love that we confess be more than verbal spew

Convicted by Your holiness to live holy lives too

And as we meditate upon our Saviour we adore

May Want be narrowed down to One/one; to love You more and more

Lest false teachers tease truth with lies that lull heart’s eyes to sleep

Until we do not recognize the wolves among the sheep

Lest deceived, believing we see, are like blind leading blind

Lord, help us seek You earnestly, with heart and soul and mind

Lest love becomes a clanging gong, sanctify, by Thy Word

True love, to enkindle a song of worship, undeterred

A hymn, so very precious, because we are subjects of

The love of He who loves us with an everlasting love

© Janet Martin

John 17:17

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Of August Days (we dearly love)

Where petal-rainbows run awry

Where wildflower rivers run wild

Where green fields rush to brush the sky

Where earth is like a laughing child

Where woods-lined backroads lob a lure

To poet-paradise unfurled

Where ink runs rife and font/want is pure

Where summer’s full bloom fills the world

Where treetop-whispers tune a tide

That runs beneath the brief façade

Of fruit and flowered countryside

Of field and garden-stippled sod

Where butterflies and songbirds flit

Where clover bends beneath the buzz

Of bees, too busy to just sit

And gaze a bit at what soon was

Where overhead cicadas drone

And underneath cricket-band plays

A non-stop backdrop, monotone

Heralding sweet, fleet August Days

Where a sense of impending due

Beckons us to commune with plants

To revel in hue upon hue

Of pleasure the Creator grants

To steep our senses in the joy

Of lily-lavished living-rooms

Before nature’s ordained ‘ahoy’

Snuffs waning wicks of petal-plumes

To never be too hurried to

Slow down and praise the Giver of

Each sheaf and leaf; each darling woo

Of August days we dearly love

© Janet Martin

Psalm 65

(I was going to choose just a few verses but each one is so awesome

I am sharing the whole beautiful chapter)

Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion;

And to You the [a]vow shall be performed.

2 O You who hear prayer,

To You all flesh will come.

3 Iniquities prevail against me;

As for our transgressions,

You will provide atonement for them.

4 Blessed is the man You choose,

And cause to approach You,

That he may dwell in Your courts.

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,

Of Your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us,

O God of our salvation,

You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth,

And of the far-off seas;

6 Who established the mountains by His strength,

Being clothed with power;

7 You who still the noise of the seas,

The noise of their waves,

And the tumult of the peoples.

8 They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of Your signs;

You make the outgoings of the morning and evening [b]rejoice.

9 You [c]visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water;

You provide their grain,

For so You have prepared it.

10 You water its ridges abundantly,

You settle its furrows;

You make it soft with showers,

You bless its growth.

11 You crown the year with Your goodness,

And Your paths drip with abundance.

12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,

And the little hills rejoice on every side.

13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;

The valleys also are covered with grain;

They shout for joy, they also sing.

Of This...

 

If I should dare to wander where the feet of angels fear to tread

And yield to worlds that want unfurls with abandon inside my head

Then, linger where fools stand and stare at faded font of yesterday

Ah! I might miss the bloom of this before its petals drift away

If I with skilled desire should build a bridge that only thought can cross

And boldly woo a rendezvous with what will never be or was

Then vainly pause a bit because pleasure and pain must have its dance

Ah! I might miss the thrill of this, while lost in Fantasy’s romance

If I should long for some lost song because of how it made me feel

Ah! I might miss the hymn of This, where original anthems peal

To interweave with what I grieve bequeathed at birth to dusk-wreathed death

To softly kiss the joy of This as it unravels breath by breath

If I should scorn the brimming morn while hungering for what is not

And feast my eyes upon a prize contrived by idle hands of thought

Ah! I might waste the pleasing taste of sweet, sweet berries on my spoon

And I might miss the bliss of This; a glorious summer afternoon

© Janet Martin

Not Here or There or That or This

Sometimes I spend a lot of misdirected

though well-intended energy on trying to

find God's purpose for me

when, as today's devotion reminded me,

all He wants is my surrendered willingness.

This was such a comfort to me as I try to decide 

whether to get back into childcare again or not!

I am having such a hard time trying to figure out what is best...

but whether I do or do not, has nothing to do with his purpose for me,

  if the object of my devotion each day is Him!

If my attitude is 

'Behold the handmaid of the Lord;

 be it unto me according to thy word'

Luke 1:38

(Is that verse not a challenge easier said/read than done?!!)

 Not the choice but the motive behind the choice

 reveals the voice I am listening to!

A sobering scale on which to weigh/pray each decision and desire,

because financial security and creature comforts

 are not God's purpose, 

(though, oh, how human nature wishes it would be!!)

but rather treasure of eternal value...unglamorous in the gaining!

John 3:17
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through Him.

John 6:28-29
Then they inquired, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"

Jesus replied, "The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent."

2 Pet.3:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

 Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,

 but everyone to come to repentance.

***

Not whether we go here or there or work at this or that

The purpose of God’s call will follow where we hang our hat

His focus not the title of the duty or the task

But of a heart surrendered to whatever He will ask

Not in lofty ambition or pursuit of noble quest

But in humble contrition to obey without protest

The medium of labor but the scaffolding whereby

The love for God and neighbor stirs/spurs the tenure of reply

The purpose of God is not there or here or that or this

His purpose always begins where the mark is hard to miss

Right here and now, with you and me, however vague or dim

His purpose is fulfilled as we relinquish all for Him

© Janet Martin

The Rich Young Man- Matt.19:16-28

(Mark 10:17–31; Luke 18:18–30)

16Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired,

 “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?”

17“Why do you ask Me about what is good?”e Jesus replied.

 “There is only One who is good. 

If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18“Which ones?” the man asked.

Jesus answered, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, 

do not steal, do not bear false witness, 

19honor your father and mother, 

and love your neighbor as yourself.’f”

20“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”

21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven. 

Then come, follow Me.”

22When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, 

because he had great wealth.

23Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you,

it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

  24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, 

“Who then can be saved?”

26Jesus looked at them and said, 

“With man this is impossible, 

but with God all things are possible.”

27“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. 

What then will there be for us?”

28Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things,

g when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, 

you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones,

 judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife

h or children or fields for the sake of My name 

will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

  30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.