Thursday, September 7, 2023

Delight's Attention Spans

A few delights caught on camera,
that helped inspire today's poem...

Clouds heaped on deeps of boundless blue, 


a grape-embellished vine...



He spills Majesty’s showcases, in petals, paper-thin...






A flower in its precious prime,





 a bud, bursting to tell
 (I am so eager for this hibiscus to begin blooming!!)


A bloom, bowed by the toll of Time’s unyielding carousel...


To mint and silver-dazzled mist of dew-kissed fennel-frond


God draws delight’s attentions to beauties and mercies fine
Clouds heaped on deeps of boundless blue, a grape-embellished vine
A flower in its precious prime, a bud, bursting to tell
A bloom, bowed by the toll of Time’s unyielding carousel
A treetop, cobbled to the moon, a pot of garden stew
A bit of summer afternoon left after work is through

He spills Majesty’s showcases, in petals, paper-thin
He wills unfathomed graces to a world blighted by sin
Four-season feasts of grandeur, great and small, thrill and confound
Impressions of His splendor thunder, oft without a sound
As glory of the earth and sky declares the glory of
The Lord. Ah, here a butterfly, ah, there a cooing dove

Coruscant vim of brook-verve curves through wood and meadowland
God’s evidence, without reserve, anoints Want’s blind demand
And fills us with anticipation for impending praise;
Impromptu celebrations as we marvel at His ways
Mantled in morning amethyst, hailed from Welkin Beyond
To mint and silver-dazzled mist of dew-kissed fennel-frond

How holy is the lowly spud, how God’s providence awes
Incomprehensible, the Thought that ordain nature’s laws
And draws delights attentions to beauties and mercies fair
And kindles endless anthems to a God beyond compare
Whose outer fringes flourish in frames filled with ‘let there be’
Whose Inner Whispers nourish gladness and humility

Delight's attention spans the gap twixt worshipper and God
It joins the the trees that clap their hands, the hill-and-field pealed laud
Where spoken tokens of his Word yield what He has decreed
His proclamation, undeterred for He is Lord indeed
Who draws delight's attention to creation's chief employ
To lift our hearts and voices and to shout and sing for joy

© Janet Martin

a pot of garden-stew...


***


Yesterday the morning was turning swiftly sweltering...
when, what to my wondering eyes should appear
but my dear neighbor with a potato-digger!
My hallelujah-hymn, 
(kindled as the potato-fork
unearthed Yukon gold and Idaho red treasure
 in astonishing measure)
reached new and unexpected heights;
the kind of height that only (unexpected) kindness 
(esp. potato-digger kindness)
achieves!!

(my apologies for the WOW!!!
in my delight, I forgot I was recording😂💗)



You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy.

The pastures are clothed with flocks, 
and the valleys are decked with grain. 
They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

North and south You created; 
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; 
the rivers have raised their voice;
 the seas lift up their pounding waves.

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; 
shout aloud, O depths of the earth.
 Break forth in song, O mountains, 
you forests and all your trees. 
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, 
and revealed His glory in Israel.



Tuesday, September 5, 2023

The Lane Is Quiet Now...

Seeing all the precious first-day-of-school photos
tugs at the strings of mom-hearts at the other end of school-days spectrum
Pinch Me!! Where did that seemingly-endless season slip?!
The lane is quiet now...



The lane is quiet now
No mother’s prayers flung aft
Her precious troop of scholars
No frantic antics, wept-laughed

The lane is quiet now
Save echoes, bittersweet
No toast and jam dashed after one
Who had no time to eat

No new-shoes-backpack joy
Or belly-butterflies
Or darling little girl and boy
Tugging at mom’s heart-ties

No watching that old clock
Dwindle the minutes till
‘Hurry, hurry!! You’ll miss the bus!’
Repeats its frenzied drill

That once-upon-a-time
Forever-long somehow
Unraveled into mist-kissed clime
The lane is quiet now

© Janet Martin

That once-upon-a-time
Forever-long somehow
Unraveled into mist-kissed clime
The lane is quiet now...

(the last first-day-of-school exactly 6 years ago now!)


The lane is quiet now
save cricket tweet-tweet-tweet...



I Cannot Get Enough (for all eternity)

 


Doing a mini-mountain of corn grants, sweet opportunity to
enjoy rich teaching...
Yesterday these messages ministered to my soul 

Submitting to God







I cannot get enough
For all eternity
To sing about my Savior’s love
And what He gave to me

His pardon for my sin
Death’s sentence come to end
A gift that I cannot begin
To fully comprehend

His death to conquer death
The moment I believed
Redemption crowns each gifted breath
Through salvation received 

His truth to set me free
His hope, alive and sure 
His peace amidst adversity
His joy complete and pure

His Spirit to cheer me
I cannot get enough
But to sing for eternity
About my Saviour’s love

© Janet Martin




Monday, September 4, 2023

A Sacred Contemplation

Ps.145:3-7 (oh, how I love this chapter)
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
 One generation commends your works to another;
    they tell of your mighty acts.
 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works.[b]
 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
    and I will proclaim your great deeds.
 They celebrate your abundant goodness
    and joyfully sing of your righteousness...


Great is the Lord and worthy to be praised indeed!
He, who knows all things...

Oh Lord, You know the truth
No need/good to smudge the ink
Or try to hide the living proof
Of what we want and think

Your gaze is undeterred
No vice or virtue veiled
Lord, let me tremble at Your word
Your Word has never failed

Oh Lord, you love us most
The Tempter hates when we
Make Your power in us our boast
With all humility

Lord, you resist the proud
Then, make us meek, I pray
I love you, Lord, for all You vowed
Will be just as You say

© Janet Martin

For all those things hath mine hand made,
 and all those things have been, saith the LORD:
 but to this man will I look, 
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, 
and trembleth at my word.

Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: 
but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.

A Very Personal Thing (Life's Labour of Love)

 Happy Labour Day!

Some fruits of labor/harvest are easy to recognize...
like onions!

Some harvests are far more subtle, 
so subtle, in fact, that if we are not careful/prayerful
we might trick ourselves into thinking (for better or worse)
 they will be forgotten!

1 Cor.15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

***
As much as we are able we may encourage and influence each other
as we labor and love side by side, until the Great Divide.
Then, 'each of us will give an account of himself to God.' Rom.14:12

***
2 John 1:8-9
Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for
,a but that you may be fully rewarded.
9Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ
does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching
has both the Father and the Son.

***
None can be and none can do
(Not you for me or me for you)
Though we need each other, none
None can smooth talk into place
The fruit of God’s saving grace
It is personal; the laud
Between living soul and God

None can learn God’s word for me
Nor my prayer’s substitute be
Faith’s relationship maintained
Is not, by default sustained
Each, by thought and deed will prove
Who or what we dearly love
Thus, life's account each will bring
Is a most personal thing

None can thwart what is at stake
Through the choices that we make
For how we influence who
By all that we say and do
Each, in our own hand will bring
(A very personal thing)
Before He who is not mocked
Love-letters of how we walked

© Janet Martin


 

  1. O land of rest, for thee I sigh!
    When will the moment come
    When I shall lay my armor by
    And dwell in peace at home?
    • Refrain:
      We’ll work till Jesus comes,
      We’ll work till Jesus comes,
      We’ll work till Jesus comes,
      And we’ll be gathered home.
  2. No tranquil joys on earth I know,
    No peaceful, shelt’ring dome;
    This world’s a wilderness of woe,
    This world is not my home.
  3. To Jesus Christ I fled for rest;
    He bade me cease to roam,
    And lean for comfort on His breast
    Till He conduct me home.
  4. I sought at once my Savior’s side;
    No more my steps shall roam;
    With Him I’ll brave death’s chilling tide
    And reach my heav’nly home.


Saturday, September 2, 2023

Dear September, (A Summer-lover's Entreaty)

Yesterday disappeared before I had a chance to
poem-welcome September💖

These days are a beautiful blur of pick and preserve,
of pausing to delight in the precious pleasure dwindling summer days...






Hold back the mellow, yellow haze seeping through sheen of summer green
And bar the gate where morrows wait to toss echoes from hill to hill
And keep at bay dusk’s blue and gray that draws today to what-has-been
Where farewells waft somewhere aloft but close enough to spark a chill

Delay the woo that will undo the lullaby in woodland tress
Abate the tide that turns the countryside to works of autumn art
And pause the haste that lays to waste summer-wild and chaste happiness
...and strive to slow the letting go that tugs at ties wound through the heart

Postpone the thrill of standing stock-still, stunned by sweeps of gold and rose
Oh, stay the hand that weighs the sand that falls through summer’s sanguine skies
Appease the want for flower-font and garden dirt between our toes
Extend the boon of sunny afternoon regaled with butterflies

Stoke summer’s dying ember, dear September, gild its darling dust
With prolonged trace of Queen Ann’s lace to grace commonplace avenues
Kiss the lament of summer spent with plums, and throes of harvest-lust
Ah, time enough to spill the Stuff that unfurls Autumn’s thund’ring hues

© Janet Martin




now, off to dig potatoes because I discovered they are starting to rot!!
due to all the rain.

Happy September Saturday to you!

And FINALLY, the kind of forecast we have been waiting for all summer!!




Friday, September 1, 2023

Precious Provision

Ps.63:1-8

O God, You are my God.

Earnestly I seek You;

my soul thirsts for You.

My body yearns for You

in a dry and weary land without water.

2So I have seen You in the sanctuary

and beheld Your power and glory.

3Because Your loving devotion is better than life,

my lips will glorify You.

4So I will bless You as long as I live;

in Your name I will lift my hands.

5My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

6When I remember You on my bed,

I think of You through the watches of the night.

7For You are my help;

I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

8My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.


 Be Thou My Vision



Thy hand of protection
Thy Voice of conviction
Thy rod of correction
I pray
Thy Word for direction
To gird faith’s subjection
And stir glad reflection
Today

Thy name, a strong tower
Thy love to empower
Thy goodness to shower
My plea
Thy grace for salvation
Thy glory, creation
To kindle elation
In Thee

Thy judgement to fear Thee
Thy promise to cheer me
Thy mercy to hear me
Again
Thy wonder to thrill me
Thy peace to instill me
Thy joy to fulfill me
Amen

© Janet Martin

Ps.139:17-18
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
 If I should count them, 
they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.



Thursday, August 31, 2023

For His Enduring Mercy...

A Hallelujah Hymn
even if it is the last day of August which makes me kind of sad...

David's hymn of praise for God's enduring mercy in Psalms 136, 
written long before Calvary,
inspired today's hymn, 
written long after Calvary, 
worshiping He whose mercy is everlasting...

Psalm 136:1
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

a few on-the-ground-glimpses of His mercy
before heading back to the garden to harvest
 more mercy-tokens🙏💓

Zinnia-forest...

Caterpillar-study...

Pick of the petal-crop

Wrapping piggy in pastry blankie...m-m-m!

Oh! The excitement when there's a mousie in Janet's housie!!!
I will leave the ending of the tale to your apt imaginations
but it involved a trap😂


To count Thy mercies, Lord, is more than ink can summarize
You woo the light of morn to chase night’s shadows from yon skies
With love that never fails you keep Your promises intact
Happy is the heart that avails itself of this kind fact
At Calvary, upon a cross, once for all you became
Sin’s final sacrifice, for all who call upon Your name
Mercy for blind accusers, for hearts, hard with unbelief
Mercy for the abusers of love’s brutal, blood-drenched grief
Mercy that spills in flowers to anoint the earth that groans
But not the Soul; the deathless Soul, whose bearing You decree
Where mercy cannot break its Vow; God is not mocked but keeps
Beyond the visage of all who approach the solemn goal
That each breath draws us nearer to; the Saviour of the Soul
Whose everlasting mercy pours with comfort and appeal
Whose everlasting love implores with agonizing zeal
Whose will it is that none should die, doomed to the wage of sin
Because He gave Himself to buy the gift of Life, to win
Where Mercy meets us where we are with love, not blow for blow
He does not curse, or nurse the scar where once we struck Him, no
But bends to bind hate’s gaping wounds with redemption unmarred/unbarred
He draws us to His bosom with Hands, gentle though nail-scarred
With everlasting mercy, God unfurls before our gaze
A virgin opportunity to honor Him with praise
For His enduring mercy in spite of oft thankless stance
For His enduring mercy that His faithful favor grants

© Janet Martin


Ps,136:26
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
For His mercy endures forever.