Praise God From Whom All Blessing Grows...

This poem has been percolating in my soul for some time 💓🙏

Life is unceasingly busy with beauty/bounty of harvest among other things...

(including, much to our relief, the recovery of our pickup truck,

on Sat. night, after it was stolen from our back yard 

two weeks ago during a family reunion!

It will (happily) be returned in due time.

Thank-you to all who prayed and please continue to pray

 for the poor soul who stole it 😢💔)

Praise God from Whom all blessings grow as earthen wellsprings overflow...

The seed is rent with plume and root,

 the bough is bent with gleaming fruit...

The land, a patchwork counterpane of lush corn fields and gathered grain...

And gold-green sheen of soybean field aflutter with impending yield...

And in yon once-upon-spring-brooks, wild flowers beckon second-looks...

A rambling rush, where sight is awed by aster, teasel, goldenrod

Praise God from Whom all blessings grow as earthen wellsprings overflow

The seed is rent with plume and root, the bough is bent with gleaming fruit

The land, a patchwork counterpane of lush corn fields and gathered grain

And gold-green sheen of soybean field aflutter with impending yield

And in yon once-upon-spring-brooks, wild flowers beckon second-looks

A rambling rush, where sight is awed by aster, teasel, goldenrod

Praise God from Whom all bounty brims; happiness is hope’s harvest hymns

The creature’s quick complaint subdued by unmerited gratitude

As God, rich in mercy and love runs goodness through sod’s treasure trove

For needy likes of you and I whose worship lifts up glad reply

To He who gives us strength for toil as we gather seed’s sumptuous spoil

Or when praise is unlearned, still He pours unearned blessing lavishly

Praise God from Whom all blessings peal. Before whose throne we humbly kneel

To offer soulful stutters to the One who cares for me and you

Who loves to stun our ardent prose with the perfection of the rose

Who challenges the showman’s noise with dripping peachy-sweetest joys

Who strums the hidden parts of earth and orchestrates the art of birth

Who sees our hearts, knows how we are, yet still upends His blessing-jar

Praise God from Whom all blessing grows in reds, pinks, purples, greens, yellows

Each garden plot, (after the heat) a paradisiacal retreat

Each tree-tress like a mandolin breeze-balladeers get tangled in

Each woodland dark and whispering before fall’s stark unraveling

Each bower like a temple where we cannot help but bow in prayer

Each flower a masterpiece, oh, praise God from Whom all blessings grow

Each fruit and veg a five-star score of possibility galore

Each by God wondrously designed; each perfect after their own kind

Praise Him for healthy appetite and praise Him for each tasty bite

Of blessing only He can grant where our duty is to plant

Then trust Him for the compliments of sun and raindrop providence

Content to join the hymn that flows, ‘praise God from whom all blessing grows’

© Janet Martin

Praise God from Whom all blessing grows in reds, pinks, purples, greens, yellows

Each garden plot, (after the heat) a paradisiacal retreat...

Each tree-tress like a mandolin breeze-balladeers get tangled in

Each woodland dark and whispering before fall’s stark unraveling

Each bower like a temple where we cannot help but bow in prayer

Each flower a masterpiece, oh, praise God from Whom all blessings grow

Ps.66:1-5

Make a joyful noise to God,
all the earth!
2Sing the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious.
3Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds!
So great is Your power
that Your enemies cower before You.
4All the earth bows down to You;
they sing praise to You;
they sing praise to Your name.”

Because God Is Not a Far-off Father

Sharing some sweet reassurance today,

(because it's so easy to slip into walking by sight!)

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; 

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Ps.55:22

Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be [b]moved.

I couldn't decide on any particular photos to share today

 so I am sharing some recent twilight garden tranquility...

Do the unknowns of tomorrow rob you of peace for today

Does love's joy, laden with sorrow, take a sad, triumphant toll 

Faith, the substance of things hoped for, does it cheer you when you pray

Does it grant God's strength for labor and His comfort for your soul

Or, is dread a thief of laughter, fear, a dark and rolling sea 

God is not a far-off Father; He bids us 'come unto Me'

Do you long for lasting pleasure and delight's true happiness  

Or does this world's fleeting treasure consume worship's mad pursuit 

Do you find sweet consolation in God's steadfast promises 

Does His gift of soul's salvation produce heaven-flavored fruit 

Or is trouble a dictator stealing humble hymns of praise

God is no distant Creator, but a Helper all our days 

In the process of Becoming, are you losing heart, pray tell

Is the noise of progress numbing you to truths that never change  

Although the spirit is willing, does the flesh resist, rebel

Or, is One greater instilling what no rival can estrange 

For, though life is heartbreak-tainted, our prayers are held secure 

Because God is well acquainted with all suff'rings we endure 

In the valley of death's shadow He unfurls the path of life

His word is a Lamp to follow, and a Light to show the Way 

Does the hope of Heaven fill you with courage to face earth's strife

Does the thought of Seeing thrill you as you walk by faith today

Do you face faith's certain danger at the ready to defend

Because God is not stranger; but a very present Friend   

Janet Martin

 

Psalm 145:17-21

The LORD is righteous in all His ways

and kind in all His deeds.

18The LORD is near to all who call on Him,

to all who call out to Him in truth.

19He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;

He hears their cry and saves them.

20The LORD preserves all who love Him,

but all the wicked He will destroy.

21My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD;

let every creature bless His holy name

forever and ever.

Deuteronomy 4:7
For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them

 as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

Psalm 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; 

He saves the contrite in spirit.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,

 an ever-present help in times of trouble.

I know I have shared these songs before

but I longed to hear them this morning...

Lead Me Gently Home, Father

God Will

In the Sweet Bye and Bye

Love's Rare Romance

Life is full of trouble and sorrow; joy's startling sweetener!

Sometimes when asked what my favourite Bible verse is

I hardly know which to choose but without a doubt

the verses below (first taught to me as a child by my mother)

rank near the top;

whispered many times as I encounter life's

tug-of-warring-whys-and-no's 

The first part of Prov.3

but esp. verses 5-6 and in my older age also verse 7

Without trouble we would never learn trust.

Without trust we never know true joy and peace

***

Taste the fervor of the hour

Make the most of every flow’r...

Life runs rife with highs and lows

Joy and strife of thorn and rose

Bow before its Lord and pray

Then rise up and seize the day

Taste the fervor of the hour

Make the most of every flow’r

Bear the brunt of fading grass

Everything comes, but to pass

Trace the tender timbre of

Every splendor, every love

Linger where the waning light

Tucks the day beneath goodnight

…cradled in the keeping of

Unfailing goodness and love

While the days-to-years run rife

With laughter and tears of life

Darling, with so much amiss

In the thick of that and this

It takes more than we possess

To muster/master true happiness/holiness

While season to season flows

While reason staggers 'neath blows

While change is a constant rod

Bow before life’s changeless God

Trust in Him with all your heart

Dust to dust sees but in part

But God never leads astray

Bow before him oft, and pray

For the likes of me and you

Have so much to learn, tis true

Pray, we find love's rare romance

Only trust in the Lord grants

Pray we find faith's treasured Must

Sorrow's/trouble's silver lining; trust 

Pray before we start each day

We bow before God and pray

© Janet Martin

Take Time To Be Holy

Did You Think to Pray?

Let Me Live...

Without Humility and Fear and Trembling at God's Word and Morning-tide is Gently Breaking (a Twofer today :-)

It takes patience, determination and discipline to blog this time of year!!

Yester-morn and this morning Cutie and Duty-Beauty prevailed

before I had accomplished sharing a poem here...

It's harvest and making-the-most-of-moments-

before-school-begins-again season...

Yesterday morning I first deposited all the corn on the lawn to husk but it

was so cool and windy we ended up moving into the garage!

Grand-sonny loved 'trucking' cobs to the wheelbarrow and baskets 

to keep the huskers husking!

Husking complete!

Isa.66:2

“These are the ones I look on with favor:

those who are humble and contrite in spirit,

and who tremble at my word.

I wrote the poem below before heading out to pick corn..., 

inspired in part by the above verse

and in part by plain, old-fashioned 

observation/self-examination 

Without humility and fear and trembling at God’s word

The paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake, are vision-blurred

Without willing contrition/submission of heart and soul, strength and mind

Love is oft led into temptation, sensual and blind

And without daily taking up love’s cross to suffer-long

Speech is a clanging cymbal and worship, a hollow gong

Without utter reliance and unswerving confidence

In God, the tree will not produce fruit of obedience

Without earth’s treasure taken now and then, to temper boast

Our want will never waken to desire God the most

Without the world forsaken first, God’s armor cannot shield

Us from the awful day when the unrighteous are revealed

Without the consolation of God’s hope, we lack the ken

To trust Him for salvation and knowledge of truth. Amen

We lack faith’s thankful fervor for the grace of God, who gave

Himself to be our Savior and to overthrow hell’s grave

Without surrender’s ‘not my will but Thine be done’ today

We lack the love we ought to have that bids us to obey

Without love's purposed commitment of living, sacrificed

We cannot find the fulfillment that comes through Jesus Christ

God will not keep in perfect peace, a mind un-stayed on Him

The ear is deaf if the heart has no word of God within

To lead in paths of righteousness and keep faith undeterred

With love’s humility and fear and trembling at His word

© Janet Martin

After corn husking I forgot to take photos till cleanup was complete!

All done! For now😅

The first four lines of today's poem

whispered to me out of a dead sleep... 💗

(so, if you prefer a quick ditty to

drawn-out doggerels those lines can be

its own little lyric)

Morning-tide is Gently Breaking 

Morning-tide is gently breaking like a gold lake over sod

Faithfulness, free for man’s taking tumbles from the hand of God

Goodness grants fresh salutations of love, from mercy renewed

Grace runs rife with invitations to fill life with gratitude...

Challenging easy desires and the thirst for pleasure’s vice

To a frontline that requires Giving’s living sacrifice

Morning-tide is gently rolling like a wave across the lea

Time’s tintinnabulum tolling holy opportunity

Beckoning, from mercy’s table, to drink deeply from hope’s fount

Reckoning is not a fable; someday we will give account

Pray then, that each day composes a most sober legacy

Lest we blush when God exposes what was hid, for all to see

Morning-tide is grandly sweeping over land and sea; behold

He whose kind and patient keeping dissolves the darkness with gold

He is awesome and all-knowing; earth and heaven beam and brim

With His evidence, bestowing immutable proof of Him

Until, He exchanges glimpses of His glory; time’s veil rent

Where at last seeing convinces every lofty argument

Morning-tide is gently breaking like a lake of gleaming gold

Moments, free for our taking, already slip through our hold

Softly and subtly preparing answers we will not escape

In the face of mercy’s bearing, recompense is taking shape

Where morning-tide, gently shimmers in a lake of gold and pink

Where the mist of reply glimmers, then dries in permanent ink

Come, before the tide of Morning disappears into the dark

Heed the voice that pleads with warning, lest we wait and miss Faith’s mark

Kiss the feet of the Creator, worship Him without reserve

Where He counters each debater with creation’s vim and verve

While the worshipper fills pages with humility or pride

While God crowns the dust of ages with newness of morning-tide

© Janet Martin

Helping gramma painstakingly uncurl and examine every single lemon tea leaf,

(before drying)

for tiny worms woven almost imperceptibly into curled edges!

But I love this tea so much which, I explained to them, is why it is worth the

squeamish effort!' And they love tea at gramma's house too!

1 Tim.1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, 

to [e]God who alone is wise,

 be honor and glory forever and ever. 

Amen.

Sweet Summer...part 3

Click links below for

Sweet Summer- Part 1

Sweet Summer- Part 2

I began this poem the other day,

to commemorate the tipping point of August's halfway mark! 💖💖💖

Halo of gold and maroon...

Serenade of cricket-croon...

Where the floral colour-spree

Lures bard, 

butterfly...

and bee; (the bees wouldn't sit still enough to give me a good shot 😅)

Where the wonder of the world

Sparkles in dew-gilt unfurled...

Of gardens, bursting, and how

With earth’s tables heaped with chow...

Halo of gold and maroon

Serenade of cricket-croon

Morn, noon night, vibrato-lilt

Trembles in ensembles, spilt

Where the sizzling heat wave broods

Over dark and still-life woods

Where the floral colour-spree

Lures bard, butterfly and bee

Where the cornfields grow and grow

Like infantry, row on row

Where the florid landscape lies

Like a Painter’s Paradise

Where the wonder of the world

Sparkles in dew-gilt unfurled

Feeds the whine of combine-loot

Weighs the wispy vine with fruit

Stuns the poet, middle-stride

With the ink of August-tide

With the hazy, lazy grief

Of boughs, dense with sighing/dying leaf

Of gardens, bursting, and how

With earth’s tables heaped with chow

Of the gard’ner, overcome

By a seed’s volupt’ous sum

Of the brook, bereft of lay

Lyrics lost to reeds and clay

Of the pigment of the rose

Formula God only knows

Of wild lilies of the field

Spilling in copious yield

Of the rush, before the hush

After sedum’s school-girl blush

Of fleet, bittersweet dog-days

Of summer’s soft-slipping ways

Of the hummingbird that drinks

From bloom founts; reds, purples, pinks

Of hydrangea’s lavish crown

Pretty as a bridal gown

Of orchards in quiescent form

Like the calm before the storm

Of kitchens filled with chop-slice

Vinegar and pickling-spice

Dill, parsley, basil, foray

Canners never put away

Menus brightened with fresh voice

Where the cook is spoiled for choice

While the spider spins and spins

While summer’s silk lining thins

While dust wafts o’er dusky day

While the barefoot children play

While the mother collects art

Lost to touch but kept in heart

While the fondness for each flow’r

Falls prey to the baying hour

Falls prey to Bygone’s clenched fist

Clutching at frayed fronds of mist

© Janet Martin

Of hydrangea’s lavish crown

Pretty as a bridal gown...

Of kitchens filled with chop-slice

Vinegar and pickling-spice...

Dill, parsley, basil, foray...

Canners never put away...

Menus brightened with fresh voice

Where the cook is spoiled for choice...

While the spider spins and spins

While summer’s silk lining thins

While dust wafts o’er dusky day...

While the barefoot children play...

Better-Awareness

Sometimes we misunderstand things because we don't wait for the finished picture!

It takes time for an Artist to complete His (or, as below, her) work

Better to be patient in waiting

Than impatient and settling for far less than God would grant...

After she completed the swing set I thought she was done,

and I praised her drawing but, after she studied it briefly she returned to it.

Something seemed wanting.

Then she added grass, sky, clouds and people!

A much prettier picture than I was ready to settle for 💝

Better to be reprimanded than to flourish in deceit

To obey is better than the pomp and show of sacrifice

Better to be bowed in bearing, washing fellow-traveler's feet

Than to be proud and uncaring; always counting giving's price

Better to be poor and gentle than world-wealthy and unkind

Better to be robbed and beaten, than to be the one that steals

Better to walk by faith daily, than coast through life, seeing-blind 

Better to be led through fire than to trust in how one feels 

Better to be mocked and hated than applauded for sin's fruit 

Better this, to suffer wrongly than to live without a care 

Better to be wild with hunger than succeed in greed's pursuit

Better, tossed by trouble's tempest than smooth sailing without prayer 

Better to be God's-grace strengthened than to never know its need

Better to grow wise in waiting, than a fool, soon gratified 

Better to trust in the Lord than lean on Logic's shaky reed/lead 

Better to be stumble-humbled than poised on tight-ropes of pride  

© Janet Martin

Proverbs 15:17

Better a dish of vegetables where there is love 

than a fattened ox with hatred.

Proverbs 17:1

Better a dry morsel in quietness 

than a house full of feasting with strife.

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better one handful with tranquility 

than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

Not every aftermath  is instantly visible

as outlined HERE 

but without a doubt,

we reap what we sow! 

Deut.10:12-21 BSB

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you

but to fear the LORD your God

by walking in all His ways, to love Him,

to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

13and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD

that I am giving you this day for your own good?

14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens,

even the highest heavens,

and the earth and everything in it.

15Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them.

And He has chosen you, their descendants after them,

above all the peoples, even to this day.

16Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.

17For the LORD your God is God of gods

and Lord of lords,

the great, mighty, and awesome God,

showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow,

and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

19So you also must love the foreigner,

since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him.

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

21He is your praise and He is your God,

who has done for you these great and awesome wonders

that your eyes have seen.