Monday, November 11, 2024

Soul-dier's Charge/ Challenge!



Someday a universal Last Post/ Last Trump will sound
begging these questions...

To what ending do we labour,
Shoulder burdens, laugh and weep
Keep the faith and love our neighbor
Rise and shine and go to sleep

To what purpose do we reason
Weathering life's highs and lows
Persevering through each season
Bearing one another's woes

To whose command do we cater
Left foot, right foot, on and up
Does the grave or something/One Greater
Drain life's Intangible Cup

To what finish do we struggle?
What good is the bad we bear?
What makes worth earth's toil and trouble?
What makes lucrative its care?

To what Triumph do we rally?
Braving sorrow's bitter sting
What makes bearable the valley
To what Promise can Hope cling? 

For what profit do we suffer?  
What makes the Prize worth the fight?
What is dark foreboding's buffer?
What defends deferred delight? 

What Cause rouses us from slumber?
What fuels faith's Sacred Charge
What use are tears without number?
Is prayer but a drifting barge?

Is joy but what this world offers?
Always death's impending prey? 
Is wealth but cold, gold-lined coffers
By ill Fate's stroke borne away?

Or, is God's love, life's ambition?
Is  His Promise worth the price?
Is His Reward worth the Mission
His love worth the sacrifice?

Does what-waits-to-be compel us
To trust and be of good cheer
Does the love of God indwell us
Making all the difference here? 

Love helps everybody shoulder
Life, as on and up we plod
Love never fails any Soul-dier
Who has put his/her trust in God

Love's Call of Duty is wending
Warriors God-ward, undeterred
To a Beginning,  unending
Eye has not seen nor ear heard 

Then with valiant, holy fervor
Spirit armed and gospel shod
Fight the good fight like a Soul-dier
Bringing all glory to God

© Janet Martin

1 Cor. 2:9
it is written:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no heart has imagined,
what God has prepared
 for those who love Him.”b

2 Tim.2:3-5
You therefore must endure[a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, 
that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 
5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, 
he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.


Saturday, November 9, 2024

Like November (or Dancer's Dare)

How it tugs at tender heartstrings; November's bronze-brown-blue-grey...


Suddenly we are all children gazing wide-eyed...


...at the Creator's reminder of love's many-splendored hues


"look! it's raining, marveled the 2 1/2 year old little boy,
as we gazed agape at God's symbol of promise, that without rain, cannot be seen!





How it tugs at tender heartstrings; November's bronze-brown-blue-grey
How it woos Surrender's smarting as fall's fading ballads play
As the sassy zephyr swindles hues of scarlet-yellow-red
As a beloved Maestro dwindles leaf-montages overhead

How we wish time didn't hurry like the homeward trek of feet
Or like leaves that scuttle, scurry and cartwheel 'cross yard and street
How like lonely shepherds, shadows scale the slopes at eventide
How November's sheave-shorn meadows cast a quiet countryside

How the part that balks and reasons rocks the heart with poetry
How the quiescence of the seasons taunts Want's bent of vanity
How the rebel wind rants, reckless, where once rustling cornfields gleamed 
Akin to grief, raw and restless where once winsome Dreamer dreamed 

How the ache of farewells, meted in each fallen leaf, runs wild
Yet, beauty is not defeated; wonder is a laughing child 
Where the canvas of November showcases the Artist's law
Earth, a hearth of dying embers, kindles hearts with unplumbed awe 

Where the sweep of furrows, umber, slumber, green and gold bereft
Where no onlooker can number what remains of autumns left 
Where solitude of November stokes a haunting melody
Strains of 'Nothing stays forever' wafts across the bloom-doffed lea

Autumn's Anthem spills unbidden; how its lyrics lilt and swirl
Suddenly we are all children, universal boy and girl
Gazing wide-eyed, meeker, kinder, at November's stunning dues 
At the Creator's reminder of love's many-splendored hues 

How it tugs at tender heartstrings; sorrow in its finest form 
Hones a sense of hope where Parting, takes the world by golden storm
Loosed Leaf startles grief with gladness, tango of ten-thousand-(thousand) feet 
Dares the Dancer to brave sadness like November, Bittersweet 

© Janet Martin



Parting, takes the world by golden storm...
Daring the Dancer to brave sadness









Friday, November 8, 2024

Song for We Who Often Wonder


As our church family weathers another staggering loss,
pray we are drawn closer to each other in humble faith because
we know God is faithful and righteous in all He does!




Through each moment meting hours
Tuning morning, noon and night
Through each garden filled with flowers
Not yet visible to sight
Through each up and down we weather
Whether foul or fair wind blows
God is faithful through whatever
His perfect purpose bestows

While we oft, in sorrow wonder
At God's ways we cannot know
While we marvel at the thunder
Of His grace, whereby we go
While the ranks of reason wrestle
With thanksgiving tried by tears
God is good and God is faithful
In all His love commandeers

Then, without doubt’s hesitation
Though we do not understand
Praise the Author of salvation
Trust the leading of His hand
Never to despair because
He is ever good and righteous
And faithful in all He does

© Janet Martin

(below, a passage I have treasured like never before 
in my personal season of sorrow, as well as I weep with
others who weep)

Ps.145:17-19
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.





Thursday, November 7, 2024

After You...

Yesterday and today's beauty beg for a Dear Lucy bit o' poem...

Dear Lucy💔💖

How bittersweet to sit at your kitchen table
without you bustling about,
pouring tea and serving far more food
 than one could possibly eat!!
But, seeing you in your daughter
sweetened the bitter ache of missing you so...

Lucy's kitchen window yesterday,
like a framed work of God-art!



Dear Lucy

There will still be love and laughter
Time will still fling wide dawn's door
But death leaves life, ever after
Never like it was before

There will still be hills/thrills and hollows
Much to chase and much to choose
But no matter what still follows
No one will quite fill your shoes

There will still be dreams and dances
Across Mercy's ballroom floor
But a lifetime of fresh chances
Cannot grant what was before

There will still be grace-bent gladness
Memories, precious and new
But, not without pangs of sadness
That death left in place of you

There will still be love and laughter
Hopes to seize and joys to claim
But no matter what comes after
Nothing will be quite the same

Love always,
Janet


View from your driveway...




Hope, God's Gift to Humankind

For in this hope we were saved;
 but hope that is seen is no hope at all. 
Who hopes for what he can already see?
 But if we hope for what we do not yet see, 
we wait for it patiently.

Hope is not some optimistic illusion!
True, living hope is faith's anchor, 
a gift from God we receive when we believe;
'By His (God's) great mercy He has given us
 new birth into a living hope
 through the resurrection of 
Jesus Christ from the dead,...' (1  Pet.1:3)

Hope for Iran, the Ukraine, India, Pakistan,
Russia, North and South Korea, Sudan, Nigeria,
China, Jordan, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium,
Ireland, Spain, North-Central-South America, Singapore,
(to name but a few!)
Hope for every single nook and crook of creation!!
Hallelujah!! 

Hope, God's hymn to bless each morn...




Hope, God's beacon to pierce darkness
Hope, God's rose that crowns woe's thorn
Hope, God's seal on every promise
Hope, God's hymn to bless each morn

Hope, God's bread to feed heart-hunger
Hope, God's thread to mend the soul
Hope, God's angels without number
Hope, God's peace where billows roll

Hope, God's kiss on wounds of sorrow
Hope, God's power borne within
Hope, God's steadfast staff we borrow
Till Soul sheds its cloak of skin

Hope, God's treasure of salvation
Hope, wealth money cannot buy
Hope, the cry of every nation
Hope, God's wellspring of reply 

Hope, for all who are forgiven
Hope, for all who trust the Lord
Hope, God's helping Hand from Heaven
Hope, the anchor of His Word 

Hope, faith's Cornerstone of courage 
Hope, faith's plea that authors prayer
Hope, faith's freedom from world-bondage
Hope, faith's safeguard from despair 

Hope, God's truth beyond undoing  
Hope, God's glory none can dim
Hope, God's gentle whisper wooing
Every heartbeat back to Him

Hope, God's gift of grace and gladness
Hope, God's gift His grief/love designed   
Hope, God's gift to comfort sadness
Hope, God's gift to humankind

© Janet Martin




Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope
 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Rom.5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, 
we havea peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
  2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.
 And we rejoiceb in the hope of the glory of God.
3Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
4perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5And hope does not disappoint us, 

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Fruit-Evaluation...


How often love relinquishes what we dearly love 
for Who we dearly love~

***
To love something is never Reason enough unless
it is because we love someone

***
2 Tim.3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days [a]perilous times will come: 
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, 
lovers of money, 
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
 unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, [b]unforgiving, 
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, 
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. 
And from such people turn away!

***

We all know it is foolish to wait till autumn to contemplate
what will be the harvest!
Harvest depends on what we sow during planting season!
Today in the Season of life it is still planting season,
even in November.
Fruit is no liar;
we reap what we sow.
We are wise to pause time and again, and evaluate
humbly and honestly the health and hardiness
of the fruit on the tree...

Matt.3:10
The ax is already at the root of the trees, 
and every tree that does not produce good fruit 
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

On today's to-do/planting-harvest list; can pumpkins...


Roast beets for supper 'salad'...



(Below, last week's first time recipe-try and new fall favourite!)



Myriad medleys of  moments served up inspiration for today's poem...

Upon a scale we oft forget, the fruit of love is weighed
Each new day, rife with gleaming 'yet' grants opportunity 
To manifest love's evidence, as word and deed are laid
Before the One whose ordinance lays the ax to the tree   
 
Upon a scale we cannot see, we heap the fruit of love
While God's goodness streams fresh and free, like rainfall and sunshine
His mercy hails and we reply; as what we prize we prove
By who we serve; vain to deny the fruit upon the vine   

Great peace have they who love God's law, yea, nothing will offend
Then pray for more genuine awe as we approach The Scale
For love is not a liar as it fills limbs that will bend
With fruit of heart's desire and the proof that will not fail 

Upon a scale none can revoke love's sacred fruits accrue 
The deed we did, the word we spoke, the Thought, secretly sown 
Then pray we pay more earnest heed as we embark anew
To till the ground and plant the seed that by its fruit is known

Upon a scale held in hands scarred by love, nailed to a cross 
We heap our answer; no holds barred, holy, holy, the fruit 
Because it tells the tender truth; futile, all verbal gloss 
The fruit of love, the sacred proof that silences dispute  

Gal.5:19-26
The acts of the flesh are obvious: 
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy,
 fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; 
drunkenness, orgies, and the like. 
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
 will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,
 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 
23 gentleness and self-control. 
Against such things there is no law. 
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh 
with its passions and desires. 
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 
 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Gal.6:7-10
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. 
Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
  8The one who sows to please his flesh, 
from the flesh will reap destruction;
 but the one who sows to please the Spirit, 
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, 
for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
  10Therefore, as we have opportunity, 
let us do good to everyone, 
and especially to the family of faith.
 

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Gladness Beyond Comprehension

Happy November 2nd from a
misty, gold-leaf-drippy, frost-filigree morning in Ontario!



My oh my!! What an awesome loving Creator we have!
Below, a few frames of the first day of November's farewell...







and, my, oh my, how our loving, awesome Creator hates sin.
But my, how He loves us, sinners,
born with the curse of sin,
since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden.
But, He so loved us that
 He gave His only begotten Son
so whoever believes in Him will not perish
but have everlasting life 
John 3:16
God hates sin, but His love forgives every
sin we repent of and confess.
If we confess our sins, 
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
He loved us so much that
God made him who had no sin 
to be sin for us, 
so that in him we might become 
the righteousness of God
2 Cor.5:21
God loves us so much He knew that He alone 
was the only perfect, eternal sin offering, 
so He offered, not some noble substitute, but Himself/His son
 to pay the grueling price of pardon
because without the shedding of blood
there is no remission;
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,
 and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb.9:22
So God shed His blood and gave his life
 on a cruel cross for all to see
Therefore I (God) will allot Him a portion with the great, 
and He will divide the spoils with the strong,
 because He has poured out His life unto death, 
and He was numbered with the transgressors. 
Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isa.53:12
and to this very day, for all eternity
God's faithfulness repeats
 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; 
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
Jer.31:3

God's sacrifice would have been impossible
unless He truly loved us!
Is it not then in turn the same for us?
It is impossible for us to truly follow/serve Him/sacrifice Self
until we truly love Him?
Let's ask God to help us remember
never to hate Him because of
how 'sinners' may hurt or disappoint us because
we are all sinners
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom.3:23

 God loves us so much He gave us His Word
so we may know Him and love Him all the more...
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:1

The more we seek Him the more we find Him
Ask and it will be given to you; 
seek and you will find; 
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matt.7:7

***

Hark, what hails time's spark of trouble?
What gladdens guerdons of grief?
What makes most precious, life's bubble 
Bobbing like a wafting leaf ?

What compels hope for tomorrow?
What can no rival destroy?
Even in the thick of sorrow
What anoints the tear with joy?

What anchors the transient staircase
That body, heart and soul brave?
What satisfies Yearning's embrace?
What transcends the lifeless grave?

What, 'midst mayhem, grants peace, glorious?
What sweetens the bitter rod ?  
This; the unfailing, victorious
Everlasting love of God

© Janet Martin

Emotions seem to run especially high 
during impending elections, don't they?!!
Pray we remember what/Who matters most
and Whose loving and perfect purposes none can thwart

Deut.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?
  8And what nation is great enough to have 
righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law
 I set before you today?












Friday, November 1, 2024

Grief-frames

Happy 82nd Birthday, dear Mom born Nov.1, 1942
(photo credit on this post goes to my sister Marlene)


Yesterday, at my mother's annual birthday tea-party
the presence of each other seemed more treasured,
 our love more tender than ever before,
in the light of grief...



My mom asked if she could host it
(for the first time ever) in what has been a tradition
for SO many years!
If Lucy were here I could count on her to remember
when it started, who hosted it
and maybe even what she was wearing and
if/who she was pregnant with...
😅😂💖
She had an incredible memory!! 

Because mom hosted it, Dad could enjoy the celebration too 💝
(although we have another one on Sunday that includes our men as well)



Grief ebbs, then rushes in like a billow, invisible
It rolls through heart and soul with staggering intensity
It strips us of all pretense; Love's most severe crucible
As God, who IS love, tries the Part that He alone can see

Grief sends us on a journey we would never choose to take
Around and 'round a gaping void, veiled by façades, skin-thin
It winds heartstrings through phantom frames where echoes tug and ache
Woven from moments not unlike the moments we are in

Grief moans like autumn's lonely wind through woodlands, leaf-bereft
It sobs, like summer, silenced by its sum of Season-sand
From detonated dreamlands, it examines what is left
Sifting through drifts of rubble diamond-dust, where once Love laughed and planned

Grief teaches us to live with an 'if the Lord wills' regard
To love as if Today could be the last for you or me  
It stirs holier handling of dawn's invitation card
Because Today does not come with a Morrow-guarantee  

Grief metes Love's Must; relentless thrust of waves, dash-crash-recede 
Then, with renewed velocity, returns with wrenching pains 
To wander rooms, once full of Innocence we did not heed
Where now his/her essence of presence, like a shadow remains

Grief takes us to the arms of friends and family so dear
And it is no coincidence, it drives us to our knees
To draw us to The Sacred Solace of God's list'ning ear 
*And glimpses to the Inner Room of Heaven's Mysteries/Sympathies

Janet 💔🙏

The verses below comfort me constantly,
as I lift my wordless groans to God's intercession

Rom.8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 
We do not know what we ought to pray for, 
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 
 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, 
because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people 
in accordance with the will of God.

Below, yesterday's timely and profound devotion
from the book Streams in the Desert, Vol.1
(* this devotion articulates splendidly, the last line in today's poem)




While I was working on this post
a friend sent me these words...
She is mourning the loss of a friend who passed away this week.
"God is so gracious and so tender,
 even though we might never get the ‘why’ on this side of heaven."
Thank-you, Joanne!
(Her friend was released from a brave battle with ALS)

And last but not least...
My mom with her salt and pepper shaker collection
200+ pairs!

Yesterday she invited each of us to choose a pair,
before she gives her grandchildren the opportunity to do the same


I chose these Siamese cats.
They have lived in my mother's china hutch since
before I was born.
From her friend Mary (Mrs. Abner Martin)

My two 'little sisters' enjoying their choices!
Lucy was the middle sister...