A Continued Reflection...

A continued reflection of The Greatest Gift

of God's Son Jesus, who came to earth

to be our Saviour...

Below are the first words I read today!

AWESOME!! 

1 John 5:1-5 NKJV

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, 

and everyone who loves Him who begot 

also loves him who is begotten of Him. 

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, 

when we love God and keep His commandments.

 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.

 And His commandments are not burdensome.

 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. 

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—[a]our faith. 

5 Who is he who overcomes the world, 

but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Above is a picture of the Christmas Card I had hoped to send

to so many more than I managed to accomplish,

due in part, to the mail strike and in part to

simply not getting it done

If you are reading this, then know this card is for you,

dear friend, whether near and far! 

Thank-you so much for your kindness in 2024,

(but esp. since the loss of my sister Lucy on Sept.17)

For the Christmas season I turned my fridge door into a prayer-reminder board

for family, church-family and neighbours who 

are missing loved ones this Christmas💔🙏

Below, a tender poem dropped in my mailbox the other day...

Faith is no rigid religion

It rejoices and it mourns

It bows in willing subjection

Beneath Fealty's crown of thorns 

It believes, before beholding

It trusts God's eternal Word

It protects its mortal molding

With full armour of the Lord 

Looking, beyond this world's dwelling 

To a City yet to come

Faith seeks riches beyond telling

In the Soul's Forever Home

Faith, the substance of things hidden

Gazes at the Evidence

Jesus, come to earth from Heaven

To author faith's recompense 

 

Jesus cheers faith's transportation

With hope and joy in His Name 

Because the gift of salvation

Is the Reason Jesus came

Hallelujah!

Janet 🙏

Below, a poem from my mother

Glorious Gift

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas

...and last but not least, the youngest who would not

shift from this expression 😂😅😆

(which is why I didn't push for a pic of the three together)

2 Cor.9:15

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

No joy to comfort groaning grief

No hope to cheer the soul 

No faith to counter unbelief

Or make our spirits whole

No Light to pierce the sin-dark world

No peace, no battle won

No everlasting love unfurled

For each and everyone

No healing from our wounds within

No cross, no Christendom 

No forgiveness for our sin

If Jesus had not come

No escape then from death and hell

No captive chains undone

No Saviour, because mankind fell

If Jesus had not come

No Heaven for all who believe

Satan, not overthrown

No deathless promise to receive

If Jesus had not come

So as we celebrate, oh pray

With gladdened hearts we lift

A hymn of praise this Christmas day  

For God's glorious gift

© Janet Martin 

Sing Hallelujah to the Light of the World 

Invitation to Celebration!

Doesn't it make our sorrow and suffering-weary hearts

Leap with hope and joy?!

As once more we ponder the wonderful gift

of Bethlehem's Baby Boy,

  Emmanuel, meaning God with us!!

No matter what life brings

No trouble can transcend Jesus

And the comfort that still rings

Throughout the centuries

For mankind's common ground

For we all need God's Gift of grace

Only in Jesus found

Ehp.2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 

2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world

 and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, 

the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 

3 All of us also lived among them at one time,

 gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. 

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—

it is by grace you have been saved.

 6 And God raised us up with Christ

 and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, 

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 

10 For we are God’s handiwork, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Come, oh Come, Emmanuel 

Christmas Day, 1915

Listen to Emmett Cahill's complete Christmas concert HERE

***

Emmanuel has come! The Saviour of the world

The Patriarch of Christendom, hope's beacon has unfurled

The Lamb of Calvary, the Shepherd of the soul

Jesus, to fulfill prophecy since Ancient Days foretold

Come, and faith's Gift receive, bow before He who said

That all who repent and believe, in death are never dead

But have eternal life. The battle Jesus won

Upon the cross sweetens faith's strife through the gift of God's Son

He whose sorrow subdued, nay, conquered death and hell

He bore sin's brutal debt accrued since Adam and Eve fell 

In Eden's garden when through doubt they were deceived

And sinned; perfection ruined then, and the Creator grieved 

Hark! for the angel's song still fills dark night with Morn

Good tidings of great joy belong to sinners, weary-worn

Whom God did not ignore, but gave, through love's increase

Jesus! Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace

Janet Martin

The days leading up to Christmas can feel pretty crazy with busyness!

Let's never let the season crowd out its Reason! 

Merry-two-days-before Christmas! 

Matt.1:21

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,

 because he will save his people from their sins.”

Save This...or, Hope's Courage

Make Room-Casting Crowns

What inspired today's poem?

A mishap, to a friend/church family member 

who took his family on a long anticipated trip to the other side of the world,

to visit his sister's family for  Christmas, and in the first week broke his leg in two places,

placing him in a hospital four hours away...

please pray that by some miracle he and his wife can join their families for Christmas!

A message of praise from a family in our church-family who has endured

a journey of sickness and the death of a grandchild...

A family in our neighborhood who is learning grueling trust-lessons

SO many sick and suffering in our circle of friends and family...

SO many sorrowing in our neighbourhood and beyond...

So many seeking answers to questions like

'What is truth?'

'God, are you there?'

In deep disappointments that vex well-laid plan

In struggles no mortal evades

In sorrows that teach us to love while we can

Before opportunity fades

In trials we suffer of sickness and pain

Beneath love's long burdens of care

May we find hope's courage we cannot explain

Save this; someone's answer to prayer

Janet 🙏

Matt.7:7

“Ask and it will be given to you; 

seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you.

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength,

 an ever-present help in trouble.

Christmas Happiness and Joy

Cherishing like never before 

Christmas Happiness and Joy

Both the simple...

Basic Shortbread

Shortbread with dark chocolate and instant coffee bits

Shortbread with toasted pecans, dark chocolate and toffee bits

and profound...

1 John 4:9-12

9 This is how God showed his love among us:

 He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, 

God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Christmas happiness and joy...

When shortbread, dark chocolate and toffee bits-sweet and toasted pecans and taste buds meet😋

When snowflakes waft, tumble, lilt, sparkle and swirl and the heart feels like a ballerina-twirl/girl

When windows, gold, lamp-lit at eventide frame frosty blue vistas of countryside

When hustle and bustle of shopping and cleaning and cooking don festive attire and meaning

When songs of the season with timeless oblation ring out the glad reason for hope's celebration

Because Jesus Christ, mankind's Saviour was born in a Bethlehem stable on that first Christmas morn

To cheer generations with wonder and love because God knew only His Son was enough

To be sin's last sacrifice, once and for all; Jesus, the name on which every heart may call

To find hope and joy that no sorrow can dim after we have put our faith in Him

© Janet Martin 

Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven

Jesus, Only Jesus

Happy Christmas Day- Charlie Pride

To the Weaver of Creature Cares, Some Poem-let Prayers

My friend gave me this book for Christmas.

She cautioned that it might make me shed some tears.

It did. 

But what worthwhile tears they are

as it reminded me of Rom.8:28 again,

'how God works all things together for good

to those who love Him and are called

according to his purpose.'

Sometimes, the troubled parts we see as hues of heartache blend

Are but threads in a Tapestry we cannot comprehend 

How often what may seem like disappointing change of plan

Is but God's intervention anointing the will of man

As from a skein of Mercy's flax He weaves, beyond our ken

Much more than we could think to ask or think to think. Amen  

***

Dear Lord, when I forget in the thick of setbacks and such

To visualize life's shimm'ring thread soft-tumbling through Your Touch 

Help me remember to picture You at the shuttle where

What looks like trouble's tincture is the answer to a prayer

The Weavers Work of Art I only see in part. Lord, then

Create in me a humbler heart of childlike faith, Amen 

***

Lord, when our hope is shaken by dark hues of circumstance 

When one we love is taken or when courage cannot dance

Beneath the weight of waiting and creature cares that life brings

Rather than hope deflating, lift it up on eagle's wings

Because, what tests faith's valour beyond logic's acumen 

May compose the key colour in Your Masterpiece. Amen

© Janet Martin 

Isn't it awesome to remember God knows what we have need of

even before we ask?! 

How His answers go before us all around the world in a wink! 

Matt. 6:8

...your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

His Love Cannot Fail

Hymn: Since Jesus my Savior

Since Jesus my Savior from sin rescued me

Life's pathway shines brighter because I am free

No harn can befall me though foes should assail

My refuge is Jesus, his love cannot fail.

His love cannot fail. His love cannot fail.

There's no one like Jesus, his love cannot fail.

My heart overflows with a wondrous delight

For Jesus is with me by day and by night

His love ever flowing so boundless and free

It never can fail, 'tis for you and for me.

His love cannot fail. His love cannot fail.

There's no one like Jesus, his love cannot fail

There's no one like Jesus to comfort and bless

There's no one like him in the hour of distress

He knows every trial on life's upward way

His love cannot fail, 'tis a joy day by day.

His love cannot fail. His love cannot fail.

There's no one like Jesus, his love cannot fail.

Singers: Altar of Praise Chorale

Words and music: James M. Black

Dear Lucy, I'm Learning Things I Thought I Knew...

Lucy and I loved this song

I'm sending it out to her family, and mine, from both of us.

I remember her telling me she wants to share this song with her children

till it drives them crazy 😅...and I said, 'me too!' 

You Are Loved

We chose to interpret this song as God singing to His children

One of the blogs I subscribe to is Barnstorming, click HERE

after Lucy suggested to me a number of years ago 'that she thinks I would love it'. 

And I do!

OH, one of things that has left a gargantuan hole in my life 

are our sister-soulmate loves and being able to share them with each other.

 How I miss the unexpected surprises of 'you would love this, Janet!

and visa-versa. 

How often I still whisper' you would love this, Lucy'

 though I know she is in a place of unimaginable wonder and beauty

 in the presence of our Beloved Savior-King forever!

On today's post HERE, about grief, 

the author, Emily Gibson, shares some words of timeless wisdom;

'We don’t have control over the amount of time,

 but we do have control over how extensively

 our love for others is heard and spread.'

Barnstorming~

And those words inspired today's poem...

Dear Lucy

I'm learning things I thought I knew before the sudden loss of you

Before I understood how tears can mark days turned to months then years

After what I now realize I thought I did, but didn't, prize

Of time I thought we had until you donned wings to where Time stands still 

 

I thought that you and I would weather the 'joys' of growing old together

Where I would blaze a trail and find you following, not far behind

And in its grin-groan-grunting art we'd keep each other young at heart

I never thought I'd turn to see only frames, where you used to be 

I'm learning, as I vainly rue the things no wishing can undo

To take each opportunity that comes without time's guarantee 

To wear love's second-mile-grade shoes as if I had no time to lose

And not to be unduly vexed, but love/live as if I could be next

I'm learning to revere love's role as I advance toward the goal

(where none of use can see how far from its eternity we are)

But all of us should take to heart the privilege to do our part

To consider our fellowman and love each other while we can

I'm learning to fully embrace the gift of looking, face-to-face

Of cherishing both high and low of holding on and letting go

And never minding quite so much the humour of Father Time's touch

As I learn what I thought I knew, dear Lucy, before missing you

Janet💔

Years ago, the chorus to the song below was a prayer

Lucy and I shared...to live till our children are grown, if God wills!

God willed her/our prayer to be answered.

Moe Bandy Till I'm Too Old To Die Young 1987

And this, straight from the Word of God...

Jer.31:3

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

 I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Overcome With Joy

This past year felt a bit like a blur of one sorrow after another,

Dec. 14 marked eight months since the loss of my neighbour/friend.

Dec. 15, marked one month since my husband's mother passed to her desired rest,

And today, Dec.17, marks three months since I lost one of my beloved sisters, Lucy.

and many lost a friend,

but through deep grief I have time and again been speechlessly

overcome with joy through the comfort of promises from God's word and through

the compassion of so many caring family, friends and neighbours 

leaving in its wake a multitude of kinder, more tender friendships.

As we partake rather than flee from bearing one another's burdens

and so fulfilling the law/love of Christ, (Gal.6:2)

He surprises us with unsurpassed joy 

Psalm 5:3

In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;

at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

Bach: Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (Lyrics)

Lord, leave me overcome with joy

No words can quite define

No circumstance can quite destroy

Nor sorrow undermine

Lord, as I lift my eyes to Thee

From earth's groaning employ

Remind me that mortality

Precedes eternal joy

Console me with the glorious thought

Of joy still set before

Until a joy I had not sought

Surprises sorrows sore

And fills the longings of my heart

With joy beyond compare

And faith to face the cunning art

Of stumbling block and snare

Permit a humbler joy be born

Upon my bended knee

As I lift up my plea each morn

Then wait expectantly

Amen

~Janet Martin