An Anniversary Celebration of Sonnets

 37 years...

Thank-you, Lord

 

This photo was taken at my niece's wedding on May 24th,

where we gathered to witness the marriage and celebrate

Newlyweds, 

who were sparkling with visions of marital bliss 

dancing in their heads!

All of us who have been married for

well, really, almost any amount of time know

'till death doth part' takes more than we can successfully

and beautifully accomplish on our own!

But with God nothing is impossible!

Especially faithful love,

which He is the Author of! 

Below is Jim's 'home away from home'

contributing often to the successes and challenges 

of marriage and love's second miles

(pun intended 😅💓 )

He left yesterday morning with plans of picking up a load out west!

On Sunday night after returning home from a family reunion

I cooked and baked a week's worth of supplies

Last night the load got cancelled 😒

He will be returning home tonight if all goes as planned.

And such is life

***

So much of life is out of our hands

But never love; love helps us bear all things

Not with determined and selfish demands

But with the strength that self-surrender brings 

Love, a story that begins in the heart

 Soon finds its feet as blindness starts to see

To pull together lest we drift apart

Takes sacrificing 'I' for 'us' and 'we'

Love never runs out of lessons to teach

No one can outlive its so-much-to-learn 

Then, before one of us is out of reach

Let's make the most of each day's no-return 

Before the solemn sundering of ties

Forever closes doors and lips and eyes 

© Janet Martin

***

1 Cor.13:4-8  (NKJV)

Love suffers long and is kind; 

love does not envy; 

love does not parade itself,

 is not [a]puffed up;

 5 does not behave rudely, 

does not seek its own,

 is not provoked, 

[b]thinks no evil; 

6 does not rejoice in iniquity, 

but rejoices in the truth; 

7 bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

8 Love never fails...

Darling, in a world mad with lust and spite

Let's make a vow to guard against the trend 

Committing rather to fight love's good fight  

By God's grace to be faithful to the end 

Darling, the world will never sympathize

With altars filled with ash of sacrifice 

Love suffers long and is kind; what a prize

True love esteems the other; what a price 

Darling, to-have-and-hold is no small fete 

To love-and-cherish until death doth part

Is not a vacation on Easy Street

Nor an endeavor for the faint of heart

Darling, let's give love every finest chance

And live life humbly, by the grace God grants

© Janet Martin

Eccles.4:12

... and a three strand cord is not quickly broken.

Armed with a world of wonderful advice

Is not enough to master love's success

Until we learn love's law of sacrifice

Marriage will suffer much unhappiness 

Fond hopes and dreams are lovely to behold 

But life does not cater to Well-laid Plan 

Its highway does not flawlessly unfold

According to the want and wish of man 

The ups and downs of love and life are sure

Marriage takes two people, humanly-flawed

And binds them with ties able to endure

If woven with the third strand who is God

Darling, let's pray through both life's grand and grim 

That our love reflects the love of Him

© Janet Martin

And last but not least, 

after many somber reminders this past year+

through many sudden losses of  Husband or Wife of

neighbours, friends and family,

 a sonnet of solemn awareness/thankfulness...

***

No one can see or guarantee Tonight 

Death often enters/visits where/when we least expect

Sobering us with meek, wiser insight;

Love, both a charge and gift none should neglect 

Each day pulses with opportunity

To love each other better, and God first 

To make the most of little words like 'we'

And weather faithfully life's best and worst 

So when death comes (and it most surely will)

Our deepest sorrow will not be regret

But, as the bitter tears of parting spill

We praise God for the joy of love's vows kept 

 

Darling, while time is still on our side

Let's try our best to live love Self-denied 

© Janet Martin

O Perfect Love - Best Wedding Hymn with Lyrics 

Lyrics-Dorothy F. Gurney

1 O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,

lowly we kneel in prayer before thy throne,

that theirs may be the love which knows no ending,

whom thou in sacred vow dost join in one.

2 O perfect Life, be thou their full assurance

of tender charity and steadfast faith,

of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,

with childlike trust that fears no pain or death.

3 Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;

grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife;

grant them the vision of the glorious morrow

that will reveal eternal love and life.

Psalter Hymnal, 1987

May Melody

June happened before I had a chance to complete this May Melody 

started on Saturday...

May never turns its moments back; each hour once and done

In blush of blossom bric-a-brac

... and lilacs kissed by sun

In verdant vistas, velvet green ‘neath vivid, welkin eaves...

In granting planting season, as earth bursts with birth of leaves

And dandelion-dazzle, luring eyes and feet to pause...

Where soon each mane is frazzled into orbs of silver gauze...

May plays its precious pleasures once; of brief, half-leaf festoons...

Of gardens, where glad children bounce like colourful balloons...

Thrilling to feel spring’s awe-filled, fresh-tilled soil...

...between their toes

May grants a dance of joy to joy, tulips and daffodils...

Like regal harbingers deploying fleets of petal-frills

A virtual kaleidoscope of ever-shifting hues...

May never turns its moments back; each hour once and done

In blush of blossom bric-a-brac and lilacs kissed by sun

In verdant vistas, velvet green ‘neath vivid, welkin eaves

In granting planting season, as earth bursts with birth of leaves

And dandelion-dazzle, luring eyes and feet to pause

Where soon each mane is frazzled into orbs of silver gauze

May plays its precious pleasures once; of brief, half-leaf festoons

Of gardens, where glad children bounce like colourful balloons

Thrilling to feel spring’s awe-filled, fresh-tilled soil between their toes

Eager to learn the law of seeds; how ‘one reaps what one sows’

How harvest’s sacred imminence bids us to plant with zeal

Where soon the thief of innocence will bite the carefree heel

May grants a dance of joy to joy, tulips and daffodils

Like regal harbingers deploying fleets of petal-frills

A virtual kaleidoscope of ever-shifting hues

Nature rallies with hymns of hope no skeptic can confuse

Or boast or claim credit or laud for glories on display

Where only a fool denies God, especially in May

May makes us glad to be alive in spite of sorrow's knife

That somehow keens an urgent drive to grow a lovely life 

Because each moment is a gift we hold but cannot keep

And life is too transient to drift through flowers, half-asleep 

Where opportunity abounds in plots we ought not shirk

To plant a seed that soon confounds us with God's handiwork 

© Janet Martin

and last but not least, 

celebrating June with the first fresh from the garden 

simple supper salad of the season! 

Redemption's Groaning Gate Flings Wide...

 My sister Lucy's granddaughter picked these wildflowers for me the other day...

I don't think she noticed the tears I choked back as I was honoured

by her innocent eagerness.

The mug seemed the perfect vase for my utter joy and sorrow!

Below is a collection of verses to treasure as they comfort and cheer the soul

and remind us of what matters most!

Psalm 25:14

The LORD confides in those who fear Him, and reveals His covenant to them.

Psalm 84:11

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield;

 the LORD gives grace and glory;

 He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

Psalm 115:13

He will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike.

Psalm 5:12

For surely You, O LORD, bless the righteous; 

You surround them with the shield of Your favor.

Ps.69:15

But as for me, my prayer is to You,
O Lord, in the acceptable time;
O God, in the multitude of Your mercy,
Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.

Ps.119:153-160

153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver me:

 for I do not forget thy law.

154 Plead my cause, and deliver me: 

quicken me according to thy word.

155 Salvation is far from the wicked: 

for they seek not thy statutes.

156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord:

 quicken me according to thy judgments.

157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; 

yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.

158 I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; 

because they kept not thy word.

159 Consider how I love thy precepts:

 quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.

160 Thy word is true from the beginning: 

and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

 

Redemption's groaning gate flings wide and a new day is born...

A multitude of mercies smiles upon a world sin-worn... 

Redemption's groaning gate flings wide and a new day is born

A multitude of mercies smiles upon a world sin-worn 

The Author of Salvation who appoints what none can trace

Once more anoints creation with un-stoppered love and grace

Regret, remorse, repentance spar within the human heart 

God's holiness and man's pride are a humble prayer apart 

Oh Lord, rebuke my erring will, waiting to cause offence 

So the purposes You fulfill/instill may have preeminence 

The truth of your salvation comforts all who fear You, LORD 

Imbue deep dedication to the counsel of Your Word

Lest, for the lack of earnest heed I look away and drift

Forgetting who supplies my need with truths that do not shift 

Delight thrills all who love Your law with thoughts too rare to speak

My spirit thirsts for constant awe, but oh, my flesh is weak

Prone to descend the slippery slope of half-truth to appease

The carnal foe to Living Hope with 'come soul, take thine ease '

Each edict of your Word is true, where faith sees but in part  

Lord, help me learn it through and through and hide it in my heart 

So that I do not grieve you, Saviour, but with yielded will

Reverence the Shield of Your favour as Your mercies spill

Janet Martin  

 

 

Till He returns Again

Blessings to you on this Ascension Day!

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, 

with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, 

and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 

 After that, we who are alive and remain 

will be caught up together with them in the clouds 

to meet the Lord in the air. 

And so we will always be with the Lord.

Do you ever gaze into the sky, imagining the scene of Christ's return?!

Will it be a blue with billowy clouds kind of sky?

...or sunrise or set?

...or in the middle of the night?

Will the heavens be rainbow-radiant?

or flawless azure?

or dark with foreboding?

No one knows the hour, not even the angels in Heaven, so

Jesus commanded us to watch and be ready 

because he will come in an hour we don't expect!!

Matt.24:36-44

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of [a]heaven, but My Father only. 

37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, 

marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 

39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, 

so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 

41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 

42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what [b]hour your Lord is coming.

 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what [c]hour the thief would come, 

he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 

44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Acts 1:9-11

9After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up,

 and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

  10They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, 

when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 

11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? 

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, 

will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

Until then may we ever be found faithful...

Facing what we must face

Winning what must be won

Until we reach that solemn place

When life on earth is done

Praying what must be prayed

Yielding what we must yield

Obeying what must be obeyed

Until God is revealed

Bearing what we must bear

Trusting what we must trust

Casting on God our every care

Because He cares for us

Voicing what we must voice

Reaping what we must reap

Rejoicing with those who rejoice

Weeping with those who weep

Fighting what we must fight

Learning what we must learn

Daring to stand for what is right

Until the Lord's return 

Doing the best we can

This by God’s grace. Amen

To love God first then fellowman

Till He returns again

© Janet Martin

When Jesus comes to reward His servants

 

#166 in the Zion’s Harp: Morning Hymn

Lyrics: author unknown 1. O, how lovely is the morning, when it is begun with God; Joy and thanks our hearts adorning, as behooves a child of God, Waking after night so fair in the Maker’s gentle care, Rising without grief or sorrow to a new and joyful morrow. 2. Let our eyes be raised to heaven where the sun is shining bright, And on hill and dale and meadow is dispensing life and light; But far more than sun in space beams the Saviour’s kindly face; Truth and kindness, peaceful nearness shine out in eternal clearness. 3. Even as the springtime flowers grow beneath the sun’s warm rays, So the Lord by His own powers makes us garlands for His praise; He invites most lovingly: Little children, come to Me! All should truly know Him ever, call Him Brother, Lord, and Saviour! 4. This day also He will guide us, in our work His help provide, And on wisdom’s ways He’ll lead us, standing ever by our side, That on this whole blessed day no mishap can come our way; And that under His rich blessing night will find us sweetly resting. 5. Through His grace made sweet and easy, we’ll His teachings understand, When he on the path of duty gently leads us by the hand. O, how blest the child that may in His grace begin the day, Whose desire and wish is wholly by His love to be made holy. ​ 6. Come then, Lord of life eternal, step into our midst, we pray; Help that we may not be merely hearers of Thy Word today. To our teacher, O, be near; bless the children gathered here; May we thrive in fullest measure, and Thy heart in us find pleasure!

Amazing Grace

Recently our Sunday morning messages have been on salvation!

The more I try to plumb the depths of God's amazing love and grace

that purchased the gift of salvation to pay the sinner's debt

 for all who repent and believe and thus receive it,

the more I marvel at how impossible it is

to fully comprehend amazing grace! 

or how impossible it is to believe without repenting

or repent without believing!

Heb.4:16

 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, 

that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

2 Cor. 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, 

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

There's Not A Friend Like The Lowly Jesus

You could confound us with the crumbs that fall 'neath The King's chair

But you invite us to sit at Your table, saved by grace

No judgement from the mercy seat that Calvary laid bare

As all who repent and believe become Your dwelling place

You could condemn us but instead You, sinless, became sin

So that through You we might become 'the righteousness of God' 

Not by works lest we boast; salvation, none can earn or win

It is a gift, a gift that leaves believers/receivers humbly awed 

Then, who is qualified to cast judgment's first stone, pray tell

For there is no one righteous, no, not one, we, debtors all

To grace, the grace that saves us from eternity in hell

When truly, truly on Your Name above all names, we call   

You know our hearts, you hear our prayers, You know that we are dust

The recompense that we deserved You bore, once and for all 

You are good, holy, merciful, compassionate and just

Your everlasting love abides as kingdoms rise and fall 

Once, I was a prodigal child squandering love and life 

Once You left the ninety and nine in the fold, to find me

Amazing grace, agape I gaze where redemption runs rife

You reconciled your rebel child and set my doomed soul free 

The crumbs that fall from Your table, would be too good for me

But you invite me to sit down, beloved and justified

By Your amazing grace; I, once condemned have been set free

And clothed in robes of righteousness that only You provide

Janet Martin

Amazing Grace 

Rom.5:6-11

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless,

 Christ died for the ungodly. 

 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, 

though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood,

how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 

10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, 

how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 

11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Ephemeral and Eternal or The Briefness Of It All

May is flying by in a flurry of hellos and farewells

and smiles and tears...

and much to do!! 

How soon the little boy and girl sheds childhood's innocence ...

...where every hour bursts with blooms that fade like flower-storms 

The dust we till, hustles a loom that never quite conforms

To want-and-wishing's wistful whims; 

How gray-gold-greenly moments spill and meld to Nevermore

Today's gush of gossamer twill so briefly held before 

Ephemeral and eternal, are deftly intertwined

Tangible to intangible as echoes strew behind 

Life's dues of give and take weave so much more than meets the eye

Love's hues sparkle and ache and grin and groan with my-oh-my 

How soon the little boy and girl sheds childhood's innocence 

How surely choices lilt and swirl, unfurling Consequence 

Ephemeral and eternal, Time's subtle shuttle hums

As both brutal and beautiful to Bygone's cast succumbs

As morn, moment by moment weds with yester-scapes of death 

As God's unfailing purpose threads through every gifted breath

...where every hour bursts with blooms that fade like flower-storms 

The dust we till, hustles a loom that never quite conforms

To want-and-wishing's wistful whims; while moments spill and meld

Weaving with wisps that flare and dim, a lifetime briefly held 

Ephemeral and eternal, where no two days the same

Tune flurries of hello-farewell no one can curb or tame

Leaving so much to ponder with each season rise and fall 

As smiles and tears grow fonder with the Briefness of it all

Janet Martin

The Other Side of Hug-and-Kiss...

There is only one way to remain grounded in Things Above; in the unseen...

by seeking faithfully to be found faithful!

Remembering the reward for faithfulness is veiled on earth...

1 Corinthians 4:2

Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

James 1:25

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom,

 and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—

he will be blessed in what he does.

Matthew 25:21

His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! 

You have been faithful with a few things;

 I will put you in charge of many things. 

Enter into the joy of your master!’

Faithfulness is like our 'marriage vow' to God,

forsaking all others, as long as we live,

 in the matter of fidelity and allegiance to Him

with love second to none

because we have resolved All For Christ!

Just as in earthly marriage as time goes by 

and human nature rears its unlovely head,

 we don't always 'feel' the passion

and excitement as in the beginning, 

but pray it is replaced with

a deeper, matured awareness that faithfulness

must/will weather the highs and lows that are bound to be,

'Well done, Thou good and faithful servant' 

is no small fete to win.

It requires daily surrender to our Heavenly Father,

our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

and to the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer.

Faithfulness forgives and accepts forgiveness.

Faithfulness is a firm and humble obedience,

a penitent repentance when we stumble/sin,

a modest presentation of Self,

so we may give God the glory

for making possible the boast

of our salvation. 

***

Today we are attending the wedding of my niece

and we will witness the vows they make;

'till death do us part'

We will hear them speak before God

the words that bind two into one;

Matthew 19:6
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 

Therefore what God has joined together, 

let man not separate.”

A wedding day is a day of joy and celebration and grave solemnity

as vows made on earth are sealed in heaven.

It is no laughing matter, This

The other side of hug-and-kiss

Of being true no matter what

When tempted to undo love's knot

Love's vows are not of fickle font

But transcend every wish and want

Because these words, 'till death doth part'

Are etched forever on God's heart

When hug and kiss is interspersed

With human foible's selfish worst

Startled, we start to humbly learn

Faithfulness grants no quick return

...but refines rose-coloured romance

With love, that would not stand a chance

Without steadfast commitment to

He who made us 'no longer two'

'A three-strand cord is hard to break'

'Love bears all things' love's highest stake

With God 'all things' are possible

Without, love is soon miserable

For self times two is not enough

To satisfy the ways of love

How harsh is disillusioned bliss;

The other side of hug-and-kiss

But oh, how lovely in return

Is love that is willing to learn

And learn again, the meaning of

A patient, kind and faithful love

For tis no laughing matter; this

The other/weathered side of hug-and-kiss

But is, when all is done and told

Life's greatest beauty to behold

...as the covenant of 'I do'

Remembers, one cannot be two

When faithfulness seeks no excuse

To sever what no man can loose

© Janet Martin

For those who are seeking truth

and maybe reasons to re-resolve to remain faithful

first and foremost to God, some helpful links below

 Dr. Joseph Webb on the truth about I Do, based on God's Word!

Why talk about divorce and remarriage in the Church Part 1, 

Can the blood of Jesus cover over my past divorce so I can remarry? Part 2

Whose servant is your pastor? Part 3

Pastors: please watch your doctrine on divorce and remarriage Part 4

Teach the truth on divorce and remarriage Part 5

Divorce and remarriage: what's your church teaching? Part 6

If I repented from having had a divorce, can the blood of Jesus cover me so I can remarry? Part 7

Are all second marriages after divorce adultery? Part 8

Can divorced and remarried couples In the Church serve God too? Part 9

Can divorced and remarried couples in the Church be believers too? Part 10

Can Christian divorced and remarried couples love Jesus too? Part 11

What repentance is and the mess of divorce and remarriage In the Church Part 12 

Christian divorced and remarried couples In the Church Part 13

If my spouse left me, why Should I Stay Single? Part 14

more HERE or HERE 

or more from Dr. Joseph Webb  HERE 

or this;

What Makes a Marriage Legal in the Sight of God 

Is my first marriage still standing even if I was not a Christian then?

I got a divorce and remarried all before coming to faith in Christ

I'm a Christian Divorced and married, am I living in adultery?

My first marriage ended; now I'm divorced but I'd to marry a godly Christian

Divorce and Remarriage and the Cost of Following Christ