Wondrous Worldwide Window

'Each day we find ourselves asking the Lord what he has for that day. 

How can we serve and love those God puts in our path today...

'excerpt from a letter from a family on a mission field 

quite literally on the other side of the world! 

and a question we hopefully pray each morning 

before we face our own mission field on this side of the world!

This past week my heart burst with bittersweet bliss

in the company of many kiddos...

esp. a visit from a few who used to be in my childcare!

I love all of the children who spent time in my childcare a little like my own,

and in a way they will always be 'my other children'

and sometimes I deeply mourn needing to scale back

my childcare hours, then remember

'to everything there is a season'!

And every new season and day is laden with fresh opportunity

to honour and cherish each God-granted moment!

Behold, from shore to shore

A prize for all to claim

A catalyst of unplumbed score

For young and old the same

It opens to the world

The moment we awake

Vistas of Potential unfurled

In every breath we take

It gleams upon yon slope

With heaven-kindled sheen

It redeems that which staggered hope

Where flagging zeal had been

...and recharges the part

That yester-cares wore thin

It overflows the thorn-pricked heart

With roses once again  

 

It glistens with God's love

And mercy's fealty 

Morn's wondrous worldwide window of

Fresh Opportunity

Fresh Opportunity

What better can we ask

It cheers us in what waits to be

And fits us for its task

© Janet Martin

Hear, oh LORD, and

have mercy upon me.

LORD, be Thou my helper

Ps.30:10

Endurance Test (or For Faith's Athletes and Soldiers)

Some people pick a 'word of the year' at the beginning of each year

to focus on and learn from throughout the year ahead...

I never have but it dawned on me recently that in the past year

I have pondered one word more than ever before. 

This word is 'endure'.

To endure is to remain faithful at all cost!

To endure we cannot quit!

just as it is impossible to endure without conscious effort

 a physical workout,  so too, the spiritual!

I am so thankful for a patient and forgiving Heavenly Father!

Ps.36:7-9

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust 

under the shadow of Your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied 

with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink 

from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.

Matt.24. 12-13

And because lawlessness will abound, 

the love of many will grow cold.

 13But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

2 Tim.2:3

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

 let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles,

 and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. 

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,

 who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

 Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners,

 so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

True believers are athletes and soldiers for Christ.

Each day tests faith's fitness and endurance!

Without the whole armour of God we will be unable to

withstand the enemy!

The gift of salvation is not a

kick-back-and-relax,

eat-drink-and-be-merry grace!!

It is warfare

It is a grueling race!

It is not for the faint of heart and soul.

It is impossible without God!

It demands time-out

with head bowed,

to 'be still and know that He is God!' Ps.46:10

It is He who 'restores our souls'! Ps.23

from His rivers of pleasure

and fountain of life! Ps.36:8-9

Want is a great enemy unless it is the

meek want to endure ruthless rivalry

as we 'trust in His holy name'  Ps.33:21

Lord, empower us daily with this declaration of old from Ps. 23

The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want'

Summer's garden offers a smorgasbord of delights,

...but these pale in comparison to what Christ offers through his Word and Spirit.

Want wars with faith, with hope and love

It roars with 'never quite enough'

'Come unto Me' the Saviour pleads

My strength and rest supplies Thy needs

This world unfurls glitter and noise

It boasts a smorgasbord of joys

Each one a wind that passes by

Each one helpless to satisfy

Want tests the will of humankind

Who we love best, heart-soul-and-mind

It tries endurance without pause

Till we too cry, 'Lord, plead my cause' Ps.35

Thy Word, oh Lord, restores the saint

It giveth power to the faint Isa.40:29

It fixes eyes on faith's reward

Endurance waits upon the Lord

 Then casts off  sin's encum'bring snare

For these hinder the gates of  prayer

Where God rallies faith's troops again

To run with endurance. Amen

Do not lose heart; do not despair

But cast upon the LORD each care

Remember when rivals molest

This is but faith's endurance test

© Janet Martin 

Rivals come in all shapes and sizes...

Some bold and blaring;

some like sneaky little foxes!

Let's faithfully seek and trust God who cares for us! 

Let Us Run by Alex MacQueen (Sung by Christina Macmillan)

Oh!! and last but not least... Happy August!

Before The Winepress and Threshing Floor

Wheat harvest is in full swing! 

The 'winnowing fan' is separating the wheat from the chaff!

Many less visible 'harvests' are in full swing too!

John 15: 1-4 & 16

(read the whole beloved chapter HERE)

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 

 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; 

and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, 

neither can you, unless you abide in Me...

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, 

and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, 

and that your fruit should remain: 

that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

James 2:17

So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.

Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance...

As we study the ripple effects of carelessness, of sin/ disobedience to God,

its consequence is ghastly, rolling though generations with ease,

if left unchecked,

until the 'pit'-fall once disregarded by a few,

 is so crowded that the awareness of it ceases.

(why is it we are prone to lamenting sin's consequence, 

rather than the origin of the consequence- sin?!)

Wisdom always considers, beyond instant gratification, where the action or choice

if unchecked,  will lead and whether the fruit of it will ultimately,

draw us nearer to God or to the world...

is it a fruit of the Spirit or flesh?

If we have truly repented 

and if we truly love

our Saviour, then fruit in keeping with repentance

will/must be evident!! 

We live in a pleasure-driven age with exorbitant amounts of money

poured into the fleeting fruitlessness of many-a-joy toy...

Oh pray we never let the 'thorns/things' choke out the desire for God;

the Giver of every good and perfect gift!

We don't need to be wealthy to afford the gifts He promises to all

who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

'they shall be filled.' Matt.5:6,

while, the opposite is true when it comes to feeding carnal appetites;

the more we feast, the more we starve! 

If we are rooted in Good Soil we will grow and bear fruit...

Years ago one of the families I did childcare for, 

generously built/gifted me an arbour

and some grapevines, after I casually mentioned to them 

in a gardening conversation that someday I would LOVE to have a grape arbor.

What grand anticipation followed the planting of the vines!

but, nothing happened!!

For three years I watched as each spring a few valiant leaves appeared, 

assuring me there was still some life in the vine,

but it only ever survived each season, rather than thrived! 

Suddenly it dawned on me that perhaps the arbor is too close to

the black walnut trees bordering the neighbor's property!

Sure enough, only wild grapes are juglone tolerant!

In disappointment I dug them up and carelessly plopped them in a hole

in my 'miscellaneous' flowerbed assuming by the looks of them

that this time there was no life remaining...

I was wrong!

Finally the thing that hampered their growth was removed 

and they leaped from the earth like a visual hymn!

thankfully, wisteria is unbothered by juglone!

(walnut tree beauties in background)

the mouth may boast a myriad of profound piety

but fruit will always tell the truth of fig or thistle tree 

how careful then, we ought to heed, before the consequence

the seeds we strew, of righteousness or disobedience 

...because, no matter what we say, our actions do not lie

Who we live for is proven by the one we most deny;

the God of love or god of self; no one can serve two Lords/lords

And by the fruit the tree is known; not by the wind of words

    Producing fruit in keeping with repentance, none can do

apart from the True Vine; then call on Him; He helps us to

endure the painful pruning of the Vinedresser, before

the Grim Authentication of winepress and threshing-floor 

 

Janet Martin

Ps.33:18-22

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His mercy,

19 To deliver their soul from death,

And to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in His holy name.

22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You.

Trying to Take It All In

On Saturday at my nephew's wedding he commented in his speech 

how he and his wife were 'trying to take it all in'- 

this beautiful beginning to 'till death doth part'! 

This statement echoed a sentiment I seek to live by, 

but never more so as in the past year!! 

Death, esp. sudden death, which my family, church family and local community 

have experienced like never before in my recollection,

 has re-impacted me with the awareness of the sacred brevity of it all 

and how nothing stays the same for every long,

and how, because none of us knows the number of our ordained days,

we should endeavor daily to take to heart the humble, holy, whole duty of man.

The 'whole duty of man' is also a 'till death doth part ' undertaking! 

Eccles.12:13

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

 Fear God, and keep his commandments: 

for this is the whole duty of man.

After a week of vacation followed by Saturday's beautiful wedding 

I told my sister this morning that in today's poem

 'I'm trying to snare the bitter-sweetness of love

that always climaxes on days like Saturday',

 especially after a week of more-precious-than-ever family time.

One of vacation's highlights;  dock-breakfasts!

Beauty and brokenness sparkle and shatter

Rushing like waves across shorelines within

Trying The Conclusion of the Whole Matter

That Mortal shoulders beneath shrouds of skin

While we are trying to take it all in

College is not learning’s sole institution

Wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing

Wonder and sorrow, with clashing profusion

Author both worship and Want’s groan and grin

While we are trying to take it all in

Praise God whose thoughts and ways confound man’s reason

Praise God who grants all we hold and let go

Praise God who orchestrates time’s ordained seasons

Who is not mocked; we will reap what we sow

While bitter-sweetly Farewell braves Hello

...while we are weathering love’s grueling glories

Tasting the ink of its laughter and tears

Kicking its dust that soon settles in stories

Added to archives of fond yesteryears

While morning breaks that which soft disappears

Darling, the dew of dusk startles dream-dancers

Beauty and brokenness sparkle and spin

While some are armed with youth’s untested answers

Others renew seasoned vows to begin

To never stop trying to take it all in

© Janet Martin

The Preciousness of Moment-gold

Life is busy...often it's easy to lament its haste and all we didn't do

in spite of all we did.

Each day deserves our careful consideration

in the weighing of moment gold

because of its eternal value! 

a peek into a small part of July's beautiful bustle

Life is not always 'a bowl of cherries' is it?!!

But oh the beauty of those 'bowls'!

Thank-you, God

our days are never long enough to do all that we want to do

when it comes to the ones we love, how swift the sands of time run through

the hourglass of touch and taste; its haste a subtle give and take

gathering all we once embraced into love's sentimental ache

the preciousness of moment-gold is a gift new moments estrange

as joy and grief slip through our hold they join a cast nothing can change

as choice by choice ( love's sacred charge) grants countless reasons to be kind

for we are always on the verge of the life we will leave behind

behold today, a gleaming gem granted to likes of you and I

a diamond for a diadem of dust to dust of days gone by

where days never seem long enough to do all that we want or should

before we meet the One whose love bestows all that is true and good

Janet Martin

on this note, I am off for an annual summer break.

See you soon , Lord willing

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, 

as for the Lord and not for men, 

 because you know that you will receive an inheritance

 from the Lord as your reward. 

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 

do it all to the glory of God.

Dear Lucy, It Is Summer

...and now it is ten months since our hearts were suddenly broken,

never to be the same again!

Dear Lucy, how we miss you!

The honeysuckle vine you gave is gilt with clusters, pink...

The breeze chases a winsome wave that rolls through wheat fields, gold...

The lily and the hollyhock lure honey bees to drink...

And everywhere we look earth gleams with beauty to behold

Summer has much on offer to rekindle awe and praise

The garden like a coffer brimming with the fruit of dreams

The countryside, a work of art entitled Summer Days...

Dear Lucy

The honeysuckle vine you gave is gilt with clusters, pink

The breeze chases a winsome wave that rolls through wheat fields, gold

The lily and the hollyhock lure honey bees to drink

And everywhere we look earth gleams with beauty to behold

Summer has much on offer to rekindle awe and praise

The garden like a coffer brimming with the fruit of dreams

The countryside, a work of art entitled Summer Days

(where joy and sorrow rush the heart in conflicting extremes)  

Sometimes, when missing you ignites fresh, sudden pangs of grief

I count the ways I loved you, sister dear, and love you more 

Then, from a world of yesterdays, descends divine relief

Love's symphony of echoes plays a tender repertoire 

The memories I have of you are like a garden path

Traced and retraced, soft woven through with threads I cannot touch

They gently bind the isles Thought trods to Laughter's Aftermath

Of Summers where we oohed and a-ahed, and talked and walked and such

....while watching our children grow too fast; they always do

While weathering the ebb and flow of tides that stole our youth

While planting flow'rs in trouble's dirt like our mother did too

While learning from parental hurt, lessons of timeless truth 

What I would give to hear you sigh or exclaim with delight  

Over something that caught your eye while your heart skipped a beat

A field full of wild flowers, purple, yellow, red and white (we were out on a sister's day)

Or twilight's tranquil bowers, or a yummy fresh-baked treat 

No, summer has not changed its ways, it still burgeons with bliss

And never ceases to amaze on both good days and bad 

The sky is blue; the lake is too, but, oh, in spite of this 

Somehow sweet summer without you just isn't quite as glad 

Janet Martin 

The memories I have of you are like a garden path

Traced and retraced, soft woven through with threads I cannot touch...

This year I planted a little flower garden in my vegetable garden...

A place to work, and let the therapy of flowers comfort me.

A place to sit to pray, read and remember Lucy, as well as my parents,

my other three sisters and their spouses,

my five brothers and their spouses

And of course her husband and children

We, as a family, all share in this deep grief of missing Lucy..

I hope in August when more flowers bloom, 

and you also would love a quiet moment of reflection and remembering Lucy,

you know you are welcome to drop by my garden too 💛🙏 

In the Garden