Dare to be a Reckless Spender...(when it comes to love)

There is no end to opportunities to love,

to be generous and thoughtful.

We cannot help everyone but we can all help someone!

Who will be our 'someone' today?

I asked my grandson if he would be my 'someone' today

and he said 'yes'😊💝)

This poem was written as a reminder to myself.

('reckless' in this poem does not mean thoughtless disregard,

 but rather a trustful generosity!)

God knows the heart.

Yesterday morning's message to our congregation included a verse

most sobering and most comforting!

1 Sam.16:7

 For the LORD does not see as man sees;

 for man looks at the outward appearance,

 but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Dare to be a reckless spender when it comes to love

Revel in the promised splendor Heaven waits to prove

Test the measure of the treasure of God’s buffering

Discover hope’s holy pleasure in love’s suffering

Dare to be a cheerful giver; let Love’s Author lead

Pray for true love to deliver us from doubt and greed

Trust the Keeper of love’s coffer from which blessings brim

With each gift love bestows, offer each gift back to Him

Dare to test depths and heights, ample; blaze uncharted trails

Modeling a bold example, for love never fails

Strive to be a ready vessel run through with Enough

Live to let reliance chisel diamonds from faith’s rough

Dare to take the name of Jesus into every choice

Take the precious Name that frees us from Discontent's voice 

Let the power and the glory of God satisfy

Let the ink that writes love's story stir rev'rent reply    

Dare to be a reckless spender when it comes to love

Draw from unplumbed wells of tender mercies from above

Aware of the priceless Presence of nail-scarred Release 

Dare to let love be the essence of hope, joy and peace 

Janet Martin

Haloed Ground

 

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, 

that in Me you may have peace.

 In the world you will have tribulation;

 but be of good cheer, 

I have overcome the world.”

Oh, the joy of those moments when, like an epiphany

 the message in the treasured age-old 'Christmas Story'

 opens our eyes anew, to wonders as we ponder the

mysteries of God's love...

As we follow the example of Joseph and trust God's word

though we don't understand the beginning from the end!

The Birth of Jesus Matt.1:18-21 BSB

(Isaiah 7:10–16; Luke 2:1–7)

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: 

His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, 

she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

  19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man 

and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had pondered these things, 

an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

 “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, 

for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 

21She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,d 

because He will save His people from their sins.”

In this world we will have trouble

But we are not doomed to loss

In the dark and hurting rubble

Of life’s trouble, stands the cross

In this world we will have sorrow

But we are not doomed to tears

Faith today is hope tomorrow

In life’s sorrow, Mercy cheers/hears

In this world we will have trials

Dreamlands turned to battlegrounds

But in spite of dream-denials

In life’s trials, grace abounds

In this world we will have testing

High-fives tumbled/humbled by low blows

This is not God’s cruel jesting

In life’s testing, wisdom grows

In this world we will have dark vales

As we walk by faith, not sight

 Love holds a Lamp that never fails

In life’s dark vales, shines His Light

In this world we will have sadness

But, behold hope's haloed ground

God's peace cheers the soul with gladness

In life's sadness, joy is found

 

Janet Martin

Carrie Underwood - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Official Audio Video)

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee By Henry van Dyke and Beethoven Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee God of glory Lord of love Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee Opening to the sun above Melt the clouds of sin and sadness Drive the dark of doubt away Giver of immortal gladness Fill us with the light of day All Thy works with joy surround Thee Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays Stars and angels sing around Thee Center of unbroken praise Field and forest, vale and mountain Flowery meadow, flashing sea Singing bird and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee Thou art giving and forgiving Ever blessing, ever blessed Wellspring of the joy of living Ocean depth of happy rest Thou our Father Christ our Brother All who live in love are Thine Teach us how to love each other Lift us to the joy divine Mortals, join the happy chorus Which the morning stars began Father love is reigning o'er us Brother love binds man to man Ever singing, march we onward Victors in the midst of strife Joyful music leads us sunward In the triumph song of life Melt the clouds of sin and sadness Drive the dark of doubt away Giver of immortal gladness Fill us with the light of day

Thought-thoughts

 

As December's full moon climbs

over dusk's pink sill

Thought becomes happy to pause

and be perfectly still...

As the mind thinks, so we become;

Like babies in perception’s womb

Like children in a classroom taught

By a lifelong lector of Thought

Guard well the guests Thought entertains

The conquests toward which Thought strains

Because the person we become

Is shaped through Thought’s collective sum

For all the progress change may boast

It cannot thwart what matters most

Whether we regard it or not

We are the workmanship of Thought

If Thought is lazy, greedy, vain

Pity the one who gleans its gain

If Thought is prudent, humble, wise

It benefits its enterprise

Whatever then, is excellent

Praiseworthy and of noble bent

And true and just, without selfdom

Think on these things, and so become

Janet Martin

Phil.4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, 

whatever is honorable, 

whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think on these things.

Free For the Asking

1 Sa.7:12

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.

 He named it Ebenezer,[a] saying, 

“Thus far the Lord has helped us.

”Read full chapter

1 Samuel 7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help.

Ps.27:14

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage,

 And He shall strengthen your heart; 

Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Some of the 'sparkle' of joy this Christmas season, feels a bit tarnished

as we think of so many loved ones who are missing loved ones,

then we lift each of them by name to Jesus, our everlasting Helper, 

 Comforter and great joy!

His help, comfort and joy are free for the asking and believing/receiving!

and beyond compare.

What kind comfort to pray

To He who knows all things

Whose Presence is our Help/hope and Stay

Whatever today brings

To wait upon the Lord

May test our patience sore

While discovering the reward

Of trusting all the more

Then, as we trust, our love

Refined through bitter test

Begins to shine the glory of

The One who loves us best

***

God helps us if we ask

He helps us work and rest

And fulfill life's most common task

With zeal, contentment-blessed

He helps us when we lie

On a sick bed; He hears

The whimper of the heart-wept cry

The language of our tears

He helps us, young or old

And bids us, come what may

To discover riches untold

As we trust and obey

When we don't understand

Then yield to dread's alarms

He lifts us with His faithful Hand

To lean upon His arms

What sacred liberty

To ask, and then rely

Upon the Higher Thought of He

Who does not rush reply

Our help in ages past

 Our Rock of Ages still

Our Cornerstone to hold steadfast

Faith, anchored in God's will

Janet Martin

O God, Our Help in Ages Past

Rock of Ages

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Author: Robert Robinson (1758); Alterer: Martin Madan (1760)

1 Come, thou Fount of every blessing;

tune my heart to sing thy grace;

streams of mercy, never ceasing,

call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

sung by flaming tongues above;

praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

mount of God’s unchanging love!

2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;

hither by thy help I’m come;

and I hope, by thy good pleasure,

safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

3 O to grace how great a debtor

daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace now, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here’s my heart; O take and seal it;

seal it for thy courts above.

Considering Gifts...

This is the time of year our thoughts start considering gift-giving;

the perfect Something for that precious someone...

 whilst wandering through isles laden with gifts, free for the 'taking'...

Considering that a week ago there was not a flake of snow to be seen

it does feel like winter literally arrived overnight!

(so, I am attempting to acclimate my delight to white-gilded glories/gifts)

Each day nature's buffet is laden with pleasures to share

Each season filled with reasons to run worship through with prayer

To He who grants fresh chances to awaken and rejoice

As He delights appetites for beauty through nature's voice

Each day a smorgasbord of the Lord's handiwork unfurls

Where Nature is a caterer with pocket full of pearls

And tables spread with green, gold, red and white; beneath, above

We witness He whose majesty earth offers glimpses of 

Each day fresh wonder thunders through the chambers of the heart

If we with slower pace embrace the study of God's art

And pause with awestruck posture, and holy humility

In the ache of a snowflake's astounding intricacy

Each day nature's showcase abounds with sounds and sights to thrill

And remind us because of love's kind Giver, to be still 

And trust the Teacher of the creature without skeptic doubt

To join the hymn that seraphim of earth and heavens shout

Janet Martin

O Worship the King

O worship the King all glorious above

Author: Robert Grant (1833)

Tune: LYONS

O worship the King all-glorious above,

O gratefully sing his power and his love:

our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,

pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

2 O tell of his might and sing of his grace,

whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.

His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,

and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

3 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;

it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

4 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.

Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,

our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

5 O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,

whom angels delight to worship above!

Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,

in true adoration shall sing to your praise!

Psalm 8:3-6

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit[a] him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than [b]the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

Read full chapter

Awakenings~

Happy new month, new week, new day!

Happy December!

Ps.118:24

This is the day the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

A sense of what yet waits ignites

A tense awareness of insights

Rolling in an un-parted sea

Of uncharted periphery

Daybreak gleams like a pristine sash

Untrampled by Thought’s barefoot dash

Through keyholes, over holy ground

Not sullied by ink-jots unbound

Ink jots disclose, if but in part

The burning bush within the heart

An impressionist’s silhouette

Of a bower bursting with Yet

Dawn unfolds the prevailing hue

Of the old laden with the new;

A trembling generosity

Of frames to fill with what will be

***

Prov.4:23

Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Romans 11:29
For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

Give diligence to truth and grace; to awe and choice because life’s race

Beats to a very sacred drum of calling and election’s sum

Give diligence to worship’s part and guard the chamber of the heart

For from it flows all that we seek; Be swift to hear and slow to speak

Give diligence to hope and love before mortality’s thin glove

Slips from the part that never dies; run as if to obtain the Prize

Give diligence to faith because beyond time’s trying wraith of gauze

Awaits the endless recompense of what/who we gave due diligence

***

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.

Experience steals innocence; for better or for worse

It does not withhold elements of both blessing and curse

Regardless of the circumstance that vexes you and I

Experience is bound to grant a lesson in reply

Foolish to wish for yester-cake or ‘Before’ ignorance

The ups and downs of give and take produce experience

No one can outlive its demands or dodge its dogged reach

The long arm of Experience always has much to teach

It drills us in the pros and cons of gaining older age

Is no respecter of persons; tutor of fool and sage

It builds character or destroys; tyrant and troubadour

Through bitter grief it renders joys we never knew before

Janet Martin

While Waiting....(for fulfillment of prophecy to unfold)

 

Spiritual darkness is a lack of delight in God.

Clinton Manley~

Advent is an in-between time,

when we wait with desire for the second coming

while we remember with delight the first.

Clinton Manley~

Source HERE

Matthew 4:16
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; 

on those living in the land of the shadow of death,

 a light has dawned.”

The sunrise teaches us about the Sonrise that we confess at Advent:

Christ has come. Christ will come again.

Clinton Manley~

Source HERE

While generations rose and fell like waves upon a sea

While centuries tolled like a bell hinged upon prophecy

While with devout commitment the truth was told and retold

While waiting for fulfillment of prophecy to unfold

While evil oppression increased beneath death's shadow chained 

Still, God's upright Hand never ceased where a great silence reigned 

 While blood of bulls and rams ran rife on altars made of stone

While waiting for the Light of Life to pardon and atone

While scoffers and emperors, boldly waved axes with pride 

And lined coffers with despot's gold, the king of kings defied/denied

Some glimpsed hope gleaming from afar, where a great darkness lay

In waiting for the Morning Star to drive its gloom away 

While foretold devastation unfurled like a beast of doom 

The bud of expectation sprouted in a Virgin's womb

The Flower of the Spirit, the Trinity's Diadem 

'Behold the root of David, and the Rod from Jesse's stem'

The Almighty has spoken; Salvation's Day is unfurled

The darkness has been broken by the True light of the world

Wounded for our transgression, redemption's plan to fulfill 

Though we esteemed Him stricken, the Lord's pleasure prospers still (Isa.53)

While generations rise and fall like waves upon a sea

While centuries roll like a ball into eternity

Still, with devout commitment the truth is told and retold

While waiting for fulfillment of prophecy to unfold

Janet Martin

We The Kingdom - Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah) [Lyric Video]

Sweet Summer's Courtship Came and Went...

Not the sun or the summer alone,

but every hour yields its tribute of delight.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Sweet summer's courtship came....

 and went...

Sweet summer's courtship came and went

Weaving its laughter and lament

Into a wreath of season-spent

To crown footfalls that fade

Like flower gardens, fair and brief

Like bowers bent with fruit and leaf

Like hours full of joy and grief

Like shadowland's soft-splayed 

...where childhood's barefoot, carefree strand

Soon falls prey to the firm command 

Of waves that sweep the sea and sand

 In morn to eventide

Whilst gath'ring in the gleaming wake

Of eager passion's give and take

Framed rations, tamed into an ache

  Of snow-capped countryside 

The aftermath of youthfulness

Is resolute in its progress 

Where winter is the effervesce 

Of summer's sanguine splash

Of petal-mettle, fondly kissed

Then felled by time's determined fist

Beneath a scarf of sequined mist

And echo's knee-deep sash

Janet Martin

Where winter is the effervesce 

Of summer's sanguine splash...

...and because it's tradition with the first real snowfall every year,

this song! 🙏

Fall Softly Snow...