Rejoice!

Heb.11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.

Away In A Manger

Good Christian Men, Rejoice

Chris Tomlin - O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Lyric Video)

Though sorrow still abounds, God gives us reason to rejoice

Though tragedy confounds and explanation has no voice

Rejoice! And let love’s gladness spill into a hymn of praise

Faith’s Author and perfecter will not fail us, all our days

Though darkened and hardened hearts grope and misled hordes pursue

Rejoice! for Jesus, mankind’s Hope is trustworthy and true

The love that drew salvation’s plan conquered death’s darkest hour

The Name that rescues souls of man will never lose its pow’r

Though death appears the victor of the spoils of life, rejoice!

The grave is not the picture that gives courage to faith’s voice

But the good tidings of great joy, of peace on earth, goodwill

Because Bethlehem’s Baby Boy is mankind’s Savior still

So then rejoice! And glorify the Name above all names

Jesus came to save you and I from death and hell’s dread claims

Come and kneel at the manger where the King of kings was laid

Rejoice! He is no stranger for by Him we all were made

Rejoice! This is no Season-song but wonder’s lifelong hymn

The Gift that keeps faith’s courage strong, the Light no night can dim

No circumstantial evidence can thwart the power of

Jesus, who seals the recompense of faith and hope and love

Janet Martin

O How I Love Jesus | Lydia Walker ft. Doug Ott 

Joy to the World John Berry

Christmas Contemplation/Adoration

Who wends from welkin wellsprings, hues that herald each daybreak?

(This morning is showcasing last night's pom-pom-sized snowflakes!)

Who draws dusk’s deep blue gauze across the earth when day is done?

(Last night my camera lens had trouble focusing on the fluffy frost-plums falling from the sky)

This morning I read this quote;

'Each one of us is an Innkeeper,

who decides if there is room for Jesus!'

Make Room by Casting Crowns featuring Matt Maher (Lyric Video) 

  

Heb.3:15

“Today, if you will hear His voice, 

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Each heart is a cradle.

Each heart is a throne

Each heart is a treasure

God yearns, for his own

2 Pet.3:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, 

as some understand slowness.

 Instead he is patient with you, 

not wanting anyone to perish, 

but everyone to come to repentance.

Who helps us love each other; both the spiteful and the kind?

Who gives us courage in the face of fear, and cheers the soul?

Who works for our good in ways that never cross the mind?

Who is our faithful Keeper when the storms of trouble roll?

Who fills each day with purpose, no matter how great or small

May seem the merit of the task as we fulfill life’s call?

Who wends from welkin wellsprings hues that herald each daybreak?

Who tends the pastures where flocks feed, and sends both rain and sun?

Who lends us every lease of life; each gifted breath we take?

Who draws dusk’s deep blue gauze across the earth when day is done?

Who calms the heart when we begin to vainly fret and fuss?

The Word, who became flesh and made His dwelling among us

JESUS, who became incarnate to be Atonement’s Lamb

Who manifests hope, joy and peace, and there is none besides

The God of our Salvation, the Immaculate I AM

The King of kings and Lord of lords, our utter need provides

Heaven and earth are His; both Infant’s wail and Lion’s roar

Jesus Christ, the Same yesterday, today and Evermore

He helps us love each other; both the spiteful and the kind

He gives us courage in the face of fear, and cheers the soul

He works for our good in ways that never cross the mind

He is our faithful Keeper when the storms of trouble roll

He fills each day with purpose, no matter how great or small

May seem the merit of the task as we fulfill life’s call

Janet Martin

Of Christmas, Rest and Wintertime (or, with Half-welcome Wonderment)

 Happy Winter Solstice!

...each window framing Christmas cards...

Across the land where summer set grandstands of leafy silhouette

And spread its table with the grace of chamomile and Queen Ann’s lace

Now, with half-welcome wonderment we wake to unflawed filament

Of dazzling stars and diamond shards; each window framing Christmas cards

Wakening hearts to joys forgot while days were dusty, long and hot

And tuning happiness with ways not lost to Bygone’s ‘good, old days’

The bluejay, still sassy and bold, home, still a haven from the cold

The kitchen, still like a warm hug where we fill dinner plate and mug

And remember fond days gone by that bring a teardrop to the eye

Where here and there an empty chair draws tender pictures on the air

Of those we miss with aching heart and then we kiss love’s works of art

And thank the Lord that He saw fit to bless us with love’s precious bit

Ere holding turned to letting go; and now we treasure each ‘hello’

With pleasure, not perceived before we grieved a Farewell-fettered door

And now we take a closer look at pictures in a phantom book

Capturing the tittle and jot that lays another year to naught

Shaping perspective with the ink of berry-blue and blossom-pink

Of dream-hued greens, of golds and reds, of fields tucked in like featherbeds

While learning how to marvel more as season’s skim time’s ballroom floor

Composing ballads, brushed with sage/age, that never bare lyric to page

But make us sweetly, humbly glad for each arpeggio/upsy-daisy we had

Where joy is purer in the wake of holy valleys of heartache

And winter with its surly bite unfurls its showcase of delight

As, with half-welcome wonderment, we smile though we are weather-bent

Embracing life’s unflinching law that unleashes a storm of awe

Soft-wafting flakes and stinging gales, feet blazing knee-deep frigid trails

To gain a pristine point of view where morning fills the old with new

And with half-welcome wonderment find we are growing snow-content

Contented not to understand the whys of winter’s wonderland

The ‘hows’ that howl and hurl the Must of life like swirls of snow and dust

Where love is always unprepared when it comes to sorrow’s soul bared

But faith and hope will always bare/bear the beauty of God’s faithful care

And as the inner child beholds the way that winter white enfolds

The earth beneath a wreath of rest, Longing laughs, feeling like a guest

In a world, though broken and scarred, touching a free-for-all Postcard

As half-welcome wonderment brims, dissolving in no-holds-barred hymns

All hail the pow’r of He who grants each season-gifted song and dance

Praise God for love’s blessings to cheer each up and down throughout year

Exalt the Name that saves us from the dread of cold, dark heathendom

Let winter glisten like a gem in earth’s/faith’s four-season diadem

The fire crackles in the hearth, the chicken cackles with egg-mirth

The oven hosts aromas wild with scents that wake our inner-child

To happiness we oft forget in summer’s leafy silhouette

Of slower pace/grace of frosty clime, of Christmas, rest and wintertime

Janet Martin

Thoughts While Gazing at a Newborn Day

Jer.31:3

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Love; so very much more than any other

four-letter word! Who can begin to fathom its bearing?!!

Sometimes, as I gaze through the window at a new day

a sense of mingled delight and (almost) despair

washes over me, as the unknown rolls in bearing a fresh wave of

both brokenness and bliss of life and love!

The broken, bumbling bliss of This

The shouldering of much amiss

The ebb and flow of yes and no

Of holding on and letting go

Of low blows, high fives, hug and kiss

Begins again, where twilight drew

A welkin veil, blue over blue

Across the day, and it was night

The countryside faded from sight

Till daybreak turned the old to new

And set in motion what Yet Is

The holy, humbling gift of This

A Hand to hold, a prayer to pray,

God's faithfulness through night and day

In a world with so much amiss

The love of God will never dim

Each morn fresh founts of mercy brim

To teach us to live, self-denied

To break our stubborn streaks of pride

So we can learn to love like Him

Janet Martin

Love Came Down at Christmas, Love all Lovely Love Divine.

Johnny Cash - I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day (Official Audio)

Wonder-witnesses

Last night I got home after Jim (husband) was sleeping and he got up early to leave

so I got up as well to see him off.

then I was wide awake so I settled down for some 'quiet-time'

(such as praying for my sister-in-law Karen who is having 

a hip-replacement surgery today!! prayers valued)

but, my quiet-time was soon interrupted by a rather

suspicious rustling, so I set the mouse traps I have been saving for Jim to set,

...then returned to reading and writing (a few minutes ago I heard a 'snap!')

The background music and backdrop of poetry is often anything but poetic!!

This poem was inspired in part by a conversation this morning

 (while we waited for the coffee to brew) about

how it's harder to get the Christmas 'feeling' as we get older...

Also in part by my devotion passage from Isa.43.

As I read through the chapter I was suddenly so thankful

for the Christmas 'knowing' which is better forever

than just a 'feeling'.

We, by faith are witnesses of Hope's reason!

We are witnesses of wonder!

Isa.43:10-11

“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,

“And My servant whom I have chosen,

That you may know and believe Me,

And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed,

Nor shall there be after Me.

11 I, even I, am the Lord,

And besides Me there is no savior.

We are witnesses of wonder...

He whose Word will never dim

Causes earth and sky to thunder

With the evidence of Him...

(upstairs window with a screen was my only option

to capture December dusk yesterday)

a wonder-evoking beauty in spite of being blocked by buildings

We are witnesses of wonder

He whose Word will never dim

Causes earth and sky to thunder

With the evidence of Him

Causes creation to capture

Eyes and ears with sight and sound

Overflowing hearts with rapture

As both great and small confound

We are witnesses of glory

So we may know and believe

In He who fulfilled love's story

Hope, joy and peace to achieve

He whose servant-like behaviour

Purchased pardon for sin's debt

Hallelujah, what a Saviour

Dying in the sinner's stead

We are witnesses of promise

Only faith can apprehend

As we fix our eyes on Jesus

And hope's assurance defend

As we trust the One and Only

Author and Perfecter of

Faith; as His truth cheers the lonely

With His everlasting love

We are witnesses of wonder

Where good tidings of great joy

Break the bars of hell asunder

Through Bethlehem's Baby Boy

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to the King of kings

Glory to His love unbiased

And the hope that Jesus brings

He, wounded for our transgression,

Bruised for our iniquities

Through Calvary's intercession

Fulfilled ancient prophecies

We, witnesses of salvation

We, who by His stripes are healed

Sing with joyful exaltation

For the Lord's pleasure revealed 

We are witnesses of 'Knowing'

What the angels sang about

Of the love of God bestowing

Light to pierce shadows of doubt

Of the Word that makes His dwelling

In the likes of you and me

Witnesses of Christ's compelling

Love for all humanity

Janet Martin

Mary's Boy Child- Jim Reeves

Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven (A Children's Carol) - Keith & Kristyn Getty

Mercy's Manifestation

1 John 4:9-10

This is how God’s love was revealed among us: 

God sent His one and only Son into the world,

 ...so that we might live through Him. 

 And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us 

and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

***

An angel gilds earth's sashes and lintels with gold-glazed white

She stokes yesterday's ashes coaxing from cold hearths, daylight...

An angel gilds earth's sashes and lintels with gold-glazed white

She stokes yesterday's ashes coaxing from cold hearths, daylight

Its Source no Else-force swindles; redemption rolls like a sea

From the Hand that rekindles virgin opportunity

This world, where woe and wonder war, where hope and heartache merge

Where Much is inclined to want More, is balanced on the verge

Of what sight perceives, but in part; Faith's dark glass cast between

The passages we learn by heart, and pastures, Heaven-green 

Each morning Bygone's bower bends with what yet waits to be

Mercy's manifestation rends the veil of history

With blessing beyond mortal ken, as traffic of clad souls

Rushes dawn's showcase once again with sacred 'fishing-poles'

Behold the banner of God's grace, each new day testifies 

Behold what manner of great love erases darkened skies 

Behold, divine delight unfurled from Favour's faithful Hand

An angel's wing wakens the world and morning sweeps the land

Janet Martin 

Lam.3:21-26

21 This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I hope in Him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord.

Star of the East

A few more gems from Slim Whitman...

There's a Song in the Air

Long Ago there Was Born...

Bittersweet Ballad

Ps.19:14

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 

be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Christmas season stirs reflection.

As I reflect on another year where sorrow and joy

 clashed, again and again, the word 'bittersweet'

seems to have taken a deeper, more sacred root in the soil

of hope, 

trust...

 and gratitude!

Before it is too late to say 

'I love you' by our words and deeds

Let's take a fresh look at today

And make the most of moment-seeds...

Moment-seeds may appear as commonplace

as shoveling snow

or loads of laundry,

but as we take a closer look at the

'who' and the 'why' of them

they steal our breath!!

With changes that each year unfolds

Where birth and death's charges compete

Love and longing's uncharted holds

Compose a ballad, bittersweet

Between a world of yesterdays

And morrows, life's moments untwist

In sunshine golds and storm cloud grays

Years melt away like morning mist

 

...while making us more humble stewards

Of  Today's gardens-vineyards-fields 

To gather love's grains, grapes and gourds

With gratitude for what soon yields

...to scenes of once-upon-today

The heart, a gallery that gleams

With buds that bloom and fall away

Like petal-fray on rushing streams

...pushed by relentless winds of change

Where hold and letting go compete

In tangos of embrace-estrange 

To time's bold ballad, bittersweet

Before it is too late to say 

'I love you' by our words and deeds

Let's take a fresh look at today

And make the most of moment-seeds 

...so when the bud unfolds to bloom

Upon the tomb of yesteryears

The bitter-sweetness of its plume

Will stir a hymn of smiles and tears 

Janet Martin 

Wonderful Merciful Savior- Selah 

An Advent Reveille

 

Sometimes when daybreak kindles the eastward horizon

in flaming appeal, (like yesterday morning!!) 

it rushes the air like a celestial reveille,

beckoning us to rise and 'shine' !

Do not grow weary in love’s dues bearing eternal worth

Continue to tell the Good News of the Messiah’s birth

Continue to proclaim the Name, commanding prophecy

Tell the world of Jesus who came to set sin’s captive free

The ‘last days’ prophets long foretold, on that first Christmas morn

Began to fulfill and unfold when Jesus Christ was born

Jesus, knowing the dreadful price of His sinless blood shed

Came to become sin’s final sacrifice and crush Death’s head

Then pray, do not cease to proclaim He who conquered the grave

Salvation knows no other Name; Jesus, mighty to save

Stepped from His divine station to suffer redemption’s rod

To be the hope of nations, to fulfill the will of God

Then do not faint, but hail the Name of Jesus every morn

Good tidings of great joy proclaim; a Savior has been born

For God so loves the world, He gave His only Son to be

Sin’s off’ring once for all, to save and set condemned souls free

Joy to the world, the Prince of Peace is trustworthy and true

Someday the wars of earth will cease and all will be made new

Till then, continue to proclaim the angel’s hymn. Extol

The Good News; JESUS is His Name, the Savior of the soul

Janet Martin

Acts 3:18-26

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, 

that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,

 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 

20 and that He may send [c]Jesus Christ, who was [d]preached to you before, 

21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, 

which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since [e]the world began. 

22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you

 a Prophet like me from your brethren. 

Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 

23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet 

shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 

24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, 

as many as have spoken, have also [f]foretold these days. 

25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,

 saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 

26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, 

sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”