Monday, January 16, 2012

Housewife's Monday Afternoon Haiku



Clean clothes frolicking
Boisterous winds tug the line
Laundry room tidy

Music of water
Becoming chamomile tea
Prelude to short break


Longfellow a-waits
Dickinson leans on his arm
An enticing pair

Stainless steel sink gleams
Tap dripping constant eighth-notes
In a tuneless song

Janet~

Redeemed


Redeemed,
Not by His
evil crown
of thorns
Not in His
flesh, beaten
stripped, torn
Not in the ghastly sword, or the hammer and the nails
But in God’s amazing love eternal; that never, ever fails
Because He gave His only perfect Son, Jesus, to die, and
in His blood
Oh redeemed
am I; not by
vain deeds I
have done, no
but through
the Cross as
God’s own Son
poured out His
blood to pay
for sin; and oh
Thereby I am
Redeemed. Yes.
Only through the
blood of Jesus Christ
and His righteousness

Janet Martin

Housewife's Monday Morning Haiku


Monday morning smiles

Sunday echoes in piled mugs

And dirty dishes


Monday morning sings

In a harvest of laundry

Waiting to be washed


Monday morning gleams

A glimpse of heaven’s glory

Whispers from God’s lips


Janet~


Sometimes, to see the beauty of a Monday morning

one needs to look up instead of down;))

Guess what I am off to do!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Daylight's Aftermath




http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

The sun has tread the corridor
From dawn to twilight’s edge
The shadows, crisp and silver-blue
Recline on earth's broad ridge
As time, the great philosopher
Without apology
Inhales the spectacle of day
To depths of history

The woods sweep up against the sky
In dark still-life designs
Embellishing the modesty
Of winter’s dormant lines
As thoughts like dotted ellipses
On phantom skeins of thread
Emphasize vain memories
On reels inside my head

I contemplate the rush of years
A surface calmly stealing
The aftermath of smiles and tears
And even as I'm kneeling
Yet, still the moments haste away
With silent resolution
As one lone star pins back the day
In twilight’s dissolution


Janet~

The wordle fit in excellently with some pictures I took while the sun was setting tonight...Thank-you Barbara and Brenda.

Gathered Thoughts

On poetry:
To hold back the poem
Burning inside of me
Is like forcing back rivers
At the mouth of the sea

On Strength:
The greatest strength is proven not in the holding
but in the power to let go…

On moderation:
Indulge every so often
It won’t kill you
And life is short
Do not indulge
Too often
For it will kill you
And shorten life

On trust and humility
“God” I ask, “Why must these things be?”
He replied, “So you trust with humility”

On sacrifice and submission:
God, don’t ask me to give up this little thing…
It is so very small
In fact, it is so little
It should not worry You at all,
Please, don’t ask me to give it up

On authenticity:
If the branch is attached to the true Vine
It will yield fruit fit for Heaven’s wine

On judging:
Unless we’ve lain with him in the trenches
And tasted the same bitter dirt
We ought not to judge our brother
On his reaction to hurt

On giving:
If you are giving where it is unappreciated
It does not mean you are giving to the wrong people
Especially if those people happen to be
Your children

God gives freely to us
In each moment

On serving;
We go
Driven by a force
Beyond human reasoning,
Love

The Very Beginning...


http://thewordwhisperer2.blogspot.com/2012/01/beautiful-gift-from-beautiful-friend.html

Carrie Burtt's story at Hope Whispers caused me to recall with sudden clarity when I began to write...today I was trying to decide why it is I need to write...I'm not sure I have the answer but it began when I was nine years old. I was sitting on a straw-covered step in the barn and suddenly I had a poem...a song actually to the tune of the stanza part of Rest By and By.

(I dug out the old black scribbler that holds my earliest dreams of writing) Here and there is a page with a huge X over it if I wrote it and then rejected it;))

This is the first poem I recall writing...

Me and My Savior

The great door of my heart
Is wide open each day
To let in the Savior
If he passeth that way

I often forget him
and sometimes go astray
But I ask forgiveness
When to the Lord I pray

I know how he suffered
On the cross of Calvary
And died in pain and sorrow
All because of you and me

He was laid in a tomb
By His friends who were sad
But on the third day
He arose, and they were glad

Forty days afterward
He ascended into Heaven
but the disciples kept the rules
That he had given

They preached to the people
In the countries far and wide
and told them of the story
How Jesus suffered and died

Janet~

I think the first three verses were the original poem and at some slightly later date I decided the poem/story was incomplete, hence the two columns.

Of Things to Come



It’s happening; you’re leaving me
Time sheds its guarded subtlety
It fills the timbre of your voice
I must concede; I have no choice
You’re leaving me

The way you look into my eyes
Has cut denial down to size
Your thoughts have changed as well they should
Time loosens strings and it is good
You’re leaving me

You’re leaving me; I look ahead
With throbs of mingled joy and dread
I wonder what God has in store
As you advance toward the door
You’re leaving me

To bolt the door I would not do
Many before have passed on through
Childhood extols its dividend
As love and pride and longing blend
You’re leaving me

It is the way of life and time
The broadening of a nursery-rhyme
Years bare their single-minded plan
A boy must leave to be a man
You’re leaving me

Janet~

Lest week Matthew (our son) had a few buddies over. When one of them first spoke
I spun around and did a double-take. I had not seen him in a little while
And suddenly his voice was deeper. Today, from another room, I heard Matt talking and it hit me…it is happening to him too.
When…how?

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Where Would I Be?


Where would I be?
My fumbling thought
Seeks to express
My love, oh God
Nothing of worth
Have I to bring
To show my love
For you, my King

Upon this broken
Void of sin
Its grief would quench
True joy within
But then one thought
Occurs to me
Without Your love
Where would I be?

Tempted and tried
Lord, I would stray
Without Your light
To lead the way
Your mercy beams
Across the night
Where would I be
Without Your light?

Seasons and stars
Heed your command
And yet You hold
My shameful hand
As every sin-stain
You erase
Where would I be
Without Your grace?

Oh Lord, I have
One gift to bring
Accept the praises
That I sing
For living Hope
Has set me free
Without Your love
Where would I be?

Janet
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions
—it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
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.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Eph. 2:4-10