Ah, Redemption

Ah, redemption

The athlete cries

As his feet cross over

The finish-line

Ah, redemption

The student cheers

As he waves his diploma

With joyous tears

Ah, redemption

The believer weeps

As he casts his crowns

At Jesus feet

© Janet Martin

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an IMPERISHABLE CROWN. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Of Most Loved Moments

…to languish in the magnificence of dust

where miracles leap from sources untouched

…to savor long the invisible bliss

of haunts revisited in thought’s tender kiss

…to bear the searing ecstasy and grief of love

because we can never have too much, or even enough

…to touch you, hold you, caress you because I cannot wait

and tomorrow holds no guarantees but one; it could be too late

J~

Awesome Acknowledgement

Oh God, who can paint on an infinite nothing?

Has ever a man brushed his thought on the air?

Who on this earth can arrange the vast heavens?

Or shift nebulosity with naught but a stare?

Who can design, from the seed its fulfillment?

Man can do nothing but what you allot

The fruit of the field, of forest and garden

Blooms by the measure of Creator’s thought

Who teaches the bud of flower to open?

Or tells the tree its season to leaf?

Has ever a man plucked the rain from the heavens?

Or ordered the wind’s velocity to cease?

How fearful the greatness of our dependence

But for a God who loves us so much

That not one pebble escapes His vigilance

Hope and forgiveness exudes every touch

…and He who arranges the colors of heaven

Or stuns man’s babble to quieted awe

Seeks ultimately, intimately, the best for His children

For in Heaven and earth there is none like God

© Janet Martin

No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Jer. 10:6

We gathered there...some on the bluff, others down on the beach
each with our own version of  'watching the sun set...'

Of Blind Pursuit...

How vain the blind pursuit of man

How feeble is its cheer

How pithy the desires that span

This transient hemisphere

Of dust and lust, of sin and sod

If our trust is not in God

A little joy, a little grief

A little youthful glance

Each season of existence brief

We laugh, we weep and dance

But oh, what futile scope we plod

If our hope is not in God

Disappointment and delight

A gasp upon the air

A gathering of day and night

Of dreaming and despair

But oh, what purpose fills our thought

If we have put our faith in God

© Janet Martin

 He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet

 no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end;

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

Eccles. 3:11-12 

I Know...

I do not know…

before the sun

cajoles the western sky

what will befall,

but this I know

the Lord keeps you and I

I do not know 

what waits beyond

the dark and distant hill

but this I know

before me goes

a Father's perfect will

and this I know

the unknown waits

and I, a shell of dust

can simply place

my hand in His

and in His wisdom trust

© Janet Martin

Wordless Truths

 

You moved me with your pretty speech

It left me somewhat stirred

For there is much allurement

In the sentiment of word

But I am getting older

And the truth; I’m learning well

There is much more told in action

That word can never tell

© Janet Martin

Torrents from Above...

We offer you our mangled blooms

Of bent and broken stem

The remnant of vague promises

So common unto men

We lift, in blushing guilt and shame

Our stammered salutation

As we seek hope within the Name

Of mercy and compassion

We repeat our confessions

At the alter of His grace

Unworthy of the miracle

That flows to human race

For in return He gives to us

In torrents from above

For our debt His pardon

His forgiveness and His love

© Janet Martin

Of Mystery and Mornings...

The quiet leans in closely

As the early light expands

And navy yields to the caress

Of morning’s gentle hands

Angels in silken garments

Brush the line twixt dark and day

With effervescent whispers

They ease deeper shades away

Mystery treads the stillness

Of the unknown like a bloom

Starting to press the barriers

Of its darkened waiting room

We step onto the shoreline

Of a mighty river’s flow

As He who holds this day’s design

And gives the sun its glow…

…assures us in the solitude

Of grace that will not flea

And He knows every petal

That drifts into Time’s vast sea

The quiet leans in closely

As this hushed and sacred hour

Nudges from the bud unfolding

A new and perfect flower

© Janet Martin

Wait on the Lord and keep His way

And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land.

When the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it. Ps. 37:34