Thursday Thoughts on Prayer

Through valleys

Over mountains

And oceans of air

I reach out

To touch you

With my prayer

Wherever you go

My dear daughter and son

I want you to know

You can never outrun

My prayers for you~

Chase your dream

If you must

Place your will

And your trust

In a prayer

My thoughts keep returning to you today

So I fold you against my heart and I pray

A prayer is more than wishful thinking

More than a fretting tear

A prayer is the stair to the doorway of heaven

Straight to our Father’s ear

These are not just words I say

When I lift my thoughts and pray

These are petitions of trust

Rising from a shell of dust

But in this shell He placed His worth

When I received my second birth

Boldly yet humbly we commune

With He who graces earth with June

How fearful would be

This thing called Day

If God did not hear

Us when we pray

There is no such thing

if we earnestly groan

as a prayer too unworthy

to touch His throne

Yes, no, wait

God’s answers to prayer

Are never late

J~

If you read this...I prayed for you today.

Often I whisper a prayer for you

-those who pause here; and I pray

that whoever and wherever

in life you may be

that God will bless you today

 God bless~

 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you. Isa. 26:3

Life's Journey Sonnets

When failure grips the hearts ragged edges

When murderous words have mangled their mark

When grievance builds adamantine hedges

And snuffs from life’s glimmer its lusty spark

When sorrow, heartbreak, and disappointment

Plague with discouragement each in-drawn breath

When temptation threatens discontentment

And we grow weary to the point of death

Still, there is simply one thing we can do

Trust God, step by step to carry us through

***

It is not ours to give up and quit

Life’s moments come from God’s grace, not from man

We cannot escape what He has deemed fit

Nor can a man reconstruct Master-plans

But it is ours to forgive and forget

Though oft yet we err and stumble and fall

Wisdom is gleaned from the hand of regret

Grace without patience is no grace at all

It is God who gives and who takes away

It is ours to live, love, to watch and pray

***

When heart-linings bleed with love’s agony

When distance is mapped by unspoken thought

When faith is the mile that we cannot see

As all the things hoped for seem endlessly sought

Still, even then we cannot lay it down

This weight that besets us with torment and grief

Tis he who endures that will win the crown

And so we cry, ‘God, help my unbelief’

This is life’s journey, to be strong in the Lord

Rich is the inheritance of reward

 © Janet Martin

 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Tim. 2:3 KJV

It was so much fun to watch the Stanley Cup celebration's and rejoice with them after all the hard work, set-backs, etc.

It makes me think of life...to win we cannot quit.

Permanent Luggage

When children leave home
They leave most of their 'stuff' behind
But what they carry with them
They carry in their mind

And no matter where life takes them
Or where on earth they roam
The luggage they will carry
Are their memories of home

Janet~

Memories...luggage we cannot easily discard.
Make today a good one.
J~

The Journey of a Moment

From moments
to memories...
God, remind us of this
so it will be a pleasure
to reminisce

From moments
to memories
God, open our eyes
to the value of moments
so we may be wise

From moments
to memories
Both joy and regret
God help us remember
But teach us to forget...

Janet Martin~

If we refuse to redeem time wisely
It is possible
for breadth of thistledown
to crush us...

Memories

They adorn phantom stages

They breathe on night’s breeze

Turning invisible pages

Into memories

 

As we weep on a coffin

I thank God for these

For they comfort us often

They are memories

Parting can be heart-rending

But through grief’s agonies

We have the tender blessing

Of memories

Now we hold a moment

How precious are these

Seeds; for they grow into

Memories

© Janet Martin

Let's make today
a good memory!

Counting Lessons

We could count our sorrows

But tell me, what would we gain?

For the blessing of tomorrow

Often sprouts within the rain

So we should count our blessings

For we cannot really know

The depth of their conception

Or the Stream from whence they flow

© Janet Martin

The sun smiles in puddle-mirrors

After a Rainy Night in June...

The woods, veiled  in the distance

Crowns the border of the land

The earth; refreshed and glistening

‘Neath the Giver’s gracious hand

Where pastures, parched and pleading

Longed for nectar, pure, divine

Emerald fields ripple with promise

Replenished by heaven’s wine

The heart, veiled with the body

And the body, fresh from sleep

Have relinquished yester’ sorrow

For it is not ours to keep

But the hour pleads with Promise

And we dare not dance in vain

So we drink the Spirit’s nectar

Replenished by holy rain

The border of the hour

Is a phantom consciousness

Yet we recognize the Power

Whereby it is lent to us

The known, veiled in the distance

By a mist of vast unknown

Draws our hearts from fear’s resistance

To the footstool of His throne

© Janet Martin

His Word to the believer

Is what rain is to the earth

This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps. 118:24  

Rainy Night in June

Tonight the screen is heavy
with  warm,silver tears of June
The wind weeps; melancholy
a low and mournful tune
over the darkened pasture
and through my rain-swept heart
where I hold you to me, darling
while we are far apart

Tonight the sky is a hollow
without border, base or breadth
Its blackness seems to swallow
The wee, winsome drop of earth
Tonight I cannot hold back
the tears that fall like rain
And so I hold you closer
Until we will meet again

I feel your soothing whisper
Cool the longing on my skin
I hear our tumbled music
Soothe the aching deep within
I taste our salty teardrops
As they sweep thought's vague rampart
Oh, who knew that an ocean
Could be held within a heart?

J~