Tuesday, September 25, 2012

We Are Much the Same





In all of our differences
By culture and creed
We are much the same
Creatures in great need
Of Jesus

In all of our differences
There is but one Name
By which men are saved
We are much the same

© Janet Martin
      

Monday, September 24, 2012

Heart or Head?





Some days my heart has old ragged edges
Some days its staunch and dull as cold stone
Still, on other days it’s a beckoning blossom
With fringes unfurling in love’s golden sun
Heart, you’re a restless and way-faring drifter
I cannot trust or rely on your lead
Heart, you’re a harbor for feelings and notions
Guess in the end I must follow my head

On some days my head will allow me one day-dream
But on most days it rules with a fist
Void of enchantment or humor or daring
Grim as a woman whose never been kissed
Head, you’re a fine one, with rigid denial
Stopping your ears at the songs of romance
Seems I must hail my heart for a moment
And beg it to teach my head to dance

© Janet Martin

Reason to Be Don Williams

Infinite Incomprehension





He made Himself
But clothed in flesh
Supreme I AM
In his image
Became a Lamb

Who can explain
Such humble mercy?
Love unrestrained
Beneath hatred’s blow
Who can explain
Compassion so perfect
As agony wept

Sweet incomprehension
I cannot grasp it
A King leaves His throne
To die on a cross
So we, wretched men
May pierce hatred’s darkness
As He shines through us

How I abhor
My rebellious nature
As I consider
God; putting on
Man’s filthy stature
Majesty serving
The hand with a sword

Immaculate Offering
Seals our redemption
Atonement of sin
To tell of His grace
May I never grow weary
To tell of His love
Where can I begin?

For He made Himself
Of no reputation
Clothing in flesh
Supreme I AM
Nothing desirable
In His image
Love Immortal
Became a Lamb

© Janet Martin








Marriage: It Doesn't Just Happen



To all us married folk I say 'cheers,
May love be so blissfully happy
we forget to count the years'

Does this cute cartoon not say it all?...now on a more serious note:


It doesn’t just happen
Love’s bearing; its bending
Is an earnest diligence
Of careful tending

It doesn’t just happen
Love’s time-tender glow
Is not something earned lightly
In life’s ebb and flow

It doesn’t just happen
Love’s sure testament
Is a shining example
Of commitment

It doesn’t just happen
By negligent living
Love is an action
Of giving, forgiving

It doesn’t just happen
Love’s tried and true grace
Is a gentle reflection
Of God’s face

It doesn’t just happen
But oh, its sweet worth
Is surely the most priceless
Beauty on earth

© Janet Martin


From my threshold of middle-age marriage I have a sudden fresher and deeper appreciation for these words;

Happy 49th Anniversary, Mom and Dad

Tomorrow is Mom and Dad’s 49th Wedding Anniversary. I am so thankful for their shining example of faithfulness.

May God richly bless you with many more.

The Knowns in our Unknowns




Upon what was or lies ahead
The hours between; life’s stepping-stones
In our journey of unknowns

With gasps of faith and hope we strain
In our journey of unknowns

In our journey of unknowns

The path of hope is narrow, straight
His arms of mercy, bastions; strong
In our journey of unknowns

In our journey to His Known

© Janet Martin

Glynis, love, hugs and prayers.




Simply Moments





Every stunning failure
And each triumphant gasp
Every trembling utterance
In every love we clasp
Every breath of courage
And every tender tear
The cistern filled with laughter
Or the belly filled with fear
The sorrow in our parting
The pleasure in hello
The obligations of sound reason
The reckless joy of letting go
The wine after the harvest
And the toiling and the strife
These are simply moments
But in time they form
A life

© Janet Martin

Sunday, September 23, 2012

On This Evening's Eve





On this evening’s eve
The aural scrim descends
In sable folds; it weaves
The moments, gold
To dim, then deeper blends

Purple sweeping shadows
Like painted turrets sprawl
Across the land; the meadow
A stadium where
We watch night’s curtain fall

It tugs in motionless motion
The beauty and brutality
Of this day’s lot; an ocean
Of pure grandeur
Seals its jot in history

Alpha and Omega draws
The shade; it is dark
And day is done
But only day; His love and grace
Go on
And on
And on
And on…


© Janet Martin

I took my daughter and her friend out to a field a few miles from here to watch the sun set. Victoria said that she is going to name that field Sunset Stadium. I LOVE it!:) And all that great open sky, and all that wild wonder and all that awesome creation is a mere 'whisper of Him'  ...a mere speck of His glory and grace! Hallelujah.

The girls wanted the 'best seat in the House'...









The Person I Used to Be



I am not the shape of my body
Or the color of my skin
These are merely landmarks
Of the person I am
Within

Once upon a distant time
I was a girl of many dreams
But somewhere in life’s forward march
They got lost,
It seems

Too many passions folded
Then surrendered to Time’s greed
The future does not give us
What we want, but what we
Need

Sometimes, in perfect moments
As the evening slips away
In gold-vermilion vesture; I become
For blissful half-breaths the girl of
Yesterday

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not ungrateful
But being a woman is bitter-sweet
Girlish freedom is a pasture
Beneath lost day-dreams and
Bare feet

I’ve traded luring day-dreams
For a better mystery
Of motherhood and the adrenaline rush
Of what is yet
To be

© Janet Martin

'Between the girl I once was
And the woman I’ve become
Lie too many
Years'

Doris Day in Don’t Eat the Daisies

Our Writer's Group challenge; Where is the person I used to be?