Mercy's Bestowal

 Strange, how within an hour the sky can wear so many moods. It rose in bold attire then slipped into nondescript gray.

While dawn is deep

And zephyrs sleep

I sense the waning of its will

Beyond the globe

Night's rigid robe

Begins to melt from eastern rill

The cobalt hue

Of slumb’ring blue

Softens beneath the silent urge

Of amethyst

And lilac mist

Darkness dissolves within its surge

The heaviness

Of midnight’s tress

In wordless wonder slips away

From mercy’s Source

Love’s unseen Force

Bestows to us another day

© Janet Martin

While I was trying to capture the sunrise from my kitchen-window Victoria called to me from the end of the driveway as she waited for the bus 'if you really want to see the sun rise you need to come out to the road' She was right!

It's funny how the view changes when we change our view-point:)

 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 1 Cor. 4:5

Of Today...Thursday Thoughts

It does no good to hold them fast

…those faded frenzies of the past

For soon the moment in our hand

Will join those monuments of sand

And soon time’s wave will wash away

The offering we call Today

***

…I do not want to short-change the present

By living in the past or fearing what may yet wait

So God, help me to embrace moment-offerings

Lest they fall unnoticed until its too late

***

…then, when the sun leans heavy on the edge of the day

Pink pool on earth’s levee before it slips sway

We will not covet its immutable pull

If we live, laugh and love this day to the full

***

This is a sacred and holy space

Compassionate  offering of mercy and grace

Lavished on us from our Father’s embrace

This is Today

This is not merely a pounding of sod

Or suffering beneath love’s mysterious rod

These are rare moments framed by God

This is Today

This is heaven-tenured opportunity

Intangible torrent sliding to a sea

Fulcrum twixt history and eternity

This is Today

***

No matter what the past has claimed in its clutch

No matter what tomorrow shrouds in folds of gray

We hold everything worth having beneath our touch

In a beautiful present we call Today

© Janet Martin

How will we use His gift?

This holy place where we dash with soiled feet

in shameless disregard to its Giver…

Lord teach me to live

As you would have me to be

Lord, teach me to serve

With humility

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

Echoes...

I ask him if he played there

Where the cattails drink the pond

His blue eyes gleam, gazing fondly

To an echoing bygone

With tender smile he sees them

...jolly good times that they had

And I smile, because for a moment

The old man became a lad

© Janet Martin

He told me of the camp-outs, parties, bonfires...
...and how nobody comes here anymore.

 ...once he hung a bird-house,
planted daffodils by the cottage,
listening to the trill of the wood-thrush
Now the air is still, there is a sacred hush
where memories keep
vigil over the grave where the woods-man sleeps

 

Transient Kisses...(sequel to Mon. post; Heaven's Disguised Kisses)

What is will pass
Transient as dew
On a blade of grass
But...
What is will be
The song that tunes
Our memory

Janet~

What is messy today
Might be tidy tomorrow
Life is a duet
Of both joy and sorrow

***
 

About the pics...a few days ago I post some very unglamorous 'kisses in disguise' . This is the messes and their flip-side, because that's the way it is; one moment tidy, the next- a mess...

Melissa, 18 and Victoria 11, share a room. This leads to great conflict when it comes to decorating, so they each have 'their side'...

Matt is a lover of all sports. He LOVES to play any sport, (soccer may be the one he cares for least) His first word was 'ba' (ball). I would put a toy truck in his hand and he would drop it and pick up a ball. Before he was a year old I knew his love. I would pile toys around him and he ignored all of them as he stretched and reached for a ball!! It was so funny.

Emily's room was spared. She does make her bed and sort of puts most of her stuff away. She is also 20:) 

Triumphs of a Moment

Image Source: pinterest

Can our arms embrace a memory?

Can they reach into the past

And retrieve a tender moment

Where its shadow long is cast?

Can lips whisper into being

What has slipped beyond the blue

Where the murmur of the night-wind

Rouses tear-framed thoughts of you?

Can we have within our holding

More than half-breaths as they slip

In vexation, melting softly

Like a snowflake on the lip?

There's no fulfillment in a shadow

Misery and mercy ache

In the vanquishment of moments

And the memories they make

Can our arms embrace the echo

As it drifts from down-cast skies?

...oh, it’s almost like we’re dancing

But I cannot find your eyes

© Janet Martin~

A Little Morning Prayer

© Janet Martin

Of Darkness and Light

( Image Source:http://wallpaperswide.com/let_there_be_light-wallpapers.html)

There is day

And there is night

There is dark

And there is light

From Eden forth

Night-time and day

Chart the discourse

Of mortal fray

…but not so in eternity

For at its boundless destiny

There are two gates; one leads to Light

The other to eternal night

© Janet Martin

This Way...

I cannot walk this way alone

It passes through life’s vast Unknown

Then, beyond its unyielding sea

Lies immortal eternity

I dare not walk this way alone

In life and death I need Someone

To gently guide and comfort me

And know those things I cannot see

I need not walk this way alone

Through suffering of thorn and stone

Through searing sun and howling gale

I need a Hand that will not fail

I will not walk this way alone

Though the Unknown is still unknown

And I cannot foretell its ways

It never passes from His gaze

© Janet Martin

 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deut. 31:8