Of the Wonder of Words

Words; such quaint and curious things

Like ink-shaped puppets on a string

They draw from us life’s darling sighs

Or fill the dark in curs-ed cries

Painting mind-pictures in the air

They form our worry and our prayer

The wander-lust of wonder stirred

And spilled in ink-jots shaping word

Word; the poet’s rebel-lure

The sermon wee lad must endure

The good, the bad, the bitter-sweet

In endless possibility

A palette of infinite vaunt

They hurt and heal, they soothe and taunt

The mien of thought spoken and heard

Empowered by this thing called word

Foolish and wise access alike

The freedom to this verbal might

And in the syllables we choose

We will reveal thought’s hidden hues

We ought to ponder carefully

Which ones to keep or to set free

For they fall fast and undeterred

In dynamite drops formed in words

Word; language of lip or pen

To inspire, teach or mislead men

Therefore we must give earnest heed

To what we read, think, write thence read

For in this little ink-swirl jot

Lies both the bud and bloom of thought

A seed of potent power incurred

In architecture of a word

© Janet Martin

 "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."
- Luke 6:45

 "I like good strong words that mean something."
- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

 "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."
- Thomas Jefferson

 Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."
- Anonymous

 "A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."
- Emily Dickinson ("A Word is Dead")

 "Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning."
- Benjamin Franklin

Of Snowflakes and Grace

It is assuredly so

In shades of virgin snow

Our scarlet robes of sin are cleansed

In love’s redeeming flow

Ah grace, how can this be?

That One should so love me

The Son of God, by His own blood

Washes our sin-stains clean

It is most surely so

Thus, by His grace I go

Our ruddy guilt by Lamb’s blood spilt

Is washed as white as snow

© Janet Martin

The stark and pleading landscape is covered in a blanket of spotless snow...

That's what God's promise is for us... "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

 Isa. 1:18

Snow-song

Rollicking, frolicking, feathery fray

Blanketing evergreen, umber and gray

Embellishing fences and skeletal limb

Swirling and whirling celestial hymn

Cotton-soft canticle, mute melody

Tumbling from chambers of infinity

Spiraling splendor decking land and lake

God’s wonder captured in every flake

Dizzying dazzling, soundless madrigal

Heaven’s extravagance sweeping hill and dell

Choir of cherubs tumbling to the earth

Calling to children in merry-white mirth

Dauntless, dancing choristers spilling their glee

Flinging their anthems, footloose, fancy-free

Rollicking, frolicking, feathery lay

This is the song of a winter snow-day

© Janet Martin

Yes, its a snow-day, no school.

 

From two days of almost non-stop rain melting any snow that had accumulated to

winter making up for lost time...

 

On Diligence

In this era of instant gratification

And presumed recompense

We seem to discredit

Humble diligence

Its pay-off is patient

Its battle is long

Yet, in its commitment

The weak become strong

We ought not to grow weary

In doing our best

For only the diligent

Truly pass life’s test

© Janet Martin

The lesson I taught to Grades 5&6 this past Sunday in Sunday School was on diligence. It spoke to me on so many levels.

Transient Lament

…then, let the dark fret in icy lament

And rage against the far side of the glass

These minstrels pelting frigid limb and grass

Are merely nature’s restless discontent

And like the wantonness of winter-thought

They too shall pass; a twinkle in the eye

Soon we will laugh beneath warm summer sky

Or bask in oceans of for-get-me-not

It is not far to winter’s other side

Moments melt heedless, one into the next

A year veiled in soft half-breath pretext

Slips easily into Time’s thrumming tide

And all the gleaming, potent fantasies

Of better days to come that we desire

While sitting snug beside the flickering fire

Will soon be wafting in the purple autumn breeze

Janet~

Flower-Power

 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Matthew 6:28-30





He who denies
God and His awesome power
Has never fully beheld
The heart of a flower

Pink, gold or purple
Magenta or white
All are precious
In His sight

He who desires
To see God's wondrous power
Needs simply to ponder
The art of a flower

Janet ~

Thank-you Megan, for bringing color into a very bleary, dreary gray day:)

Thank-you Nantucket Daffodil for a splash of spring-dreaming! Love that galvanized planter.

Thank-you Kateri, for sharing your beautiful blooms~

Word-flux

 

Sometimes

Words are enough

To convince

Me of

This wonder

Called

Love

Sometimes

Words slaughter

And steal

Love’s assurance

Where only words

Can

Heal 

Darling,

Let's paint a picture

Of oceans stirred

Where we capture

Perfection

Without a

Word

Janet~

Wonder-song

You fill the sea with its fortune

You interlace rock hills with gold

And into the arms of a woman-child

You placed your own Son to hold

You teach the sparrow and swallow

You nudge the bud on the limb

And You grace the harvested fallow

With whispers of day growing dim

God, you hold the stars in the heavens

Reaching fathoms beyond our scope

And you give us innocent children

To fill mundane moments with hope

You shape the fall of a raindrop

You paint the sky on the sea

But the most wonderful wonder of all, my God

Is the wonder that You love me

You point the sun through vast eons

You guide the bird to its nest

You pluck the storm from the ocean

And color the dusk in the west

You give us knowledge and wisdom

And the mortal freedom to choose

The immortal Key to your kingdom

Or the darkness of evil’s dues

God, You father nature’s deliverance

You fill the womb of the earth

God, in love’s tender benevolence

You offer redemption’s re-birth

You bind the chains of the Pleiades

You hear our most feeble call

And God, to know that You love us so

Is the most wonderful wonder of all

Father of Orion’s army

Father of each living thing

Surely Your goodness and mercy

Stirs our longing to sing

Father of boundless compassion

Father of infinity

The micro-drop of the ocean

Is but the beginning of Thee

God of eternal dominion

Perfect and righteous and just

Tipping the jars of the heavens

To nurture this vulnerable dust

Who God, but You can inspire

The bleak, barren furrow and field

Who God, but You can require

The first-fruits of Love’s gracious yield

Who God, but You, is eternal?

Who can boast anything now?

But only what we are able

Because of what You allow

Who can release trembling thunder?

Or explain Love’s mystery

And who can exceed this most wonderful wonder

That this God loves you and me?

© Janet Martin

This song was spawned by the plop of a rain-drop, and like its circle, spread...

Job 37-39