Thursday, May 16, 2013

All That We Have...

 


we cannot go back
not for one half-breath
not for a moment
under the sun
we cannot borrow
one jot from tomorrow
all that we have, love
is now...then its gone

treasure the measure
of love you are holding
savor the flavor
of its tender sigh
for who knows, tomorrow
our joy may be sorrow
and hello a prelude
to parting's good-bye

we cannot cradle
the moment impending
we cannot reach back
to retrieve yesterday
all that we have, love
within our power
is this little moment
slipping away

Janet~

I'm doing dishes; this song 'This Old Road" came on and sparked a thought. Hope you are having
a beautiful now!



Of Middle-May



I'm ever amazed at the resilience of nature...a month ago we were recovering from this.

After the voracious villains of winter
Slumber like pirates, weary of the fight
And after the plundering of mistral-fury
And rain-song rehearsing from morning till night
Then comes the aftermath laughing like maidens
Dressed in their best for a spring Sunday-stroll
Then comes the apple-tree gloriously laden
With pink-petal pleasure delighting the soul

After the moody blue bluster of breezes
Subdues the growl in austere winter’s groan
See how they slip through feathered willow-tresses
With buoyant appeasing and frolicsome tone
The village, stark gray in December’s dusk shadow
Revels in bronze middle-May afterglow
While sweet on the vesper that drifts ‘cross the meadow
Lingers the fragrance of pink-petal snow

After the brook, sealed in icy restriction
Rambles, renewed in its blue liberty
Below the bluff where a green benediction
Ravishes dull fallow-dormancy
There we pause; humbled by spring's surging carols
Where apple-tree belles in a still-life ballet
Of pink-petal pleasure in joyful praise spirals
With welcoming whispers of fair middle-May

© Janet Martin



 “Listen to this, Job;
    stop and consider God’s wonders.
Do you know how God controls the clouds
    and makes his lightning flash? 
 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
    those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge? Job 37: 14-16



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Of Contrite Recognition





Oh, I should never want to be
Absorbed with living’s this and that
So that what’s right in front of me
Falls heedless through perception’s cracks
And I should never want to pine
Gazing to skyline’s in my thought
Missing what Love has tendered mine
While hungering for what is not

Else I might miss the golden glow
Of laughter in love’s eager eyes
Or how the hope of heaven flows
Through crevices in darkened skies
And then perhaps I would forget
To touch and hold and taste and see
The beauty of love’s preciousness
And life’s awesome fragility

We cannot choose love’s holy hues
What God will give or when He takes
We ought to cherish gifted blooms
Before their petals skim the lakes
Moments transpire, volatile
Slipping across ephemeral dust
Lord, teach us how to recognize
Your gifts these moments lend to us

© Janet Martin


and Job said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."  Job 1:21

Last night I had a dream/nightmare that somehow we were late for Emily's wedding because we forgot to look at the clock. When we scrambled to get dressed I realized that I had forgotten to get anything new for any of us to wear and Emily was calling from the church to ask what was keeping us! I just couldn't believe that I was so distracted that I forgot to look at the time!

It reminded me of this parable...



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Please pray for the Bosma family...




The senseless cruelty of hate
Rocks and shocks the rudiments
Of hope and love, mercy and faith
It scars and mars love’s evidence
But still we know that our God reigns
He comforts those who mourn and weep
We trust, for we cannot explain
The demons of hate’s darkened deep

And while we long to justify
Our anger as we taste its gall
We lift our tears to God on high
For He alone can see it all
Someday, beyond this sin-cursed realm
Our unknowns will be heaven-clear
We trust the Master at the helm
For He beholds and counts each tear

© Janet Martin



Heart-felt prayers and tears are flowing for the Bosma family and friends.

The Home-front



 

Sometimes the front-lines become blurred; obscured
Beneath piled dishes, laundry loads and such
The aftermath of battles we’ve endured
For all its grief seems not to matter much
As daylight dims we cannot see the yield
Of blood-sweat-tear-drops spilled into the air
Upon this precious home-front battle-field
Soldiers-in-sacred-making need our care
We forge toward a Prize we cannot see
A motley stumbling, fumbling infantry

We watch the fledgling flounder, struggle; grow
Restless to fly on eager, untried wings
We cut the cord when they are born but oh,
We cannot sever love’s tender heart-strings
As, midst the noise of pots and pans and spills
Of bills and slamming doors and soft good-night
We pray the Lord to keep us through the drills
To give us courage to be strong and fight
For soon the care-free little boy and girl
Must be prepared to face this wicked world

In boot-camps strewn with homework, footballs, shoes
With muffin-crumbs and heaped, half-finished chores
Where we are startled by the hues and dues
Of love-in-training recruits for life’s wars
It’s easy to lose sight of Love’s High Call
As common cares distract and circumvent
We cannot know what battles will befall
But this we know; we must be diligent
As we scold, cheer and kiss those freckled grins
The home-front is where the future begins

© Janet Martin


 In our Mother's Day Service on Sunday our pastor reminded us that Timothy became the man he was not on his own but because of diligent examples of faith...what we do today MATTERS tomorrow!

 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Tim.1:5

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






Of Scribbles and Such



 Photo

These lines we scribble in life’s dirt
May seem quite insignificant
A transient script of smile and hurt
Across earth’s blue-dot element
An employment of joy and strife
Inscribing chapters of a life

These lines we scrawl in moment-ink
When segregated, may seem trite
A repetition twixt dawn-pink
And velvet vesper-sigh of night
Yet time does not sever its text
Each murmur melding to the next

Our folly-foibles need Love’s grace
For this is not fictitious sod
Of hope and heart-ache’s mute embrace
This is our love-story to God
As tear and sweat-drops spill and spell
Those things we think we do not tell

The subtle imprint of our thoughts
May seem invisible and small
A gathering of jumbled jots
And unintelligible scrawl
But we should pay close, cautious heed
For what we write Someone will read

© Janet Martin


 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Rom. 14:12

This morning as I swung my feet over the side of my bed I caught myself thinking ...here we go again, same old, same old ...you know, the 'lunches-laundry-living-loving:) Nothing glamorous but still important! Gently I felt an inner chiding, 'This is no 'same-old'. This day has never passed and will never pass again.Yes, but by the goodness of God we go...Lord, guide our quill.



Monday, May 13, 2013

Priceless Paper





She reads,
Her tears falling fast and hard
Over this rumpled scrap of paper
Instead of a pretty card

She reads,
Words too dear to shape out loud
But spilled forever on a scrap of paper
Instead of a pretty card

…and the echo of words not so pretty
As they fell furious and hard
Are forgiven; tears wash this ‘scrap of paper
Instead of a pretty card’

She reads,
Beauty begins to bloom among the broken shards
She clasps to her heart love’s scrap of paper
Instead of a pretty card

Love bleeds truest in the torn and tattered
Its beauty is scribbled and scarred
Tender splendor on scraps of paper
Instead of a pretty card



© Janet Martin

I have to admit, I felt a little guilty as she watched me pull out all the tissue paper (just to make sure)…and there it was, folded in the very bottom, the thing every mother craves; her children’s words. The note began with an apology that it isn’t a pretty card…



That Life Within...




There is a life unfolding where
It has not touched our finger-tips
And yet, in subtle rendering
The shadow of its image slips

This life splays forth in rarest form
Where wisdom and folly collide
As love and lust release their storm
Without the effort of disguise

Upon this battlefield we train
And disentangle from its shield
Those things which will not be constrained
As its true spirit is revealed

There is a life unfolding where
It shapes each deed the hand has wrought
We ought to guard this realm with care
It is the life lived in our thought

© Janet Martin

As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. Prov. 23:7