Tuesday, August 13, 2013

There is a Joy Akin to Grief...



 This surfer made me smile as he sailed past the sun; such a metaphor of life:)

There is a joy akin to grief
A bittersweet sensation
Of being held within life’s brief
Endorsement of elation
Before its mercies dim the eye
In plaintive murmurs of good-bye

How swift the flight from morn to night
How still the subtle flowing
Of moments molding season-flight
Beneath Time’s mute bestowing
Before we bend to kiss the sod
Where we commit all life to God

There is a peace within the pain
Of love’s mysterious yearning
For we will never tread again
This path of no returning
We place love’s tireless test of care
Within the whisper of a prayer

© Janet Martin



We were greeted with many green beans when we returned home:) I'm steaming/canning them late at night because the hydro is cheaper. Bonus: it's nice and quiet to read and write...

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Farewell, for Now



I will return,
I'm just not sure when
So God bless and keep you
Til we meet again

Janet~

When we return from vacation, wedding plans will move into front and center and I don't want to miss a thing! I hope to blog during the prep but if I don't this is why...a very special why.


Friday, August 2, 2013

It Is August





It is August; the walnut-leaf
Though barely birthed begins to fall
Where lawn and garden’s languid sheaf
Is drenched with dawn’s dew-laden shawl

It is August; now the air
Is heavy with gold harvest-dust
As rye and barley’s treasured fare
Spill answer to a farmer’s trust

It is August; sun-flower grin
And sunshine, honey-slow and sweet
Induces us to linger in
Its afternoon of flip-flop feet

It is August; planting time
For memories of ebb and flow
…of tide to sand; its rhythmic rhyme
To recollect when cold winds blow

It is August; summer’s grace
As seed grows heavy with its yield
And we grow high on Queen Ann’s Lace
Fringing fence-rows of wood and field

It is August; on the breeze
We sense a bitter-sweet prelude
Of summer’s sanguine memories
Slipping into thought’s solitude

© Janet Martin





Of Passion and Presence



 


We never know where your tandem will take us
Victor or villain, foot-loose, fancy-free
Sometimes you carry us; sometimes you break us
Sometimes in your wanting we wander aimlessly

Here we employ our un-uttered soul-searching
Intangible channels where heart-rending force
Of reckon and reason, of healing and hurting
Hurl through our being in rampant discourse

Here we can hold what life tears from our fingers
Comfort and sorrow keenly coalesce
Here we are bold; as our honesty lingers
Long on the words only you can finesse

Illiterate scholar, flash-fancies of genius
Convict, judicature and chancellor of jot
Fathom on fathom on fathom within us
Passionate, paramount presence; our thought

© Janet Martin

 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.Isa. 26:3

From Darkness to Light





The lawn sports a shawl of fresh dew-diamond dazzle
Flower and fallow unfolds to our gaze
As bird-song and sunshine and zephyr-sigh mingle
Filling our cup with His promise and praise

Where is the darkness that covered the midnight?
Where is the shroud that swathed this tumbled girth?
Its veil is torn by breath-whispers of morning
Up from the skyline Light swaddles the earth

See how the darkness recedes like an ocean
See how its tide slips from shadow to Light?
Such is a heart when our self-will is broken
Like summer’s fair morning after winter’s night

Hope wears the color of gold on the garden
We bear the wonder of Love breathed on dust
See; His compassion is new every morning
Light of the world and in Him we trust

© Janet Martin


But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2: 9


Thursday, August 1, 2013

This Present Joy





See how He splays in countless ways
His bounty on earth’s tresses
From heaven’s trove He pours His love
And while we curse He blesses
This world would press our happiness
Into its vat of sorrow
But for the hope that lights the slope
Of yesterday’s tomorrow

See how He tends the fields and bends
His mercy to the hour
As He unfolds the green and gold
Of spring to autumn’s flower
See how He forms the calm, the storms
Each highway, hill and hollow
See how He keeps His precious sheep
All we must do is follow

Fear would destroy our present joy
But for a greater Reason
As thoughts of God bedeck the sod
In wonders of each season
This present joy would be grief’s ploy
But for a peace that frees us
As we repeat His comfort sweet
'This present joy is Jesus'

© Janet Martin

 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

Because We all Need Each Other



Because,
We all need each other
A word, wise, helpful and kind
Is worth far more than anything
That we will leave behind

Because
We all need love’s touch
A smile, a hand to hold
Someone to come and visit us
When we are frail and old

Because,
We all need guidance
Soul-mate, friend or brother
Someone who loves us just because
We all need each other

© Janet Martin

This morning while reading the account of the eunuch in Acts 8 these words stood out to me...

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.…

When God Made Little Girls...



...and as my girls grow up I realize that every big girl needs to hear it too!

God, did you take from your most lovely strings
Of blue from the sky, rainbow, butterfly’s wings,
Of pretty blush petals and pure, priceless pearl
Then put them together to make a wee girl?

God, did you gather wisp of hair angel-spun
Willow-sigh whimsy, gold-grin from the sun
As it sparkles on water, did their laughter unfurl?
And then did You say, ‘This will be little girls’?

And God, did you splash heaven’s kiss on their nose
Or place twinkling stars in their eyes and their toes
Did roses and rubies and silver mist swirl
As You wove Your wonder in each little girl?

…and God, did you smile as You chose each fair thing
Knowing what joy and delight they would bring
As we glimpse Your beauty in tumbles and twirls
In dear, dreaming, dancing, darling little girls?

© Janet Martin

This summer we’ve had the pleasure of having a number of Victoria’s friends over for a few days at a time. Many I have known since they were babies, and my heart still glows to the core as it did back then, for little giggling girls are surely a glimpse of Heaven!

The tent sits in the yard…empty. But oh, what fun to dash back and forth through the pouring rain with thoughts that yes, this year THEY WOULD sleep in it no matter what! (see here) Thirty minutes later they were back, certain they heard thunder (wink) maybe, but I don’t think so. Besides, the gummi-bears, chips and pop were all gone. What were they going to do but listen to the rain on the tent;)?