Thursday, August 28, 2014

A Prayer about Prayer



Sometimes we don't know how to pray
So Lord, we give you thanks
As you take what we cannot say
And kindly fill the blanks

Janet~

Some things are so complicated that all we can do is leave it to God to intercede!

Oh, Youth





I sent my daughter the link to this message hoping she will listen to it and take it to heart...

Oh, you of fledgling armament
How easily you dare
To don that naive confidence
That only youth can wear

Oh, you of callow plans and schemes
How fearlessly you leap
Upon a frigate made of dreams
While practiced dreamers sleep

Oh, you of eyes all eager-lit
And boast of words untried
Delighting in your new-born wit
And virgin sense of pride

Oh, you of mountain-moving faith
Of hope boundless and brave
You do not even recognize
This lovely Thing you have

Janet Martin

I told Emily tonight that I spent the day in the garden thinking and praying, just like last fall on the Monday after her wedding.  It's such a nice peaceful, pleasant place to be and so much fruit is ready to be picked!


…now suddenly I think I understand why my mom spent/spends so much time in her garden
Plucking, pulling, picking, pruning…and praying.

The Way of Mothers...





 Maybe it's the way of mothers...

…to leave them over-hugged and kissed
To over-give while they insist
They really, really do not need
All this; but still we cannot heed
Their words untrained
By years and tears
Of the unexplained
As faith fights fears

…for once upon a time now far
We too dashed off with words and jars
While mother stood and watched us go
To learn the things we didn’t know
Existed yet; how swift we meet
The wherefore of love’s bittersweet

...where empty jars and echoes strew
The path as years and tears accrue
And what we thought we knew…aha
Has morphed to what our mothers saw
As they stood in the doorway where
We waved, and didn’t see the air
Bedazzled with a million parts
…the way of mothers and their hearts

© Janet Martin

She insisted that 'she’s sure she really doesn’t need ‘all this’ as I tucked extra groceries and jars of jam, salsa, fruit etc. into her bags…

Time's Strange and Changeless Weaver...






Time’s strange and changeless weaver weaves
With ever-changing buds and leaves
A picture-scape of moments told
As we embrace but cannot hold
its thread that falls through fingertips
And hearts, as we with trembling lips
Subject to its supreme command
Cannot restrain or force his hand

How can we love and love full-well?
Those fading footfalls of farewell
Which rend the air in middle night
And fill our prayers with meek insight
Turn into morning; gone the glance
Of childhood’s free, unbothered dance
While we, with hearts twisted and wrung
Must learn new songs upon the tongue

The day does not delay its care
Though heart-pieces drift on the air
We cannot stand and stare with thought
Too long; the strings we clasp swift caught
Within time’s loom, the bud, the bloom
Surrenders soon as clocks consume
Their daily bread, we lift our heads
To taste full-well love’s transient threads

© Janet Martin

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Of Courage, College and Carrying On...







We speak to them of courage and we hope within its speech
We find the very thing that we are striving thus to teach
Life’s laughter and lament, love’s learning-curves amalgamate
Within the eye; hello-good-bye; time never bars its gate

As daughters become us and we stare long at our skin
And wonder who we are; the image not the girl within
Where dying ways that life inflicts upon our gaze reflects
The nature of all nature and the climax of all flesh

Our lips, once filled with answers suddenly are dumb and numb
While merry moment-dancers seem to disregard the sum
Of all that they become as we peruse their aftermath
Where tragedy and triumph meld in glimmers on dusk’s path

Still, onward, ever onward, we commence again, again
The learning is not over until God declares, Amen
And so we speak of courage and we hope within its speech
To find the very thing that we are striving thus to teach

© Janet Martin

Our pastor, Dale Ward, encouraged students to take this verse with them as they return to school...
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9


From Tennyson's Tears, Idle Tears...

 Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather in the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more...




Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Of Rivers that Rush Through the Trees




 I don't think my kids heard 'the river rushing through the trees' but I did...still it was a good, corny 'last day' before we help Melissa move tomorrow.



On some days we sip slow and deep
From rivers that run through the air
Sensing this thing we cannot keep
Rushes too fast from here to there

And on those days a reverent awe
Battles with greed of holding on
Because not long ago we saw
How swift a year is here and gone

But even in the clinging fast
We know tis foolish to resist
This filament that weaves the past
In tear and laughter mingled-mist

And so we sip with senses keened
To rivers rushing through the trees
Of moments where we live, love, learn
Before they turn to memories

© Janet Martin