Then I Remember Who God IS...

 

When fear would rival to endear its coldness in my breast

Then I remember who God IS; He lays my fears to rest

  

For He who holds earth’s elements and unfolds heaven’s scrim

Can never be usurped; demons flee at the thought of Him

Oh God, our God, who clothes the heath; beneath Thy tender care

Though armies of rebellion seethe, yet we will not despair

You shake the lake with thunder and strake galaxies with stars

You wake a holy hunger as we wonder Who You are

Who tends un-uttered groaning; lavishes this blue-dot globe

And bends from darkness morning light with fragments of Your robe

Oh God, our God, You walk upon a scaffolding of air

Above, beneath, without, within, Your Presence, God, is there

Then, should fear rival to endear its nearness in my thought

What peace to know that You are here to intercede, oh God

© Janet Martin

 O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,

Ps. 104:1 

(to be re-reminded of Who God is,
follow this link)

Maybe It Is The Color of the Quietness of Dark...

Maybe it is the color of the quietness of dark

It fills in all the spaces leaving naught but thought to think

A wanderer that needs no shoes; a balladeer of hearts

A hunter ever scaling heights to wrestle into ink

Maybe it is the miles that disappear beneath the tread

As retrospect and prospect vie for precedence full-force

And isn’t it uncanny, all the roads inside a head?

Where thought is a lone rider on a brave, gossamer horse

Maybe it is the kiss of all we miss that keens the will

Of quill unqualified in matters never set to word

Yet, when the lea turns ebony and everything is still

Thought ravages its passages with intent undeterred

Maybe it is the way that worlds, familiar by day

Are washed from every window as the landscape disappears

Yet unveils behind thought-wide eyes an uncharted highway  

Where horse and rider traverse and reimburse fallen tears

© Janet Martin

Open Wide and Say A-a-a-h

Ah, what a lot of lovely spheres of yesterdays we had

To contemplate the gait of moments drives one nearly mad

My, my, how subtle the exchange of ways once commonplace

As fingers are estranged from faces lost to time’s embrace

And mindset must adapt to learn to yearn in quiescent muse

While daily dusk returns to collect hindsight’s latest views

Ah,Time trolls mist-kissed maples, strolls the red-brick boulevard

It paints the stilly twilight like a master-piece postcard

Where whispers that teased tresses green and gold by day of May

Run quieter caresses across outlines silver-gray

As thought strains and delves deeper into frays of fading tint

Ere midnight flicks Today away like a stray bit of lint

 

Ah, 'neath the hierarchy of tick-tock lifetimes disappear

And there is no annulment for moments once spent, my dear

Where past is nothing but Present poured into Bygone's mold

How beautiful and brief its blessed fortune that we hold

While learning to adapt to What Is after What Once Was

Before What Will Be fills our fingers with life’s latest cause

© Janet Martin

 I don't really want to say this but I will, 

'Can you believe another year is almost gone?!

More Than Breaking Day...

  

When morn is gently breaking over aspen, silver-frothed

And hills are swaddled in soft, waking purple, whisper-clothed

Then Time feels young, akin to ancient, virgin curves of skin

where its sad, settled endings breathe Mercy’s betrothed ‘Begin’

When Innocence has shaken youth’s first gladness from our eyes

And Time its course has taken where both Truth and madness cries

Still, still, the wonder of a love that never can grow old

Turns midnight skies to morning and its ebony to gold

When childhood is forsaken and our robe of flesh, care-worn

Still, past yon frosted bracken, God unveils a virgin morn

Off-spring of Hope such as graced earth in Bethlehem’s hooray

Mankind bears witness to the birth of more than breaking day

© Janet Martin

We are inundated with fearsome 'breaking news' daily!

But the Master of the Morn,

The Christ-child, earth-born

Reigns
In Heaven
and on earth,
Supreme

To Him, the Kingdom,

 The power and glory,

Forever and ever,

Amen.

The Reason For The Season, Jesus or Santa?

She looked like an angel in her red coat
With white scarf tied, snug and warm at her throat
Soft snowflakes sparkled on her golden hair
In her hands she clutched a small teddy-bear
Crowds hurried by, their thoughts on the morrow
Ignoring the girl burdened with sorrow
It shone in eyes as she gazed at a sled
Where-on sat a jolly, old man in red

The laughter of eager-eyed girl and boy
Could not fill this sad, little girl with joy
She watched as they climbed on the old man’s knee
To tell what their wants and wishes would be
Far-off the bells from the tall church steeple
Hailed to the sidewalks crowded with people
As fading daylight and dusk-frosted air
Fell 'round the girl with the teddy-bear


The man didn’t see her ‘til the crowds dwindled
As folk rushed to warmth of home-fires kindled
Then, at last he beckoned to the little girl
Who seemed to carry the weight of the world
With all of its trouble on her wee shoulders
And Santa knew he needed to hold her
–to query what caused her young heart to grieve
On this greatest of nights, this Christmas Eve


Timid, she approached his gift-laden sled
“Come, don’t be afraid” the jolly man said
“It’s your turn now and I think you’ll be
The last child this year to sit on my knee
Come now and tell me what troubles you so
This is the best night of the year, don’t you know?”
So, onto his lap she gratefully snuggled
To tell dear Santa why her heart was troubled


“Well” she began “I've a question, you see”
...she paused to brush fluffy snowflakes from his knee
Then Santa pulled a big blanket around them
As Christmas Eve began to surround them
“Mama says it is Jesus who is the reason
We celebrate Christmas every season
That Santa and silly imagination
Has nothing to do with this celebration”


Silent, Santa watched silver snowflakes swirl
As he considered the words of this girl
Then in a gentle, husky voice he said
“You have a very wise mother indeed
Jesus is the reason, don’t ever forget it
Santa adds magic, perhaps if you let it
But, my dear, sweet girl, would it surprise you
To know that Santa loves Jesus too?


For Santa would have no reason to bring
Gifts to the children if not for a King
Laid in a manger where wise men from afar
Gave the first Christmas gifts ‘neath Bethlehem’s star
And old Santa’s reindeer flying through the air
Can never even begin to compare
To hosts of angels bent low to the earth
To tell lowly shepherds of Jesus' birth


Jesus IS the truth and Santa, a helper
...a jolly man with presents to deliver
For to Christmas truth Santa is no stranger
All that he knows he learned at the manger
Gifts remind us of hope, peace, love and joy
Such as Heaven gave earth in that baby boy
So, my dear girl, I agree with your mother
Jesus IS the reason, there is no other”


The little girl quietly pondered his words
As she ran her fingers through his frosty beard
When suddenly she clapped her little hands
“I am so happy for I now understand!”
Then a little girl's laughter and Santa’s ho-ho
Rang out ‘cross the town all covered in snow
As they shouted with joy, “Let the world believe
Jesus is the Reason for Christmas Eve!”

Janet Martin~

 Jesus will ALWAYS be the reason for the season 

...because without Him there is no reason for the season.

Where Echoes Dance

Last night Victoria and I decorated the tree between snap-chats with Melissa in TO who wishes she was home...

Here is an excerpt from an email she replied to when I asked for gift ideas last week:)

 ...I've thought of some gift ideas as its gotten colder in case you're stuck.
-Bedsheets
- a winter jacket that's longer and doesn't leave feathers on all my clothes (not the biggest priority obviously)
-a donation to my Blundstone boot fund
-art pens and pencils, I seem to be losing them all the time and I have my art direction class next semester
-a glass travel mug
-an inflatable boyfriend
-a small dog
-one of those inflatable dancing men that are always in car dealership parking lots

In all seriousness though there's also a lot of really worthy places to give to this year with all the refugees so I don't want much.

My semester is winding down and I'm working on all my final projects, most of them are pretty fun to work on though...

Love you, stay warm! 

***

Ah, who can gather long the ploy

That soon becomes forgotten joy?

Staid tick and tock locks and unlocks

Regiment commandeered by clocks

*Today will never play again

Spilt lilt and moan of gilt refrain

The heart enfolds its chords of gold

A rooming house of ‘hard-to-hold’

Life’s poetry of touch and taste

Slips through our craving clutch with haste

Gossamer grail exhales in rhyme

Penned by the wending ways of Time

Before and after coalesce

Hope’s drum roll fades; grief, happiness

Conceives love’s double-edged romance

And thought’s ballroom where echoes dance

© Janet Martin

*'Today will never play again'

reminds me to live in the present

A Christmas Past Collage...

Then Pray...

'More things are wrought by prayer than any of us will ever know'

 from Bells of St. Mary

Inspired by this post

Are you sad?
Pray
Are you glad?
Pray.
Overcome with fear?
Pray.
Or sorrow's tear?
Pray.
Are you lonely?
Pray
Or loved by many?
Pray.
Are you 'poor in spirit'?
Pray.
Love; can you hardly bear it?
Pray.
Are you strong and able?
Pray.
Or sickly and feeble?
Pray.
Are your needs great?
Pray.
or have they been met?
Pray.
Do you long to
touch those far away?
Pray.
Or close by?
Pray.
Do you dread life's come-what-may?
Pray.
Are you weary today?
Pray.
...or suffering?
Pray.
or disappointed?
Pray.
Or grief-anointed?
Pray.
 Do you seek that which fully pleases?
Pray.
Do you long to be with Jesus?
 Then,
Pray.

Janet Martin~

 Philippians 4:6-7  
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.