Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Winter Things...





Winter sings of simple things
 A hymn of home-sweet-harmony
Of snow-capped nook, of storybook
And a slow-savored cup of tea


Winter sings of home-spun things
Of soup slow-stirred, of fresh-baked bread
Of jigsaw puzzles, kitty-cuddles
Projects with needle and thread

…and winter sings a song of praise
For knitted things, sweaters and socks
For mitts and hats; for fireside chats
And long winter-afternoon walks

Winter sings of oven-things
Of coffee-cakes, muffins to share
Its sparkles in a frost-kissed grin
We laugh and dance like Fred Astaire


...and make snow angels in the yard
And build snowmen jolly and stout
While winter sings and whitely flings
Its notes of glitter all about


Winter sings from hoary sweep
From knee-deep pasture-land, from trees
Wearing a gown of winter-down
Where birds flutter like feather-leaves

© Janet Martin


Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Witness-bearers





We are earth’s witness-bearers to the handiwork of God
He hangs upon the heavens for our pleasure, shades of dusk
And on the walls of Time enthralls us with seasons of sod
Unmeasured are the treasures of His love and care for us

He keens the green of spring and weans the leaf from autumn’s limb
How perfect are the ways that He amazes mortal will
Where He begets with moments the highway that leads to Him
He whets the heart with hunger that only His love can fill

Man, with the means that He allows struggles to understand
The What and How of all He made; a glimpse of Who He is
The One who for the gouge of nails held out His sinless Hand
And for the guilt of all mankind saved us from hell’s abyss

Rejoice, let we with voice worship the God of heav’n and earth
Holy, holy, proclaim the Name that is above all names
Lest the horizon utters more through daylight’s death and birth
Than we with mouths to shout the Name that creation acclaims

© Janet Martin


 ‘Ah, Lord God!
Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. 
There is nothing too hard for You.
Jer.32:17




Nothing but humanity has the capacity to marvel!
God does not marvel at Himself...at I AM.
Nature does not marvel at itself,
nor do the heavens marvel at anything galactic or earthy.
Only we, the people know what it is to be filled with
 wonder and worship!

Our God Is Not Like 'other gods'




 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Ex.20:3


Our God is not like ‘other gods’
Fashioned of stone, wood, wind,
And unlike any ‘others gods’
Our God is good and kind

Our God is not like ‘other gods’
Imagined through man’s lies
And unlike any ‘other gods’
Our God arranges skies

Our God is not like ‘other gods’
Where heathens place their trust
And unlike any ‘other gods’
Our God breathes life to dust

Our God is not like ‘other gods’
Of subjective design
Our God is Alpha, Omega
 And Providence divine

Our God is not like ‘other gods’
He loves us and He cares
And unlike any ‘other gods’
He hears and answers prayers

© Janet Martin


 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,
Isa.. 45:5

Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 
Isa.65:24

1 Kings 18:21-38
 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”[b] 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

Hello, Fellow-traveler, I'd Like to Inquire...





Hello, fellow-traveler, I’d like to inquire
What gives you the courage to climb ever higher?
What grants you the vim to resume undone task
Where yester-night you depleted fervor’s flask?

What gives you the get-up-and-go once again?
What drives you to doing what oft seems in vain?
Tell me, what rekindles the flame in your breast
Where yester-spark dwindled, snuffed by weariness?

And in spite of knowing that we cannot know
How, when or where life’s harsher tempests will blow
Tell me, what in spite of this draws you to rise
Forging ever forward toward life’s demise?

Hello, fellow-traveler, tell me if you can
What persuades you to the pursuit of a plan?
What bids you anew to avenues of sod?
Tell me, could it be the loving grace of God?

© Janet Martin

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, 
slow to anger, 
abounding in love and faithfulness.
Ps.86:15 

Essence of Existence





Break of new day, heavy with gray of rain
Dapples Duty's terrain as dark subsides
And hills spill over with time’s youngest tides
They wash across the world toward the drain

…that gapes, even as newness drapes the old
And shapes from yester-fancying Today
Already its mad rush of gray on gray
Eddies and swirls into the steady hold

…of moments lent and spent, a synchronous
Exchange that none can fully feel or grasp
This Essence of Existence girds each gasp
Where life’s verge merges with death’s impetus

…and splurge of gray surges to biding blue
We, hope-and-dreaming pioneers embark
On its current of daylight growing dark
Like sailors ever caught twixt old and new

© Janet Martin