Of So It Goes...

Everyone seems a little more giddy today,

(with the exception perhaps, of students studying for and writing The Dreaded Exam)

 ...might it be the return of the long-lost sun?!

Hearts are full of hallelujahs after gray is crowned with gold!

Laughter, like ten-thousand diamonds

Spills from hunger's hidden hold

Without lows there could be no highs

Without goodbyes there could be no hellos

Darling, I wouldn’t change the order if I could

Of so it goes,

So it goes

Without tears, laughter would lose lithe joy

Colorful May less blithe without December too

If I could I wouldn’t change a single thing

Darling, would you,

Would you?

Without absence who would ever wear

The river of gladness in greeting’s giddy gaze

Without trouble who would be humbly aware

Of better days,

Better days

Hello-goodbye, yes-no, low-high

 March-July, oh my, ouch, a thorn, oh, a rose

What waits to unfold from the gray-gold-blue sky

Nobody knows,

Nobody knows

© Janet Martin

House of Love

 We are like little houses, not?

There is nothing quite like a baby to make humble 'houses' burst with joy...

this little guy (our grandson) is almost a month old...already!!

The walls that wear our skin

Beneath the grin and tear and sigh

Cradle a gallery within

Of precious, precious days gone by

The window where we watch

As loved ones come and go and go

Frames farewell's glib, glist’ning gamut

With kiss of tear, bliss of hello

The door that stands ajar

Shaped like a heart, big as the sky

Always makes room for ‘just one more’

Before dusk dims its lullaby

This form of blood and bone
Holds more than anyone can see
It harbors storms of grit and groan
And blips of heaven-on-earth spree

The roof wears glints of snow

It tops a house of darling dreams

Time scatters seasons as we go

And strews the yard with stars, it seems

© Janet Martin

Live, Laugh, Love

 We are celebrating the first sunrise in weeks;

a wonderful way to begin this second-last day of January...

and who knows what else?!

The longer that we live

The more the memories we make

Each day destined to leave

White ghost-like glimmers in its wake

The longer that we laugh

The more we come to understand

The dearness of its gift

The nearness of sorrow’s swift hand

The longer that we love

The more we come to realize

The bitter-sweetness of

Time’s satin glove filled with good-byes

© Janet Martin

We spent yesterday with Brantley's other grand-parents visiting from Nova Scotia, 

realizing how, as we shared and reminisced about our own children as babies,

 we all share in common, (the older we get)

 a bittersweet sorrow at the swiftness of it all

Like a Shawl Full of Holes

The snow stretches cold, like a shawl full of holes

Thrown over the shoulders of earth

The Weaver of days fills the scope of hope’s gaze

With Season and Reason’s rebirth

The planter of prayers climbs the slope of faith’s stares

Up to heaven’s Giver of grace

Where, to have and hold like a shiver of gold

Tumbles through our inept embrace

The woodland is draped with starred silk from a cape

That no mortal merchant can hawk

This beauty at large is offered without charge

Mercy’s master-peaceful backdrop

Desire is quaffed in white silence, snow-soft

The whim that besets foolish deed

Is wonder-replete as we kneel at the feet

Of a God who knows just what we need

These hours that spill like a sheath that we fill

With belief and the offspring thereof

Is of such design the no one can decline

Its heaven-to-human-race-love

The grace that it grants is far more than mere chance

We dance on trust-dust called today

Where snow wraps its cold, like a shawl full of holes

This holy, slip-slipping away

© Janet Martin

I was reminded this morning by something I read that we should do whatever it is we're doing with all our heart...

 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Col.3:23

It ties in well with tomorrow's Sunday School lesson..
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Prov. 6:6-8 

..so. on that note, here's to tackling to-do lists 'heartily, as to the Lord'!

Love-reminders or For Prize-Fighters

Lest in life’s greed and haste we waste the best of what we have

Lest, with feet shod with chase we serve the gods of self and sin

Lest grace is overlooked because of idols that enslave

God sends us love- reminders to help us remember Him

Lest we forget to purpose in our hearts to follow He

Who gave His Son in our stead, full sacrifice for sin

Lest we become distracted by world-offers that we see

God sends us love-reminders to turn our cries to Him

Lest in life’s heave-ho, hello and farewell we compromise

And hope we once revered becomes a thing that we ignore

God sends us love-reminders, trouble-shaped in our eyes

But He knows it is this that stirs our want to need Him more

© Janet Martin

My friend Diane continues to battle the afflictions of cancer. When she gets low she cries out for more prayer knowing that only through Him can she endure!

Will you help bathe her in prayer as she battles pain and waits for surgeons to reply? 

Hard, hard times but still she will put up FB posts bringing praise, honor and glory to Jesus Christ!

"God bless you, Diane, as you shine Jesus to all of us!"

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phil.3:14

 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:7