Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Awed By God



Yesterday at the eye doctor I was introduced to a more in-depth look at the human eye;
...its complexity an incomprehensible miracle! 
(if you are interested do your own research!)
Here are a few links...
 I'm sure each sense, when explored, would fully awe!

 
Colossians 1:16
For in Him all things were created, 
things in heaven and on earth, 
visible and invisible, 
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 
All things were created through Him and for Him.



The handiwork of He who cups
The magnitude of life and death
Stuns us where livings downs and ups
Spill to a stage that steals our breath

He shakes above earth’s hills and lakes
Blush, blue, gray heavens, ethereal
And everywhere we look He wakes
The essence of life’s miracle

The energies of wind and rain
Of sun and night and day declare
The manifestation of Him
Jehovah-God is everywhere

Human is not born atheist
Consider the eye’s grand design
…how it beholds gold, amethyst
Of bloom that bobs on breeze-strummed vine

Of trees that lob their leafy lay
Until its season-song is stripped
Where height and depth of day-to-day
Is star-frothed, cloud-clothed, flower-dipped

Beneath our feet a wonder-world
Is unfurled; viral, teeming sod
Is meadow-crowned and dew-drop pearled
Twig, petal, sprig and leaf applaud

Then pray for eyes that truly see
And ears that hear more than mere sounds
For mouths to sing the Majesty
Of He where-from all joy abounds

…and pray that we do not become
Numb to the place where posies nod
Lest, distracted by sorrow’s sum  
We forget to be awed by God
  
© Janet Martin

Well, it's off to the garden where the beaming beet-row is begging to be thinned out a bit;-)


How's Your Who-What-For and Why?...(and latest Dave update)



A jumble of thoughts and prayers stirred this poem. I came to this conclusion;
No matter what we are dealing with, if our motive is for anything/One other than God,
we've got a problem! 

Do not boast about tomorrow,
    for you do not know what a day may bring.
Prov.27:1

We do not know what waits to be;
We only know Who knows our heart
And its intent; humility
And human traits are worlds apart

The who-what-for defines the why
The eye is easy to deceive
Until we learn the Truth of lie
The hour that we first believe

If not for God then who-what-for?
What merit mentors word or deed
The eye, a wily troubadour
Is prone to pride and wanton greed

…and without God to guide and keep
Ah, we are like ships lost at sea
Until we learn to trust the lead
Of He who stirs humility

We do not know what waits to be
But this we do; God holds the door
Where Now leads to eternity's
Awesome, Awesome Forevermore

…then we should bow most earnest hearts
To what we hear, so what we do
Will not be for life’s lesser lords
But for He who loves me and you

 When life’s last breath dies on Time’s air
To seal Now's heel-toe tromp on sod
Pray, with humility prepare
Where this who-what-for leads to God

© Janet Martin

Here is the latest update from Karen, Dave's wife, on my brother Dave, who fell from a roof at the end of June...


Hi Everyone,
Well some good news! Dave is starting to be able to use his left shoulder/arm a bit more; he is beginning to be able to lift it a little. Tomorrow we go for the ultrasound to see if anything is torn in there. Hopefully it was just from the broken collarbone. Today was our first day in Elmira for physio. Dave is still having a hard time sitting- the chair has to be able to lean back. Dave has tried eating at the kitchen table but always ends back in his recliner-chair. It is hard to watch. I can see he wants to but it is difficult for him to use his arms and the chair just bothers him too much. I had to laugh today in Elmira. He was trying to fill out the forms but I could see that he was having a hard time, trying to hold the clip board and the chair was too straight. I am not sure what the question was but he looked at me and asked which he should answer; unable to work or something else. I laughed ‘you can’t fill in a form but you think you can swing a hammer!’ The secretary also had a good laugh. He really wants to get back to work.--days are getting long and boring. On Saturday we went to a family Reunion for lunch, which he enjoyed but it wore him right out. He came home and slept, got up long enough to eat and then was in bed for the night at 8:30. Please continue to pray for patience and healing.
Thank-you so much

Sidenote; The stress of Time it takes to heal can take a daily toll even while counting blessings. Please pray for them in these day-to-day challenges, that they may be gracious  and pray God keeps blessing Karen with her beautiful sense of seeing humor even in the hard stuff!

Master of Mindset





You slip through us and trip us up or guide the seeking heart
You turn us to the right or left, build up or tear apart
And no one is invincible; the world is full of you
Sometimes you are a liar; sometimes you are kind and true

You hide in smiles and words, in scowls and howls of discontent
You ride on trains, in planes; you wear a worker’s filament
Or sometimes you are fat and lazy and talk far too much
And no one is immune to you and your designing touch

You play with thought as if it were a hapless, harmless toy
And fill the mind and heart with that which hand will soon employ
Therefore the wise will seek to define you and test your goal
The foolish are swayed by your wind and heedless of the soul

The way you are will shape the way we are or hope to be
You hide behind ten thousand names, both foe and family
For better or for worse you veil most certain recompense
A blessing or a curse, you immerse us in Influence

© Janet Martin



I'm struck anew as I watch Grandson Brantley absorb his surroundings, at how powerful Influence is.
It begins long before we become aware of it;
in family, then friends, schools, books, music, movies, churches,workplaces, etc.
Wherever we go, there it is!
What kind of influence do we allow to influence us as we influence those about us? 
Reminds me of this quote; More is caught than taught

Emily took these photos the other day to celebrate 7 months of Brantley!


 No wonder the author of this hymn was moved to pen these words...


My Soul, Be on Thy Guard
by George Heath
  1. My soul, be on thy guard,
    Ten thousand foes arise,
    And hosts of sin are pressing hard
    To draw thee from the skies.
  2. Oh, watch, and fight, and pray,
    The battle ne’er give o’er,
    Renew it boldly every day,
    And help divine implore.
  3. Ne’er think the vict’ry won,
    Nor once at ease sit down;
    Thine arduous work will not be done
    Till thou hast got the crown.
  4. Fight on, my soul, till death
    Shall bring thee to thy God;
    He’ll take thee at thy parting breath
    Up to His blest abode.



Tuesday, August 8, 2017

A-a-a-h, A-a-a-u-gust

Whether in the garden or kitchen, 
Whether dawn or dusk
August is a rainbow

Beneath halcyon heaven’s hills
A heath of rainbow ribbon spills
It frills the rills of musky husk
And swells in dells of dewy dusk
Where bulrush drains the creek’s refrains
And troubadour of Time unchains
Pulsed vibrato of cricket lay
And stubble-sweeps where wheat fields lay
Fringed with bronze frond, amethyst pond
And dawn’s silver, mist-kissed Beyond

…where everywhere the keen stare looks
Earth flares with wild-bloom garden nooks
Its splay rivals with arrayed rows
Of corn-bean-beets and tomatoes
We snare its fare in jugs and jars
In pictures framed with daydream-stars
The hazy laze of mid-day droops
And draws chit-chat to shaded stoops
To mingle with green-leafy sighs
A-a-h, August; summer’s paradise

Heatwaves ripple on dust-glazed street
And slows the banter of bare feet
Now dash, now splash, Want’s fathoms fade
In cool blue pool, pink lemonade
And August is the poet’s loom
To weave with gold and purple plume
An echo-lay of days gone by
March-April-May, then June-July
Cat drowses in the pumpkin patch
Breeze browses through corn-tassel thatch

A-a-h August; bees buzz vine to vine
What is fills what was; bloom bells chime
Holly-hock, larkspur, zinnia, rose
A rainbow-ream of petals flows
In drip by drop like tick by tock
Into a vault of ether lock
As summer’s sultry color-world
Is gleaned and shucked and weaned and curled
Into a song of hued delight
To play when all the world is white

© Janet Martin

I always forget just how much I love August in southern Ontario until it is here again... 

(photos below do not do justice to dew/rain-glossed roses, but it does grant a glimpse of the awe in a-a-h!!)