Lighthouse...

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God;
he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations
of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deut.7:9

Inept, the cold hard comfort of things pressed against our skin

Where flesh and blood appointments test the walls of worlds within

Time’s atrium of common care, of choice and consequence

Would be too much for man to bear but for Hope’s confidence

As strife runs rife and tests faith with its rival; fear and doubt

While life is but the wherewithal to who life is about

And all we have to lean on is the Word of God, my love

But if we humbly trust His Truth His Word will be enough

…to carry us from here to where there is no grief or pain

Beyond the cold, hard comfort of Things that cannot sustain

Where darkness would obliterate save for a Light within

God’s promises to navigate the way that leads to Him

© Janet Martin

Of Ingrained Tide...

This borderland of sea and sand

Is hinged to a divide

Where breath by breath we wield the death

That planes an ingrained tide

Until at last the scythe is cast

That severs Now from Then

And we proceed beyond the Need

That ingrains mortal men

Time’s one-way track does not wind back

One step from where we are

It flows toward a place outpoured

Without border or bar

Beg, borrow, trust where morrow-dust

Soon cakes beneath our stride

As wise and fool both grip a tool

That planes an ingrained tide

© Janet Martin

Before Impulse Reacts...

Don't you just hate it when you're misunderstood and the 'grapevine' bears strange fruit:)!

If it's too complicated to unravel and the only wounded party is Pride 

all we can do is forgive, love and learn, right ?

Yes, instead of venting let's just 'sh-h-h!'

Do not give ought to thought unkind

That never sires good

First impulse is often truth blind

To deed misunderstood

Better then, to not inflict pain

By casting spite’s harsh stone

Our hearts, so deceitful and vain

Are make-a-mistake prone

Then, when we are tempted to speak

Without the facts on deck

Pray that we turn the other cheek

And hold our tongues in check

For in life’s race we all need grace

This human brotherhood

Inclined to err must sometimes face

Being misunderstood

Are any of us oh, so grand

That we do all we should?

Kinder to lend a gentle hand

To deeds misunderstood

Better then to communicate

And not decide the facts

But rather try to mediate

Before impulse reacts

© Janet Martin

Highway of Hope

I cannot bear to look ahead

To roads that seem too dark with dread

Oh Lord, my God, help me instead

To trust Thy All in all

For though the road looks dark today

As I peer to its come-what-may

Your faithful Light will show the Way

Through every rise and fall

I cannot carry morrow’s load

But cling to promises that goad

Faith’s eyes to fix beyond the road

To Mercy’s Patriarch

Then when I travel through the vale

Though mortal bark is weak and frail

You grant with Love that will not fail

Light greater than the dark

© Janet Martin

 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
 I will strengthen you and help you;
 I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isa.41:10

To the Salt of the Earth

Couldn't decide what to call this poem...

To the Builders of Success

The Beauty of Job Well done

No Small Man (if He gives the Best he can)

Dreamer's Pedestal

To the One Who Pulls the Weeds;-)

....the list is endless

but the gist is this...

We NEED the 'little man'...

Last year I joined a team at church that helps with planning a few services throughout the year

and it made me realize how much I under-appreciate all the thought, prayer and common task

accomplished through MANY hands that make each Sunday morning service happen!

It got me to thinking about how in life what may appear, at first glance,

a pretty minor role is a vital part of all success's heart and soul!

Let's thank someone for what they do today!

There is no 'small man' and dollar does not decide value!

 

Easy to brag and boast a bit

Or loaf about idle, or sit

And stare into an air-filled glass

And dream about life’s greener grass

Easy to criticize the man

Who does the simple best he can

Though small and plain may seem his nod

Behind the scenes that we applaud

Easy to praise paraded art

That appeals to the human heart

And overlook the hand that made

The canvas whereon it was laid

Easy to see the one who stands

Atop a ladder made of hands  

Hard, hard to rival this, my son,

All the small tasks success builds on

Hard, hard to estimate the worth

Of humble roles that fill the earth

Where nothing is greater, my son

Than beauty of Duty well done

© Janet Martin

 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, 

for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, 

there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Eccles.9:10