The Fine Art of Love (a mother-to-daughter birthday poem)

Happy 17th Birthday, to our sweet Victoria who loves all things vintage, history and music!

May the year ahead be filled with joy as you continue becoming the woman God created you to be!

'And sometimes I am oh, so glad to know the bliss of it

And sometimes I am oh, so sad, caught where I cannot keep

The heart and soul from becoming torn by its kiss a bit

Between the hug of here and now and tug of miles asleep...'

Dear Victoria,

Sometimes I feel just like a king seated at love’s buffet

Sometimes I am a beggar licking up the crumbs that fall

A mother’s heart and soul can never take a holiday

Always on the quick ready for love’s tender beck and call

And sometimes I am oh, so glad to know the bliss of it

And sometimes I am oh, so sad, caught where I cannot keep

The heart and soul from becoming torn by its kiss a bit

Between the hug of here and now and tug of miles asleep

Sometimes this business of ‘becoming’ takes love’s ache by storm

It keeps us kindly unprepared for what lies next in store

And sometimes it is hard to hold in heart-soul body-form

The whole of love’s fulfillment that keeps us hungry for more

My dear, each year fades quicker than the one before, it seems

As mother learns to concentrate on moments now, not years

She thanks the Lord for granting love’s sweetest sample of dreams

As she learns the fine art of holding close what disappears

Love, from your mom

Aka © Janet Martin

 Trust in the LORD and do good;
            Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

      Delight yourself in the LORD;
            And He will give you the desires of your heart.

      Commit your way to the LORD,
            Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Ps.37:3-5

Up and On We Go...

There is no door back to before

No U-turn, hon, on life's highway

No button to undo the done

No let’s-go-back-to-yesterday

There is no ‘starting over’ here

We’re all in the same one-way race

One foot and then the next, my dear

While clinging to the Hand of grace

Life’s forward facing rise-and-shine

Caught between after and before

Grants what we always leave behind

Where twilight always locks its door

Then trust the only One who sees

Beyond the mileage ‘neath our feet

And pray His Word our light to be

Where faith and fear clash and compete

For we have one abiding hope

To comfort us through highs and lows

The love of God will never fail

No matter where life’s highway goes

 

So up and on we go until

We reach the farewell all will face

As faith’s prayer with that last exhale

Unveils the glory of God’s grace

© Janet Martin

I counted the prayer requests in my in-box...a lot!!!

Imagine if we had to go the road or sea of life alone!

When life's storm tosses our 'ship' 

He calls to us "peace be still"

 Mark 4:35-41

 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. 

And other little boats were also with Him.   

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.   

But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. 

And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” 

And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.   

But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”   

And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another,

 “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

So Much To Love!

I think a keyboard to the poet/writer is like a painter's tray to an artist...full of possibility!

Oh, how I would love to 'paint' all day....! But,

Today is full of a tempting array of loves to indulge other than one of life's best; little ones. 

It's been quite a while since I have had the freedom to choose a little,

 how I would like to use the hours of day! 

So much to love and SO little day...what is an oldish woman girl to do 😉

 Yesterday I saw a snow owl for the first time in my life! 

(thanks to a kind neighbor who called to let me know one is perched in a tree in his field:)

 ...then I turn to see dusk shushing the day beneath shadow-shawls...

...and once more I am blown away by how much 

the Creator has granted/planted to stir our worship to Him

So much to love; like shushing shadow-blues laid on gold bars

Before hues meld into black velvet heavens specked with stars

Or winter’s orchard, like a marketplace after the crowd

Where the scuttle of brittle leaves, in eve’s soft hush, seems loud

So much to love; March buds begin to puff like rosy cheeks

As we begin to count down days ‘til spring instead of weeks

Where sap runs drip-tip-tap as maple gold is mined from trees

Where napping nooks are tickled by the whiskers of a breeze

So much to love; a five-star meal of homemade bread and soup

The lark that stirs the dark with song; a snow-owl’s pristine suit

The reed that sports a russet overcoat, tattered and spent

Where Old Man Winter vexed its posture but left it unbent

So much to love; the cheerfulness of fellows, half-past three

Where they have not yet fallen prey to green-eyed jealousy

The way time sweeps its kitchen clean as bedtime prayers are said

And never bids us live again the day it tucks to bed

So much to love; the color-wheel of sight and sound runs rife

With what is soon an afternoon lost to the laws of life

Don’t let shut eyes or loosened sighs provoked by what is not

Cement a wall that stands too tall to notice what we’ve got

So much to love; soon time-enough like a worn work-glove lies

Where now the beckoning of what yet waits is like a prize

Before the reckoning; then with these gifts from God above

Be glad to be astonished by how much there is to love

© Janet Martin

Not The Red Carpet...The Gold Carpet!

Imagine if we ‘simply trusted’ knowing the One who knows what we don’t is enough!

Imagine how much futile fear this would save us!

As I was writing this post(happily celebrating my early laundry-start) wondering what this day would hold when it folds away like a fresh dried-in-the-sunshine-towel, suddenly my washing machine began a deafening, vibrating buzz and filled the laundry room with something that smells overheated and a lot like ‘trouble’.ugh!!!

Thank goodness for Ogram’s Appliance Repair in Floradale! 

He will be here today to take a look at it!

One sure sign of spring is when the sun rises on the other side of my brother Lewis's barn.

 He farms on 'the home-place'.

Now rolls from eastern skyline like a breaker made of gold

Across hills, valleys, streets and seas, a new day to behold

Once more we delve into a deep that teems with living’s care

And bids us choose twixt faith or fear to get from here to there

Ah, there is nothing new under the sun save each new day

The God of old is still the God who hears us when we pray

Yes, He who parted the Red Sea and led his people through

Is the same God today as then; He parts our waters too

Forbid we tromp across dawn’s threshold, bold without a thought

Of He who stokes the budded tree and earth’s big flowerpot

Forbid we simply take and take and never bow our head

To thank the One who sent His son to die in our stead

No one can boast a know-it-all of hours still unspent

Both rich and poor alike are at the mercy of God’s ‘lent’

Where no one can lay claim to more or less than God’s kind grace

Imagine if we trusted Him for each new day we face?!

The surf that spills o’er yonder hills and rolls through brook and fence

And tints the olden dirt beneath our feet with Imminence

Is ushered in then cupped in hands Nail-scarred. Holy. Sublime

He promises His faithfulness until the end of time

© Janet Martin

 Because of the Lord’s great love 

we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.  

They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lam.3:22-23 

No matter how often I hear or sing this song...it steals my breath!