We Can Do It, Yes, We Can

 Here's to another week of tackling that good-intention to-do list😄

(Almost impossible without a really Good Reason)

 This time of year the early morning sun glazes this old wind-worn pine tree in gold...

Sometimes a gaping gap exists

Between intention and done deed

The habits that we try to fix

Find ways into our hands and feet

The only Thing that keeps us sharp

When dealing with habitual sins

Is to evaluate the heart

For that is where all change begins 

The Word of God, wise, patient, true

Imparts to human weakness, might

Infallible, it guides us to

The Perfect Purpose for the fight

Where right and wrong are both so strong

But God grants grace to one and all

To helps us keep on keeping on

In spite of slip-trip-stumble-fall

Those debts we plan to pay ‘someday’

Are little comfort to the one

Who holds the note still marked unpaid

…vows are not kept by will alone

But by the living proof of deed

Inspired by kind grace whereby

Forgiveness grants a good night’s sleep

And spurs us to another try

So, if at first we do not win

And we seem cursed to not succeed

God’s word will grant grand strength within

To conquer good intent with deed

© Janet Martin

 The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention. - John Burroughs -

 Jesus chose a lowly donkey to ride through the Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
Jesus can use lowly human 'donkeys' for His purpose! Hallelujah!

Some Saturday Similes and Smiles

 I know I've said it before...but, I LOVE Saturdays

Saturdays are like Time's kiss on the cheek

Saying well done, little earthling,

You made it through another week

So slow down a little, pour that second cup

Before Duty's dictation demands,  "hurry up!"

Today I'm trying a recipe familiar to many, but I've hardly ever made;

Poor Man's Steak

I need to cook for a few large-ish functions in the near future so this is a practice run...

I added chopped parsley though not required...

But because I harvested MANY bowls full from the garden last fall I add it to whatever I can for fantastic health benefits and color!

...soon, soon earth's frozen sweeps will sigh

With wheat-field-gold beneath blue sky!!!

The land is like a quiet sea

Before the wind rises to stir

Earth’s fallow-field tranquility

Into gold, rippling barley-blur

Dawn, like a gateway to a path

Flings wide life’s untried miles-to-go

Then gathers in its aftermath

A labyrinth of highs and low

Bygone is like a subtle scale

It weighs ways of virtue and vice

Where past is like a cast of trails

Forged by both foolish choice and wise

The present day, like a buffet

Invites us all to take and eat

Where what we do and what we say

Seasons tomorrow’s bitter-sweet

The sun is like a big sky-grin

In spite of all that we may lack

It brightens the place we are in

And makes us feel like smiling back

The heart is like a diary

Upon its hidden pages press

The echoes of what used to be

Of home-sweet-home sweet happiness

April is like a restless boy

Pant-legs rolled up, bare feet in mud

Where soon Time’s boon of sorrow-joy

Siphons the blossom from the bud

…and earth is like an orchard, oh,

Four seasons strum its green-leaf leas

How swift the little saplings grow

Into hardy fruit-bearing trees

A smile is like a pretty gift

We love to get; then what you say

We give those mouth-corners a lift

And give its pretty gift away

© Janet Martin

Hope you are having a Happy Saturday who and wherever you are!

...and a good song for a beautiful life!

More Than Merely Potatoes and Chili

Writing poetry has given me the smallest of glimpses 

into what a teacher or pastor must struggle with daily...

downsizing large topics into bite-size pieces!

Speaking of bite-size pieces...

 (I got this potato-recipe from a friend so decided to try it for supper; Wash, dry, cut potato in half. Place cut side up on baking sheet. Brush with olive oil, season with salt pepper and your favorite seasonings. I used garlic powder, dill and paprika. Bake at 400 til tender then top with cheese and veggies. I used only cheese to keep it kid-friendly but green onion and peppers would be delicious!)

 A reader asked me yesterday if I live in England, because of words I used in this poem 

'March Mosaic' .words like thatch, heath, cottage

( I told her I'm pure Canadian 

but believe I was influenced by English authors I am reading and by the settings of the stories)

It got me to contemplating how subtle and powerful Influence is!

Often we are not even aware of how deeply it affects us.

I love cooking for my Thursday night boys! 

But its good to be reminded, I am feeding them far more than chili and potatoes!

... as the old proverb states; Much more is caught than taught(or fed;)!

...and they're always 'digesting' far more than dinner!
(Grandson Brantley loves making a mess and making us laugh)

It often looks like nothing much

The things we see and hear and touch

Yet we are shaped by its immense

Persuasion, known as Influence

That theater of thought, we know

Is capable of quite a show

The cast that masterminds intents

Is birthed and fed by Influence

We live, surrounded by a world

Of good and evil subtly-swirled

As we decipher and discern

We Influence others in turn

God, pray we are drawn to Your Word

To keep pure vision undeterred

For You are our best defense

An infallible Influence

Remind us, while Want’s whispers woo

We touch others by what we do

…where childhood’s lovely innocence

Soon wears whispers of Influence

© Janet Martin

 Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

 Romans 14:13

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

Thursday Thoughts

 I'm reading the book Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

Each time I think I might not continue 

I come to a 'thought' that makes the rest of its laborious reading worthwhile!

Like these...

I haven't posted a Thursday Thoughts page in a long time 

but because this is a rare Thursday off I will;-)

Hope you read at least one 'thought' that made this porch-stop worth your while!

A Fishin’ an’ Wishin’ Fair Warnin’

Dawn drops into Time’s lake, life’s lure

It teases earth’s school of self- fish

With tantalizing  ‘sure to please’

Dangling before Want’s wide-eyed ‘wish’

And often contrary to ‘wish’

Is the consequence of a bite

That snares Dare’s easy target with

One moment that tasted just right

© Janet Martin

This Will Never Change…

From founts filled with the New of old

Dawn dips daybreak in ether gold

Then, soon its first bloom fades away

Leaving Time’s free-for-all; Today

This daily never-before spree

May seem common to you and me

Where nothing new under the sun

Cannot undo-unsay said-done

Then, lest we overlook the charge

That seems mundane but is quite large

It behooves us to keep in mind

This, which at dusk is left behind

© Janet Martin

Human Race To The Finish

Hither and yonder

Over and under

Into and out of

We come and we go

Giving and taking

Mending and breaking

Reaching and bowing

Farewell and hello

Laughing and crying

Smiling and sighing

Running and falling

All over the place

Beggars and choosers

Winners and losers

This is the plight, love

Of human race

© Janet Martin

Time Well Wasted Tasted

Let’s taste the day, not waste the day

Let’s lie beneath a sea

Of purest blue and peer into

God’s sky-wide poetry

Let’s just forget small words like ‘yet’

Let’s not suggest, let’s do

Until the pink of twilight’s ink

Obliterates the view

When toppled jars of silver stars

Pour out the Milky Way

We’ll fold our tent of Time well-spent

And call it Yesterday

© Janet Martin

Heart-ship

A mother’s heart

Is soft as silk

And strong as steel

Big as the sky

Yet fits completely

Into this;

A tear, a kiss,

A smile, a sigh

© Janet Martin

Sure Cure

How much less we would fight and fear

How much less we would dread

If we would spend more Time, my dear

On meadow-quilts outspread

If we would spend an afternoon

With little more to do

Than contemplate the perfect tune

Of green leaf etched on blue

© Janet Martin

For in him all things were created:

things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or powers

or rulers or authorities;

all things have been created

through him and for him.

Col.1:16

Sage Advice

Don’t stay up, darling

When it’s time to sleep

Don’t make a promise

That you cannot keep

Don’t season reason

With a bad excuse

And always leave room

For dessert and new shoes

© Janet Martin

This place of grace, soft traced with lace of frost and froth of flow’r

Is like a seed dropped in the dirt of one moment-ous hour

Where Time’s thin air is like a stair that we oft fail to mention

A wisp that fades in an abyss beyond all comprehension

© Janet Martin

Rock-a-bye ripple that runs to a sea

Full of people much older than we used to be

On that note, wishing you all a Happy Thursday!

© Janet Martin