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

March Masterpiece In The Making...

In the last 24 hrs. March's Muse seems to be in overdrive!
...sometimes one simply needs to pause and poem it out!

March is a stage; an orchestra begins assemblage where

The air is teased with fingertips strumming winter’s postlude

While masterpiece arrangements cupped as yet beyond bold stare

Lure audiences gathering in spring’s amorous mood

  

…where branches burgeon with ecstatic melodies of green

 And earth trembles with expectation’s confidence of blooms

The violinist’s bow is gold, drawn soft across mauve sheen

Of mist-anointed morning-tide and zephyr-swaddled tombs

March hails to trails, woodlands, hills, fields; for these hold center stage

Where balladeers and troubadours cannot contain the lay

Withheld until the chill of winter turns a warmer page

Where springtime’s Maestro waits with baton poised while preludes play

March mingles moody montages with resurrected hopes

It harmonizes sunny skies with snows that linger late

While optimistic audiences fill south-facing slopes

Experience has taught them that the song is worth the wait

© Janet Martin

Looking for a nice backdrop to your March workaday routine?

Love this music and picture arrangement entitled "A Thought of Spring" by Tim Janis

Worthwhile Earth-while

Do you ever wonder when day dawns, what lies before you 

as you touch your feet down on the tarmac of time's runway?
 Aren't you thankful we don't know but can trust the One who does?!

Almost three years I posted the picture below on this post(click link to see details about the photo)
and find where to find the best tasting maple syrup in the world!


Two weeks ago while hubby was loading beef-cattle at his cousin Paul Martin's farm
Paul (man on the left) was thrown by a cattle-beast.
He has suffered a serious brain injury and is looking at a long hospital stay IF all goes well!
Please pray for this hubby/dad of a large family!
Please pray for healing and health for Paul,
for strength and peace for his wife Delphine and their family!
Paul would dearly love to be where he would be this time of year if he was healthy...
in the sugar bush 'shack' tending sap-boiling.
The middle man in the photo is my brother-in-law Dale!
 I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as well as they forge ahead (between *hospital visits) in this busy Maple Syrup season without the help of one of their 'main men' ..
(*hospital is an hour away)

Each dark of night unravels to the travels of mankind

The threshold to a thoroughfare that none as yet have trod

Between the unforeseen and miles traversed, we, humankind

Touch down on holy ground that ultimately leads to God

We, prone to fix our eyes on prizes we can feel and touch

Groan where Hope is a lifeline in hardship’s calamities

For Hope is never seen; yet to its ether rope we clutch

While learning how to trust in what one knows; not what one sees

For we know God has promised, He never leaves us alone

All things work together for good to those who love the Lord

And though we do not know the layout of each stepping-stone

Or why; He does, who cups faith’s inconceivable reward

Not for our thought to decipher the what, why and wherefore

“Take up your cross and follow me” love’s ancient charge replies

Then when time’s dark glass is removed forever-evermore

And sight replaces faith, how worth the battle to the Prize

© Janet Martin

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 
who have been called according to his purpose.

Rom.8:28 NIV