Thursday, May 3, 2018

On Rearranging The 'Furniture'





Make room though your life is crowded
With living’s insistent duress
For awe, when spring’s first green has shrouded
The landscape with happiness

Delight in the wonder of flowers
Though worry its plunder imparts
Make room in the bloom of spring’s bower
For joy shaped in pink bleeding-hearts

Make room for the music of heaven
To soothe away sorrows of earth
Make room for hope’s glorious season
To satisfy death with rebirth

Let goodness and mercy of sunshine
And tender-sweet tempo of rain
In spite of life’s colors less sanguine
Make room for rejoicing again

© Janet Martin



Human-kind...




Whoever in the world we are
Wherever we may be
However rich or poor we share
Much commonality

For joy and sorrow’s high and low
Or love or longing’s sigh
Or God’s free grace whereby we go
Is mortal’s kindred tie


With hurts and hopes and wants and needs
We walk-run-fall-crawl-climb
(If we are known by our deeds
Let’s make them worth our time)

Then, for the sake of greater good
With fellowman in mind
It makes one wonder why we would
Be anything but kind

© Janet Martin


 And be ye kind one to another, 
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Eph.4:32

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Ultimate Goal...Happy 20th Birthday, Matt




Soon time for all its trouble takes
Each share of joy or strife
And from collected echoes makes
The picture of a life

Where rise and fall of day to day
Not one hour repeats
Grace pours into the painter’s tray
Fresh faith-and-valor fetes

Where constant charge of Now and Here
Is like a gift from God
Love’s colours of both smile and tear
Anoints time’s temp’ral sod

…and instills a most solemn Urge
Within the human heart
As subtle-swift, a steadfast surge
Turns moments into art

Were Gallery of Days Gone By
Showcases Learn and Teach
As That and This soon fills the eye
With pictures out of reach

…and what once seemed like ‘nothing much’
Clad in modest veneer
Becomes, beneath bequeathed taste-touch
A legacy, my dear

Then seek with all your heart, the truth
Pursue integrity
Remember in your days of youth
He who made you and me

With humble mind, take daily stock
Of Time’s Ultimate Goal
Where common tick and tock of clock
Soon strips all but the soul

© Janet Martin



Dear Matt,
 So thankful for the gift of you
that heaps the heart with joys
while soft and swift years turn into
What makes men out of boys

Lord, bless and guide and keep this man
Winnowed from boyish zeal
Lord, make him weak enough to stand
and strong enough to kneel

...and as the years unfold their due
 Of Unknown's breadth and length
Lord, help him learn to lean on you
For both wisdom and strength

Matt, so glad for the gift of you
For all that God has planned
I pray that you always cling to
 His kind, Unfailing Hand

Mom~

(also, SO thankful for all your friends, young men of integrity and truth!
 I often pray for you all!)

 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, 
before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,
 "I find no pleasure in them"--

Isaiah 33:6
And He will be the stability of your times, 
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; 
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.

Ecclesiastes 10:2
A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, 
but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.
 
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, 
and all these things will be given to you as well.

Ps.119:9
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.











Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Sweet, Glorious May


 Hard-work heaven, like a bud barely riven, is about to break wide open!
Welcome, sweet, sweet glorious May, the gateway to summery sweeps!!!

 For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 
The flowers appear on the earth, 
the time of singing has come, 
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
 Song of Solomon 2:11-12

May: expectation and appreciation's prime time!
 ( pics of expectation-fuel from last May)






Where air melds amber heavens to a landscape sere and still
Where solitude of twilight tunes the heart to ‘peace, be still’
Where orchestral, glad birdsong fills a stage of barren limb
Where earth is poised to burst into a ‘holy-holy’ hymn

…where waiting is rewarded as the woodland meek and brown
Is decked in celebration with a gleaming, emerald crown
Where soon the grace of seed-borne lace will clothe the dormant sod
Where earth is like a showcase filled with miracles from God

Where we of human nature too oft swayed by what we see
Are happy to bear witness to Spring’s floral majesty
Where coral, purple, carmine, yellow beams from mounds of mud
Where glad gardeners pause to glimpse heaven inside each bud

Where hope is set at ease a bit as winter is subdued
Where vigor is restored; the grit of farmer’s faith renewed
Where elixir of dirt and dust delight’s the planter’s pride
As May, sweet glorious May returns to deck the countryside

© Janet Martin