Perfect Peace

If we, with confidence unmoved

Would walk without doubt, fear and dread

The path where none can see ahead

…if we could trust life’s plan approved

By He who humbly, wholly braved

Obedience; (suffered sin’s blame  

Though sinless Son of God, became

The Name whereby mankind is saved)

If we, like Jesus, would release

The will of man to will of God

And trust His love no matter what

Then we would live in perfect peace

© Janet Martin

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Rom.10:17NASB

(this poem inspired in part by today's devotional reading)

Enjoy!

Enjoy! This fleeting meeting with earth’s treasure trove of bloom

(For every bud breaks only once to splay its petal-plume)

It excites expectation as earth’s flower-sea runs wild

And invites us to wade through it with wonder of a child

Enjoy! This panoramic sweep of green-gold promenade

Cannot keep verdant color long, before it starts to fade

Then pursue with intention heady hues of purple-pink

Where what we take for granted is transplanted in a wink

Enjoy the lay of leaf-vesper as light of day grows dim

Notice the way branch-minstrels play summer’s perfected hymn

Before life’s law and order reclaims what began at birth

Where nothing with the breath of life can remain here on earth

Enjoy! Applaud the God who creates all four seasons well

Who, with no help from anyone designed each flower-bell

And placed between the bully gales that blow, spring-summer-fall

Where for his glory nature spills the best worship of all

© Janet Martin

Will Heaven Have July?

Oh God, I know in Heaven there will be no cause to sigh

Its wonders none can fathom where there is no ‘come to pass’

But if you could, oh, would you save a corner for July

Where lilies of the field wander a hill of wind-tossed grass?

Where dashing brooks slow to a sleepy crawl; where crickets trill

And lush hush steeps the countryside before the break of day

And could you give the bright-eyed boy the joy of fishing, still?

And somewhere let a meadow spill the smell of fresh-mown hay

And though there is no night can twilight lean its shadows where

The sun beamed bright in middle day, and can its ‘set’ be pink?

And then, because in Heaven there will be no need for prayer

Will there still be a river-bank where we can sit and think?

And watch the butterfly flit by and listen to the hymn

As soft breeze strums the leafy strings where fledglings learn to fly

God, I don’t want to seem as though I fret about such things

…but if Heaven is perfect will one corner be July?

© Janet Martin

Because It Is July...

Because it is July we lie beneath the brimming tree

And tend to linger longer in a flower’s company

Our attitude of gratitude comes naturally these days

Of making memories to fill next winter’s fireside gaze

Because it is July we try to make its moments count

A daily celebration of creation’s fulsome fount

As orchestral arrangements spill where time and touch compete

In lilt of lark, sea-song on sand, shimmers of golden wheat

Because it is July the eye is filled with pleasantries

A myriad of miracles undoes the bud with ease

And fills the mouth with hymns of ooh and awe’s simplicity

To He who needs no teacher to perfect His ‘let there be’

Because it is July the sky is full of friendly blue

Above love’s tug-of-war twixt what we want and need to do

The garden is a dreamland for its barefoot girls and boys

A wholesome haven in a world so full of rush and noise

Because it is July, Time’s my-oh-my keens every sense

And we should take the time to find a flower-laden fence

Or fish beside a sleepy stream or listen to the sigh

Of all that slips from dream to dream…because it is July

© Janet Martin

A Good Day For Leaf-gazing

It's one of those days...good for leaf-gazing💦

This post also includes a poem by James Whitcomb Riley I often think of on a hot day...

(...or bees)

...where we all wish for a big fig leaf to cool us from the sun

Or a breeze to tease our sweat-drops please, until our work is done

Or a pool 'o cool an' some lemonade an' a leaf-song serenade

An’ a bench o’ grass where we stretch to pass an hour in the shade

© Janet Martin

At Ninety in the Shade

by James Whitcomb Riley

Hot weather? Yes; but really not,

Compared with weather twice as hot.

Find comfort, then, in arguing thus,

And you'll pull through victorious!—

For instance, while you gasp and pant

And try to cool yourself—and can't—

With soda, cream and lemonade,

The heat at ninety in the shade,—

Just calmly sit and ponder o'er

These same degrees, with ninety more

On top of them, and so concede

The weather now is cool indeed!

Think—as the perspiration dews

Your fevered brow, and seems to ooze

From out the ends of every hair—

Whole floods of it, with floods to spare—

Think, I repeat, the while the sweat

Pours down your spine—how hotter yet

Just ninety more degrees would be,

And bear this ninety patiently!

Think—as you mop your brow and hair,

With sticky feelings everywhere—

How ninety more degrees increase

Of heat like this would start the grease;

Or, think, as you exhausted stand,

A wilted “palm-leaf” in each hand—

When the thermometer has done

With ease the lap of ninety-one;

O think, I say, what heat might do

At one hundred and eighty-two—

Just twice the heat you now declare,

Complainingly, is hard to bear.

Or, as you watch the mercury

Mount, still elate, one more degree,

And doff your collar and cravat,

And rig a sponge up in your hat,

And ask Tom, Harry, Dick or Jim

If this is hot enough for him—

Consider how the sun would pour

At one hundred and eighty-four—

Just twice the heat that seems to be

Affecting you unpleasantly,

The very hour that you might find

As cool as dew, were you inclined.

But why proceed when none will heed

Advice apportioned to the need?

Hot weather? Yes; but really not,

Compared with weather twice as hot!

Only Once

 A flower blooms only once...

Only once

We live and die

No rerun

For you or I

Today is

Its first and last

Present-This

Tomorrow’s Past

Only once

Let’s take its ‘how’

And make the most

Of here and now

© Janet Martin

 …Otherwise, He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.…

Heb.9:26-28