Friday, August 10, 2018

String of Pearls...

Time's pearls hold the colors of the rainbow and every tint between...
 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
 ...Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.
Lam.3:32


The roof of stars lowers its bars
Heaven pours gold across glossed clay
Where freeways start to fill with cars
As dot-to-dot of day-to-day

…adds face to what seems commonplace
If we forget to recognize
The Author of uncommon grace
That sweeps the darkness from the skies

…with mercy’s flood misunderstood
If we neglect to simply trust
The Hand that works for our good
No matter what vexes this dust

He fills the grail that spills time’s trail
In dot-do-dot of day-to-day
With His kind love that does not fail
No gem has ever lost its way


© Janet Martin





“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

 Who knew a bowl of burgundy beets beaming in the bright morning sun
 could make one mildly delirious with delight
...but it did!


Thursday, August 9, 2018

August Awe-sums


 Four days off...means a little more poem-allowance in my pocket😉



bite-sized bliss...
wedge of tomato on green pepper topped with a sprinkle of feta cheese and black pepper

The garden laughs in tomatoes
And flow’rs
August is no ordinary
Traverse of hours
Tippy-toe peeks
Into pink pockets, please
… holly-hock bistros
For bees

Morn is a platter
Of steaming
Mist
Lips are a-chatter
and blueberry kissed
Sassy wind-rascals
Twirl the weather vane
While skies hang deliciously low
 With unshed
rain

© Janet Martin

Purpose Galore

When we find Purpose
we find joy


It is not enough simply to do...
The 'Who' we do it for makes all the difference!

 ...and 'getting air' is way more fun when someone is standing there applauding!
(yes, Youngest 'got air' too, my camera click just missed it!)

 Boast-rights broken...grace is the token whereby we serve!


For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, 
and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s workmanship,
 created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 
which God prepared in advance as our way of life. 
Ah, what Purpose...when work becomes an act of worship to He who grants us strength and joy!


This is a sacred day before our Lord.
 Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”


Primed for perhaps-es not yet come to pass
Morn runs its measure through time’s hour glass
Ah, who could bear it; Unknown’s rise and fall
But for awareness of God over all

Love keeps us humble and hope keeps us glad
Pride makes us stumble and lust drives us mad
Grace frees the captive where guilt held command
Then fear finds freedom through God’s faithful hand

No one finds peace through the pleasure of ‘stuff’
Ah, who could bear it; time’s grave-stricken toll
But for Salvation’s Saviour of the soul

Doubt finds a foothold where demons conspire
God’s word is faithful; the devil a liar
Belief is proven not by words we spew
But by the fruit of one little word; do

Works cannot save us or else we would boast
But after grace renders its uttermost
God, in advance ordained Purpose Galore
Doing good works He created us for

Love one another; a 'disciple's decree'
Is the work order He gives You and me
Ah, who could bear it if no one would prove
This fruit of the Spirit ‘the greatest is love

© Janet Martin

 But the fruit of the Spirit is 
love, joy, peace, 
patience, kindness, goodness, 
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 
Against such things there is no Law.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Sh! Let's Listen to the Rain!


One of my top ten favs… much-needed-rainy summer morning!





Suddenly we slip on slippers
Sip that second cuppa slow
Tempo of teeny tap-dancers
Putting on a first-class show

Suddenly a trillion runnels
Run where yester-dust swirled up
Pitter-patter, precious jewels
Filling pond and petal-cup

Suddenly the whir of traffic
Dons the shush of plush footwear
Hunger humbled by the music
That tumbles in answered prayer

Suddenly we feel at home, oh
Rain-rhapsody, what a thrill
Rousing in the pen a poem
That no strictest scold can still

Suddenly, summer seems slower
Laughter laps up heaven’s tear
Taming haste of come and going
With the taste of Now and Here

© Janet Martin

Yet...


 Have you noticed
...how much earlier Day is turning in?!
But, it isn't time to say farewell to summer...yet.
Isn't 'yet' one of the most happy-sad words in the English vocabulary?!
(depending on what it is hinged to)
It suggests there is still more to come!

 I have not had my second coffee...yet



“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it... yet?”
L.M. Montgomery


I can’t bear the thought of it…yet
The way Past keeps moving in
Mapping moments, happy, haunting
To primed canvases of skin

I can’t think about farewell…yet
The way Time tugs at the heart
Twisting touch and taste to echoes
Where soon three seasons apart

...summer will be heaped and gathered
Death, a leafless silhouette
Etched upon the early twilight
I can’t think about it…yet

© Janet Martin