On Keeping the Courage (for moms)

This applies to dads as well, but because I'm a mom it is written from a mother's vantage-point...

 ...because motherhood is not for the faint of heart!

Her heart fits inside suitcases packed full of clothes and dreams,

it flutters in good-bye waves, 

it is the sparkle in a tear. 

Her heart is shaped into a prayer.

Dear mothers, we would buckle beneath the weight of love

But for daily replenishment from Someone above

Who Fathers the mother who braves unlearned ways

To give to her family the best of her days

Dear mothers, how could we bear the heart-string’s pull

It seems we can never prepare for in full

But for the Father who helps mother-wife

To give to her family the rest of her life

Dear mothers, our mothers have borne this love too

And needed the Father to carry them through

And grant her the strength to give, in joy or strife

The best of her days for the rest of her life

© Janet Martin

Hope's Upraised/Appraised Cup

Low blows and highlights

And show-downs and ups

Run in dawn-twilight

Through hope’s upraised cups

Soulmates and seasons

Succor and surprise

Tug-of heart reasons

With want’s sacred sighs

Darling, the hour

That hangs on the air

Unfolds like a flower

Of whispers and prayer

Take it or leave it

Or love it or not

Hail it or grieve it

Time is all we’ve got

Time to be tender

And humble and true

Time for the splendor

Of each ‘I love you’

Who knows... tomorrow

 Might tip lofty spheres

Of joy turned to sorrow

And laughter to tears 

Treasure-collectors

Of echoes are we

One day full-color

The next...history

...where low-blows and highlights

And showdowns and ups

Flow from dawn-twilight

Through Hope's appraised cup

© Janet Martin

Of Who We Are or Who Are We

 Sometimes when Hubby thinks I'm a little 'set in my ways' he'll shake his head and say,

'They may think they buried your Grandpa F. but they sure didn't bury all of him!'

...and what reply follows, I leave to your imagination😁

 I'm working at getting some summer-fav-photos developed;

My, what an echo world a photo can hold!

Equipped with faith and hope and trust, we combat dread and fear

Knowing that without warning well-laid plans can run awry

But oh, in Whom we place our faith and hope and trust, my dear

Makes all the difference in this world of startling my-oh-my

Time’s tray serves up with touch and taste far more than memories

From hues of Influence and Circumstance’s deft finesse

We become Who We Are and Who We Are, with subtle ease

Becomes part of another person’s strength or brokenness

And this, all hinged upon whereon we fix our faith-hope-trust

Aware that soon Farewell will claim this frame of why-and-how

Aware that soon the grave will snare life’s scaffolding of dust

Aware that Who We Are impacts far more than Here-and-Now

…where faith-hope-trust in He who sees beyond our live-laugh-love

Fills Who We Are with peace where ups and downs of life unwind

The essence of His presence or the hollow lack thereof

As Who We Are begins to shape the lives we leave behind

© Janet Martin

Something Worth Singing About!

 Inspired during our communion service yesterday as we worshiped the One 

who washes away our guilt and our penalty...

Inspired as we sang this hymn!

Have you ever pondered/marveled in all that is washed away in the blood of Christ?!

Washed away; the fear of dying

Fear of condemnation’s rod

Guilt’s inheritance relying

On the blood-bought grace of God

Washed away; the weight of worry

Where the gates of Hades loomed

What a miracle of mercy

Frees the soul to Satan doomed

Washed away; death’s sting and vic’try

Washed away, self-righteous pride

Where God’s righteousness took pity

Through faith man is justified

Washed away, doubt and confusion

In the flood at Calvary

Jesus washed away Illusion

With the Truth that sets us free

© Janet Martin

No Jesus, No Joy...

Without kindness

Or compassion

Or remorse

Or forgiveness

Or sacrifice

Of putting others first

Dear boy

There is no fulfillment

No contentment

No peace of mind

No true happiness

No Jesus

No joy

© Janet Martin

Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. 

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God’s love was revealed among us: 

God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us 

and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, 

God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God

 And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. 

God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 

1 John 4:7-16