A June Jingle...

 When I needed help with a word, idea or line 

I just walked outside and let June have her say...

Weaves frothed stars of wind-strummed lilac into fragrant lullaby

Leaves ladders of love and longing propped against cerulean sky

Wakes the whisper in the willow; paints the world with poetry  

Breaks the bud that floods the woodland with leaf-minstrel’s melody

Teases tassels tossed against the fence where twilight shadows sigh

Eases nature’s adolescence toward bold bloom of July

Ladles from celestial caldrons, sweet-as-honey sunny noon

Cradles candy-tuft and cosmos in its pockets; darling June

Steeps the earth in mirth of blossom, scatters petal-tatters wild

Keeps the heart of seasoned lovers in tune with their inner child

Stirs the song that long lay dormant as the seed in snowy nook

Blurs the chuckle of the orchard with the chortle of the brook

Lures the bee back to the bell-shaped bistro brimming with sweet tea

Cures the blues of middle winter with the pinks of peony

Fixes fickle maladies with elixir of fresh-mown hay

Tickles noses with the dust we kick up as we shout hooray

Tips the palette of an Artist that all others imitate

Slips lobelia-lupine-loosestrife through the grass-embellished gate

Rouses reds, yellows and purples to enhance the common dune

Bows our heads in humble worship to the God who grants us June

© Janet Martin

Wonder-full

 Sometimes we are dazed 

and dumbfounded anew

Amazed by how much 

God loves me and you

Sometimes we hardly 

know where to start

To tell of the wonder

 that urges the heart

To praise the One worthy 

of all attention

His ways beyond earthly 

comprehension

Sometimes we are wholly 

and humbly awed

In the shadow of angels 

through the mercies of God

Heart of worship let me prove

‘Neath the scepter of Thy love

‘Neath the shadow of Thy gaze

Lord, I bow in humble praise

For the beauty of Thy land

For Thy mercy’s gracious hand

For death-cursed deliverance

For Thy faithful providence

For the favors of Thy grace

For Thy faithful promises

And the comfort that You send

For Thy All that has no end

For Thy whispers deep within

For Thy forgiveness of sin

For Thy strength in joy or strife

For Thy death to purchase life

For Thy power unsurpassed

For Thy truth to hold us fast

For Thy purpose undeterred

For Thy everlasting word

For Thy hope steadfast and sure

For Thy salvation secure

For Companionship divine

That unmerited, is mine

© Janet Martin

  Honor the Lord your God, worship only him, 

and make your promises in his name alone.

Deut.6:13

 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
Mal.6:10

What We Did...

We never did do all we thought we would

When we were young

But still, the door of opportunity

Is mercy-flung

It makes, through our mistakes a way to

Move forward, not back

And helps us, if we try, to make the most

Of what we lack

For wealth is not the equity of assets we may boast

But heart of love and gratitude for that which matters most

We never did find pie up in the sky

Or pots of gold

But we found something better on our way

To growing old

For in those places God ordained

To answer prayers with wait

We found a wealth of wonder

To humbly appreciate

And as we count our blessings instead of wishes and fears

In the light of true thankfulness Want's darkness disappears

We never did land on Fantasy Island’s

Destiny

But learned to trade in dreams for

Momentous Reality

The Brigadoon that lured us when

Love was still starry-eyed

Has baptized faithful service

With a sweeter, simpler pride

Where what we hold, we’ve come to see, is always on the verge

Of slipping through our fingers to the shores where echoes surge

We never did prove much more than our

Predecessors did

The trails we blazed merge like a maze

Strewed beneath heaven’s lid

Where feet, still fleet with dreamer’s dust will kick

Up sacred stars

Then turn to learn that wanderlust has drained

Youth’s sparkling jars

And molded rebel-clay into kinder thank-yous somehow

Keening a purer appetite for life’s Momentous Now

We did find out freedom of choice carries

An awesome weight

And what we speak most loudly needs no words

To validate

We’ve found the common ground of realizing

How it feels

To sense the Past, like puppies always nipping

At our heels

And though, so far from perfect or how we thought

It might be

We find the present is a gift to cherish

Thankfully

© Janet Martin

Precursor to the Prize

Sometimes it rouses great concern 

At treacherous trends being set...

when the downward slope is so gradual

That it doesn't seem too serious... yet

The single step may seem harmless

but each step will always precede

Another, and we should be wary

of where given Time, they will lead

 There is a way which seems right to a man,

 But its end is the way of death.

Prov.14:12

The price precedes the payoff

The grit precedes the goal

Desire precedes the destiny

Where death unveils the whole

Then, friend do not grow weary

The climb precedes the view

And faith precedes the finish line

Where all will be made new

Reaching precedes the holding
And pride precedes the fall
Planting precedes the harvest, love
(ah, seeds do not stay small!)

The hurt precedes the healing

The bud precedes the rose

And cross precedes the crown that waits

After Time’s curtain close

The want precedes the getting

The prayer precedes the peace

And trust in God precedes the day

When need of it will cease

© Janet Martin

Daughters...

 Happy Birthday, Emily💓!

God bless you, dear daughter, as you begin raising one of your own

and discovering the joy for yourself...

There aren't enough pages to tell the whole of what daughters are but here's a peek!

This poem goes for all three of our beautiful daughters
but inspired today on the Birthday of our firstborn;
 the one who introduced me to a whole new world of wonder!
Can't wait to walk with you through your own journey of discovery💗

I can't BELIEVE it's 27 years since it began!

They’ll give you wrinkles laugh-lines

They’ll turn your head hoary

They’ll teach you lessons

You once thought you knew

They'll make years fly by

As love writes a story

Of bittersweet blessings
 Our mothers learned too 

They’ll make you weary

And make life worth living

They’ll make you prayerful

And careful and brave

They’ll make you teary

While stunned with thanksgiving

They'll make you grateful

To give all you have
 

They’ll make you feel older

And younger than ever

They'll try you then break you 

With laughter unfurled

So while you can, hold her

And hug her, dear mother

For daughters will make you

The best friends in the world

© Janet Martin