Reconciling Our Differences...

Over and over Motherhood and 'mortal-hood'

 tests our willingness to let go and let God...

Ah, love of God, so oft misunderstood

Thy rod seems harsh that works for mortal good

Beneath the weight of hope and hunger’s ways

Thy word abides to guide us all our days

Where He who bled and died upon a cross

Will test our pride to burn away the dross

To see if what we boast is but a sham

Or meek and honest trust in Thee; I AM

Beneath the cares that pain this human grail

Thy loving kindness will not wane or fail

But heals the hurts of love’s great agonies

Thy grace sufficient for the least of these

Where forgiveness that we could never earn

Lends joy to all that we are called to learn

You draw us from conceit’s suave trickery

And fill the heart with awe’s humility

Thy evidence only a fool denies

Thy Providence ministers and supplies

Thy ways exasperate man’s come and go

Thy truth and mercy none can overthrow

Thy gaze restores our faith, rebukes our fears

Thy promises and loving kindness cheers

Thy blood delivers us from debt we owe

Thy love, the gifted grace whereby we go

Ah, love of God, so oft misunderstood

Ah, vexing rod that works for mortal good

Beneath the height of hope and hunger’s need

Thy word abides to guide and intercede

Where He who paid sin’s debt upon a cross

Will sweeten heaven’s gain with earthly loss

To see if our worship is a sham

Or sacred gratitude to Thee; I AM

© Janet Martin

Faithful Loving Father God

 A favourite hymn which is why I share it over and over:)

Dear Faithful, loving Father God, Thou art

When I can't find the words

You hear my heart

and when I cannot

verbalize my fear

you understand the language

of a tear

Thank-you Father, thank-you

Amen

© Janet Martin

Nothing Too Small For God's Touch

Trying to finish a morning-poem near midnight is...interesting😉

an attempt to revive blurred recollections of wonder!

(...somehow today just whooshed away!)

These bejeweled, webbed pine-needles are mesmerizing!

The earth, as old as Time seems new and young

Where birth of day chimes heaven’s wooing gong

Man’s wonder-hunger brims and overflows

God’s glory gilds the plainest meadow-rose

With not one blade or frond or leaf too slight

To wear the diamonds that fell over night

And fill the heart of man with praise and prayer

To He whose signature is everywhere

Then when the common cares of life resume

And almost we forget the dew-kissed bloom

Or how the sun broke through the bars of night

To fill the dark with the return of Light

And when we start to slip into a sigh

Or let the tear of fear near-dim the eye

God help us to consider and recall

How, for Your touch no whisper is too small

© Janet Martin

 I have seen the burden that God has laid on men to occupy them.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

 He has also set eternity in the hearts of men,  

yet they cannot fathom the work God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there is nothing better for men than to rejoice and do good while they live,…

Eccles.3:10-12

August Nocturne

Over the earth seeps a somnolent sea

Washing the colours of day from the lea

Tucking the hollows and hills out of view

Beneath a blanket of dust-scented dew

Turning bright tincture to deep blue and gray

Brushing the world outside windows away

Snuffing last rays of daylight like a spark

Crescent moon hangs like a smile in the dark

Cricket song wafts; vibrating staccato

The night is soft like a black velvet throw

The heart is torn as dusk oozes away

For every night summer loses a day

Gathered like sheaves into Bygone’s vast bin

Until the harvest of August is in

Weaning the sedge of its sheen, green and blithe

Keening the edge of Has Been like a scythe

Stars froth the night like a grand Mystery

Big dipper held by a Hand we can’t see

All that we know off by heart disappears

Though night's artist is unchanged through the years

Dipping his brush into ebony stream

Painting his pictures while well-wishers dream

Tossing across every meadow and lawn

Diamonds to dazzle the dreamers at dawn

© Janet Martin

August Morning

The first line of this poem was inspired by a friend who shared a video this morning of Pet Duck waddling with all its wibble-wobble might to keep up with Farmer and Dog on their way to the barn. And Farmer and Dog waited to make sure Duck was not left behind😂

This poem was written before sudden, much-needed showers rolled through...so much to sing about!
Thank-you dear Lord of Heaven and earth!!

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; 
 shout aloud, O depths of the earth.  
Break out into singing, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. 
 For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel.
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb:
 “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens,
who by Myself spread out the earth,
Isa.44:23-24

Duck waddles after Farmer and his dog and quack-quacks ‘wait for me’

Frog ribbit-ribbits from the bog where reeds guzzle slugs of ‘green tea’

Hummingbird darts from the heart of delphinium to feeders on the porch

Sun beams like a coral loonie or a pink blazing popsicle-torch

Cobweb gossamer shimmers like silk patchwork on ragged, burlap coats

Satin lake gleams like a looking glass studded with small fishing boats

Finches flit like yellow pom-poms, swallows dip and skim the pond

Wind is just a wafting whisper in the lithesome willow-frond

Cow lows from a mist-kissed pasture pocked with ‘pies’ and thistle plumes

Morning leaps with love and laughter where Time’s newest flower blooms

© Janet Martin