Joy-fix

I started writing this poem yesterday morning when dawn burst into bloom like a coral flower!

This morning's 'flower' is wet and gray😀 

...but then Victoria and I decided it might be the last Monday of the season 

to get in a nice fall-colour hike, so off we went!

When we got back since it was election day in Canada we went to vote,

before Grand-sonny arrived to 'help' Grandma with some outdoor fall chores...

...by the time these were finished it was almost dark.

When I returned to the poem this morning I was thinking about how thankful I am that we can 

fix our hope and joy on more than election outcomes!

(we will continue to pray for our leaders in government...
and do our best to be up-building citizens!)

Beauty breaks yon bower

Black of night unfolds

Morning is a flower

Bursting ancient molds

As waking elation

Glimpses He who grants

A kind invitation

To The Cosmic Dance

…where we, when forgiven

Through Jesus, God’s Son

Will inherit Heaven

After earth is done

By no self-wrought merit

Salvation, a gift

Father, Son and Spirit

Bridge damnation’s rift

Beauty breaks yon bower

Grace ignites hope’s flare

None can thwart the power

Of penitent prayer

While the seasons sally

One above Time’s toll

Stays the Divine Rally

Twixt Godhead and soul

…where we with kind courage

Trek this fleck of sod

Not in feckless forage

But with trust in God

For our joy is Jesus

Through Him we proceed

Where Perfect Love bids us

To follow His lead

© Janet Martin

our call to endurance is found in Hebrews 2:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.…

Creation's Example

Tis the season when believers and atheists alike

 agree that creation/nature in autumn is a beautiful thing! 

Inspired in part by Autumn and Psalms 104

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

Psalm 104:1

The world may try to ban His Name with bold and calloused ignorance

And they may plan with foolish fame to put their faith in luck and chance

And they may claim with shameless scorn that Holy God does not exist

While poised upon the brink of morn all grace and mist and mercy-kissed

...and all around creation spills God’s autograph in ridge and rills

And all around creation hails God’s artistry in woods and vales

And all around creation cries God’s name in sod and sea and skies

And all around creations rings with praise fit for the King of kings

The world may boast and raise a toast to lesser gods of rust and dust

And they may dare to scoff at prayer and make a mockery of trust

And they, of darkened understanding may think death is but a grave

Pitiful and uncomprehending of the love mighty to save

While all around creation shouts God’s majesty while the fool doubts

And all around creation heeds God’s providence in buds and seeds

And all around creation yields God’s goodness from orchards and fields

And all around creation brims with God’s Eden-anointed hymns

The world may try with every lie to prove the nothingness of God

The bird, the bee, the butterfly might get a scientific nod

And with great faith they embrace ‘likely theories’ grandly unfurled

Insistent that in the beginning God did not create the world

While all around creation beams God’s glory in fountains and streams

And all around creation plays God’s music in ten-thousand ways

And all around creation fills God’s framework with valleys and hills

And all around creation frees God’s wink in mountains, flowers, trees

The world may make a lot of noise while trying to disprove I AM

Pity the one made in His image who insists God is a sham

Pray they may find the Way the Truth the Life before it is too late

Before they plead for rocks and mountains to save them from Hades fate

© Janet Martin

Like Whispers or Hope's Great Passageway...

 Yesterday, (Sunday morning) while together,

 our church-family received the sorrowful news of the sudden passing of another of our members, 

A beloved husband, dad and grandpa!
We will miss you Clayton, but are comforted to know your cares are past!

The song that long spilled from leaf-flowers fair

Is growing softer in its changing keys

As orchestral estrangements ride the breeze

That gallops through the trees like steads of air

To scatter in its wake a lake of leaves

‘There is a time to plant and to uproot’

The husk of dawn to dusk shucked underfoot

Like whispers that love celebrates and grieves

And none retrieves, but like a surging sea

That rolls toward the shore; Time takes its toll

While flust'ring our clear path to the goal

As we are propelled toward what will be

On a forceful, unpredictable tide

Oh, God our help in ages past, abide

The canopy of variegated green

That lured us from heat-rippled field and street

And drew us to its cooler, grassy seat

Is red and gold with blue holes worn between

…and we are at a loss for words it seems

To perfectly and properly express

This tug-of-heart that vexes happiness

And like the frost-kissed tree, undresses dreams

Insisting that we take a closer look

At often quick and easy reasoning

As tick and tock applies its seasoning

Of fallen leaves, like whispers in a book

Where Aftermath and Imminence collide

Oh God, our help in present-tense, abide

The future is a far and foreign world

The past, places and faces we recall

...as tender tears in soft surrender fall

Like whispers into gentler thoughts unfurled

Because as seasons pass we start to see

The subtlety with which a life is spent

Where everything we have is simply lent

And all relinquished in eternity

Breath seized by death; veil lifts at curtain-close

Sod, sea and sky dissolve into a mist

And all that was before does not exist

As we behold the Destiny we chose

Oh God, o’er Hope’s Great Passageway preside

Oh God, our help in days to come, abide

© Janet Martin

 There is a time to weep...

Ecc.3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

It's True...

 "I am the vine; you are the branches.

 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

It’s true; we could be crushed by the weight of dread and despair

We could be victimized by mind-games hindering meek prayer

We could fall captive to the enemy of happiness

And believe the deceiver who is cold and pitiless

It’s true; sometimes the more we try the more we seem to fail

Futile, the sentimental sigh, where hurried moments hail

From all that lies behind us to all that is waiting still

Where we could let fear bind and blind us or let faith fulfill

It’s true; that He will fit us for whatever He will ask

That His grace is sufficient for the trial, test or task

It’s true, though hope and heartache intricately intertwine

These simply form the branches that are clinging to The Vine

© Janet Martin

I attended a ladies event at church today where the theme was;

Who am I?

And the answer hopefully is 'that we let I AM define who I am'
We were both encouraged and challenged to seek and trust/believe God,
especially when we feel we can't do what He is asking of us.