The Perfect Want...

With always lots to tend to in an ever-aging body and mind
 it sometimes leaves this poet’s heart a little frayed with want
for an art that here and there needs more than a haphazard or hurried splash.

I just finished reading the book Becoming Mrs. Lewis.
I love books about people who understand the ‘need’ to write;
how this hunger howls for release and even writing does not always fill it
because so little of what we write seems to come out exactly like we wish!
Still, to everything there is a time and a season
and I want to want to honour the Giver in each season.
 He knows the heart of every single one of us and
He grants grace to proceed and succeed to everyone who asks.

Let our goal then be to seek God first to glorify

for what we seek to please our self will never satisfy 

One of last week's devotions has stayed stuck, hopefully not just in my head...

I never want to live as if I was the first in line

But rather, blend into the place God willed in His design

That always bids us look to interests of fellowman

And love each other humbly, holy ev’ry way we can

I never want to hunger for some self-indulgent Then

But learn to live like Jesus did when He walked among men

The King of kings took on himself the form of servant meek

And taught us with more than mere words to turn the other cheek

I never want to worship ‘the created’ rather than

The One by whom all things were made according to His plan

Thus in this little time I have before death plays its part

Lord, let me want the beauty of a truly tender heart

© Janet Martin

Abiding Anchor

 This song has been going round in my head since last week
when my son played a small bit he recorded
as a man in the next room on a job site sang this hymn as he worked...

Against the tides that surge and crash and moan

Unwavering amidst the foaming crest

Steadfast within the gales that wail and groan

Abides the anchor of God’s promises

Unshakeable while wild life’s mistrals seethe

Until it feels like hell its depth unchains

Still resolute, unmovable beneath

The anchor of God’s promises remains

Unyielding as grief wields a numbing blow

And courage crumples in sorrow’s travail

Firm in the roiling spoil of Eden’s woe

God’s perfect promises will never fail

My love, though earth and heavens pass away

And stars fall like green figs from storm-tossed tress

Rock-solid in the tempest's spewing fray

Abides the anchor of God’s promises

© Janet Martin

Heb.6:18-20

 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and steadfast. 
It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 
 where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf.
 He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.…

Tick-tock's Undertow

It's quiet save the sound of the clock's tick-tock!

 Sometimes we wish for more 'bloom' as it fades

until we mourn the loss of one who never got the chance to fully fade or even begin to fade!

 Tonight the ache of mourning is raw as we enfold a widow in our congregation

in tears and prayer...

We miss you, Ron

Growing old does not stop

Until God wills it so

The momentum of tick and tock

A profound undertow

Where choice and circumstance

Adeptly intertwines

As we grapple with what God grants

While youth its bloom resigns

To make each moment count

Is more than a cliché

They are the sparkles from a fount

That never hits replay

Therefore we ought to prize

The gift of growing old

And kindly, humbly recognize

Time slipping through our hold

The ache for those we love

Who have gone on before

Keens a scared awareness of

What was and is no more

Where, as the seasons pass

We come to realize

How swift the sand runs through the glass

That drains the fountain dry

Dear Lord, bless those who mourn

For friend or family

Lord, heal the heart broken and torn

By sorrow’s agony

Awake in us hope’s boast

As by your grace we go

And teach us how to make the most

Of tick-tock’s undertow

© Janet Martin

 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, 

for He who promised is faithful.

Heb.10:23

Precious, Ordinary Days...

 Often hubby asks when I call him at night

'what did you do today'

or he will call during the day and ask, 'what were you doing'

and my reply more often than not will be something like

'I was downstairs putting wood on the fire', or 'I am getting lunch for tot/tots

or I was upstairs putting laundry away, 

I was doing dishes, sweeping the floor, tidying up, cooking supper,

(well, you get the idea)

and often I marvel at how what sounds so mundane when spoken

can still steal one's breath so completely 

by the beauty of being able to do these things!

Oh, what a gift to be able to live precious, ordinary days! 

No matter how repetitive they feel,

like going round and round the yard while pulling a sled,

still no two rounds are ever exactly the same!

We were chuckling/puzzling at the haste with which Little Man devoured first course 

until we realized what was sitting next to him...

two cookies disappeared before we could say 'whoa!'

Ah, precious ordinary days

They weave their way through heart and soul

With footprints that no one can trace

Save on the air where echoes toll

Ah, precious ordinary days

They sweep through us with grin and groan

Then meld into a misty maze

Paved with a haze of precious stone

Ah, precious, ordinary days

They seem so common at first glance

But steal our breath with changeless ways

Of Time and its persistent stance

…a fine mingling of hope and dread

Runs through us as we sense time’s ways

Soft-tugging on the sacred thread

Of precious, ordinary days

© Janet Martin

Little Girl was kept quite busy trying to hold/protect her playthings 

from a rambunctious little boy😉 

 ...and then little Princess woke from her nap...

 Sometimes, in the morning when I sense an onslaught of sticki-mess and noise 

I pray something similar to Psalm 90:12

"teach me to cherish my days so I may gain a heart of patience and tenderness"

'Dance' Lessons

 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 

who have been called according to his purpose.

Rom.8:28

 I'm hoping today's moves include cookie-cutters!

Dawn’s rise-and-shine rehearsals toward farewell’s rest-in-peace

Grants dances that can leave us breathless in its twist-and-turn

The Choreographer of have-and-hold’s hug-and-release

Surprises us with steps we never dreamed that we could learn

Time’s what-once-was with ways nonplussed composes quite a tune

While what-now-is tests physical and mental want-and-will

Today’s moves we must master wait to waltz us ‘cross a room

That soon will ring with echoes where our tears and laughter spill

...and we should try to trust Love’s lead, rather than understand

His choreography for His glory, not yours and mine

Thus, often contrary to the performances we planned

But always for our good He unfolds each dance-move's design

© Janet Martin