Our Father Who Art in Heaven...

 This poem/prayer was inspired as I prayed for all those who mourn this Christmas! 

(so many hearts are raw with fresh grief and 

so many are learning to live with its tender ache as time goes by)

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV)
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;(NKJV)

Col. 4:2

Dear Heavenly Father,

May the prayers of your dear children

Surround and bless those who mourn

May the faithful Hope of Heaven

Soothe the stabs from trouble’s thorn

May this ranting, raving mad world

Before gates of grace are sealed

‘ere all prophecy is fulfilled

Look to Jesus, and be healed

…peace that passes understanding

Though the storm our vessel tries

Though the tempter is tormenting

Time’s inhabitants with lies

Let it be in us a haven

Make its Source our Strength and Stay

While this swirl of dust is graven

With all that will pass away

Make our hearts a humble altar

Cupped in Living Sacrifice

Remind us, God, you’re our Father

And you bought us with great price

Through the gift of Your Son Jesus

And the curse He overthrew

If we believe you receive us

Making us your children too

Our Father up in Heaven

Let us then hallow Thy name

Through your Gift we are forgiven

None can any merit claim

For the Author of salvation

Gave the very best He had

So that every tribe and nation

Can look up and call you Dad

 

Then as we cry Abba, Father

(For God, oh how oft we slip)

You reach down with tender favour

And restore our fellowship

As You minister in spirit

As You supply our need

Father, we can feel and hear it

Your love, as you intercede

Amen

© Janet Martin 

Instead of devoting ourselves to argument leading to anger,

let us devote ourselves to prayer, leading to worship in spirit and truth!

Shroud-wowed

You tossed a mantle made of frost across the earth; gilt crook and crease

Each common twig and sprig transformed into a perfect masterpiece

Each fringe and frond etched or ensconced in diamond-studded mezzotint

And we are lost in worlds unfurled with here a swirl and there a glint

You steal our breath; the seal of death is something that none can revoke   

Yet wakes in us an ache that started with the first words that you spoke

And since the dawn of time we climb the aftermath of ‘let there be’

To be wowed by a cloud, a shroud of stars, a frost-flossed tree

…a rolling sea of seasons as it woos us with its ebb and surge

Where we are drawn from dawn-to-dawn in a marriage of laud and dirge

As the carriage of dust-to-dust turns wanderlust to sacred awe

For we begin to taste the winning haste of Numbered Day’s Established Law

By the time we reckon this rhyme we’ll both we nearer than before

To the farewell that rends this shell with that which was and is no more

Where now nature still thunders with wonder’s unequivocal Sire

He tossed a mantle made of frost across the earth; gilt sprig and spire

© Janet Martin

The Beauty of the Bitter (or Burnt;-)

 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens. 

 Our God is a God who saves;
    from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.

Psalm 68:19-20 

I was looking for a beginning for today's post (Thursday-what's-for-supper)

and when I read this quote that my friend Bren L shared today on her FB post

it set thought's wheels in motion:

"Reflect on your present blessings 

of which every man has many, 

not on your past misfortunes, 

of which all men have some." 

~ Charles Dickens

...When the door bell rings and you answer

and a neighbor hands you a box of Christmas treats along

with best wishes for a blessed Christmas,

is that not one of life's sweetest happiness-es?

 (even before you taste the goodies in the box?!😋😊)

 Does it not make worth burning the first batch of white sauce

you were cooking for supper's green bean casserole

'cause you've been sweetly distracted by treats?!

but then, in the glow that can only come from love/friendship we try again...

melt butter, stir in a few tbsp. of flour, 

then whisk light cream or milk into it until it's a smooth, white sauce, not too thick, not too thin

 pour over green beans, canned or frozen,

Top with shredded cheese...

...and crushed cornflakes tossed with a bit 'o melted butter

Bake at 350 till bubbly...

We served it with Christmas coleslaw;

red and green thinly sliced cabbage, red onion, 

bit of chopped romaine lettuce, red cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds. 

Toss with your favorite vinaigrette dressing. 

...and chicken-pasta-casserole left from lunch;

cooked pasta tossed with chopped cooked chicken breast, 

cream of mushroom soup and cheese.

Imagine if what heaped our plates was all pudding and cake

If consequence would not follow the choices that we make

Imagine if our wish and whim were granted on the spot

And we would never have to work or wait for what we’ve got

Imagine if the bitter never did reveal the sweet

Or wake in us most sacred awe for bread we break and eat

Imagine if destruction was not the first-fruit of pride

How greedy we would be, never thankful or satisfied

Imagine if the plans we made played out beneath our touch

And hope would not be honed by broken dreams and hearts and such

If we would never taste the sting of meek trust’s bitter tears

Then we would waste the would-be sweetness turning days to years

Because the bitter makes sweeter the blessings that we count

It keens our sense to sparkles soft-spilling from Mercy’s fount

Imagine if we did not need each other constantly

How cold, covetous, ungrateful and lonely we would be

© Janet Martin

some more hand-delivered sweetness from friends yesterday afternoon...

This morning's breakfast from the treat-box above is an annual anticipated treat! 

Surely life's bitter parts would be too hard to bear

but for its sweetness-es kindly tucked between!

Here's to being somebody's sweetness today!

Victoria just became mine as she walked into the kitchen dressed for work💝