Bottomless Think-well...

 Seems a ton of these are written regularly...

Moaning like a wind through winter trees

Love hones its works of art

Where ink of highs and lows

Becomes a poem in the heart

That word cannot compose

It runs its fingers through

Places we cannot find

And surges like a sea, deep blue

Through channels of the mind

Its broken dreams are strewn

Beneath time’s tender toll

It gleams in salty sparkles hewn

Like diamonds from the soul

It wells and spills within

Torrent of grin and grit

That fills a book beneath our skin

With poems never writ

© Janet Martin

Optimizing, Upgrading and Downsizing

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession 
and thanksgiving be made for all people—   
for kings and all those in authority, 
that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  
This is good, and pleases God our Savior,  who wants all people to be saved 
and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  
 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,   
who gave himself as a ransom for all people. 
This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.   
And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—
I am telling the truth, I am not lying—
and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, 
lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

2 Tim.2:1-8

I am sharing the scripture reading from today's Daily Bread Devotion 

as a springboard to the New Year!

Thank-you dear reader, for stopping on this porch and my prayer this year is that 

each of us may grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 

 2 Pet.3:18

Below is my traditional New Year's Greeting...

a card my grandparent's received years ago.

 

What if instead of fearing, doubting

Arguing, debating, shouting

Slandering, boasting, back-biting

Worrying, badgering, fighting

Fretting, betting, wishing, wanting

Warring, criticizing, taunting

Belittling and berating

Jumping to conclusions, hating

Moping, grumbling, heckling, pining

Gloating, preening, undermining

Imagining what someone said

What if instead
we just prayed

© Janet Martin

Happy New Year

Note; sometimes the written word can be misunderstood or confusing.
If I post something that requires correction please do not hesitate to contact me!

Some Worth-(our)-While Resolutions...

 The photo collage below is from a summer front-porch sit at my sister's house!
(see first line of poem below:)
The view was second to none! and the company/fellowship was pretty nice too!
Here's to keeping some simpler, sweeter resolutions in 2020!

 
Happy Last Day of 2019!

 Here's to some totally within reach transformations that might not be quite as quickly visible

as those that took place overnight!

This year, let’s sit upon a porch though this seems like a thing of yore

(Because most of us seem too hurried just to linger anymore)

Just to rave at waves of colour weaving oceans through the sky

Or to marvel at the measure of a moment flitting by

Let’s close our eyes and wander back to simpler, ampler days and years

Or ponder present pleasantries before its pleasure disappears

Let’s pray more for our friends and neighbours, family both far and near

Or rock and talk about the weather or a hymn that we hold dear

Let’s try to pause without a worry about where we ought to be

Let’s learn to linger over pages filled with nature’s poetry

Let’s be awed, struck with wordless wonder as the sun sets in the west

And put down handheld distractions (lest we deem God’s art second best)

Let’s make a firm four-season promise to spend more time far less stressed

For the author of earth’s beauty offers endless ways to be impressed

The flower of an hour soon lies lifeless where spent ages drift

Let’s not let it slip through our fingers without regard for its gift

Let’s make a resolution to be more at ease with fellowman

And strive to please the Giver of all that He grants, the best we can

And let’s with kind, earnest endeavor bind love’s wounds with mercy’s kiss

To heal the heart and bridge the gap twixt what once was with what yet is

Let’s remember that we never know what a day, (nay, an hour) may cast

Let’s make real the cliché to live each day as if it were our last

Let’s picture this world as the foothills in full view of heaven’s gates

Then this will help us keep the focus when we would forget what waits

Let’s be more careful with the air full of echoes that soon will teach

Let’s be aware of the awesome blessing of loved ones still within reach

Let’s treat each other as if we never know if we will meet once more

Let’s make life worth the living by giving without once keeping score

Let’s sip our seasons slowly, wholly humbled by hope’s holy ground

Lest we miss out on what is right before us waiting to be found

Let’s turn the other cheek; not waste our precious whiles seeking revenge

Let’s fill our thoughts with thankfulness that spills out in ten thousand glad amens

© Janet Martin

...on this note I'm off to linger over pages filled with nature's fresh snowfall poetry!

A Love-Note to Ring Out The Old (and ring in the new)

 Below is the full hymn which the stanza above is from;  Something For Thee

 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, 

God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:12

When I ponder Thy love for me

It makes me weigh my love for Thee

And measure on the scale of choice

The worship uttered without voice

When on this trial-riddled sphere

I test the timbre of the tear

Pray that its holy grail would be

Thy love for me, my love for Thee

When Duty's rod is meek and plain

Remind me, God, tis not in vain

If task and toil's necessity

Is like a hymn of praise to thee

  

And when my time on earth is through

And there is nothing left to do

But shed this robe of hope and need

To reap the reward of faith’s seed

Lord, let this thought love’s lot console

And keep my heart fixed on the goal

Where triumph’s song will ever be

My love for thee; Thy love for me

Lord, keep my lips from speaking guile

Nor let the lust of flesh defile

But ever let my hunger be

Thy love for me, my love for Thee

© Janet Martin

Fault-(finder) Line

 How old is The Child when they cross 'the line' that takes them out of the safety-zone

I wondered yesterday as we oohed and aahed and cuddled and kissed

The Little One who has (gloriously and innocently) not yet crossed 'the line'...

then, still innocently, they do!

And suddenly the 'law of love' seems to change its tone (in some, anyway)

where we are all prone through human nature/aka Adam's curse

 to be guilty at some point in time

of this tone-change...(shame on us)

When do we start with meaner mind

To point fingers with cruel slight

When does the youngster cross the line

That opens them to verbal bite

Is it when they begin to learn

From a teacher none can ignore

Where life is full of twist-and-turn

On roads they never walked before

When are they no longer too young

To be spared from the critic’s grind

Or become fodder for the Tongue

That is untruthful and unkind

When, instead of encouragement

Do they become the scorner’s prize

Where once they gained The Compliment

Now words condemn and criticize

When does the law of love become

More like a cold betrayer’s kiss?

Is it just when they need someone

To remind them, ‘life is like this’

That it is our mistakes and such

That makes us wiser day by day

When, (when they need kindness so much)

 Do they become the gossip’s prey?

How old does someone have to be

To suffer that which none can tame

When they are beyond two or three

Do they start to become fair game?

Tell me, oh, thou of verbal skill

(Where we are all part of God’s choir)

When is the child ‘fit for the kill’

That puts them in Talk's line of fire

© Janet Martin

No one ever grows old enough
to be fit enough for the gossiper's firing squad

 but no human being can tame the tongue.
 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:8

 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph.4:32