The Momentum of Moments...

Happy Birthday. Jim!

thank-you for wearing out many a work-shoe on our behalf.

We love you!!

These work shoes have weathered many a mile

and, if in the kitchen some glares fierce and mean

of which you seem to enjoy as you smile

and reply, "relax honey, they're clean!"

The bread you win I've buttered and packed

Into sandwich-miles so you can eat on the run  (you're known for that)

The muffins I've made for your lunches, when stacked

I dare say could almost touch the sun

The food you carry the is same EVERY week, yes!! (for years)

Bananas and cornflakes, muffins and cheese

Yogurt, fruit,  somersausage sandwiches

Lately you've relented to "take salad, please!"

(p.s. the jif-jar is applesauce, not peanut-butter😊 )

 Happy Birthday Jim, and God bless you, my dear

And keep you safe where many dangers lurk (like moose!! close call this week)

May He keep His hands over yours as you steer

And give you strength to do your work (like cleaning out trailers)

The momentum of moments always startles us somehow

As we constantly marvel at the pace of here and now

Life’s mosaic of days gone by expands, the commonplace

A humbling recollection of God’s faithfulness and grace

Time leaves us at a loss for words where seasons disappear

And in its dexterous demise adds on another year

While we are busy looking after love’s constant demands

With legacy of work worn shoes and labour-weathered hands

We ought to not look back too long, yet long enough to count

The blessings overflowing from an invisible fount

Where fight songs we once flaunted with presumptuous flippancy

Have softened to a much more modest, thankful melody

No matter what our age, there’s always something new to learn

As we begin to bear the brunt of Bygone’s no return

We need to build each other up while we are breaking down

We need to keep on smiling even when we’d rather frown

Because Time waits for no man in its courses we must brave

And much of what has shaped us will follow us to the grave

The ways we’ve become set in too established to undo

Save perhaps this; to say more often these words, I love you

© Janet Martin

Peering Through the Key Hole

Writing is such an adventure at times as fingers try to follow the Whisper within.

I woke with the last two lines in the first stanza in my mouth. 

It repeated itself over and over till I got up and set it free💓

There is no end to Beauty this time of year!

 Nature does its thing in spite of the chaos man creates...

Bless the Lord oh, my soul.

O, Lord my God, Thou are very great.

thou art clothed in honour and majesty!

Psalm 104:1

The Majesty of morning metes the dawn

Mercy extends man’s means to carry on

To fan the flame that keeps faith undeterred

And live a life according to His Word

The Giver of each good and perfect gift

Will not forsake or set the soul adrift

But ever keeps a watchful gaze unfurled

O’er we who bear the trouble of this world

Earth’s beauty is like a hole for a key

Where we peer through to glimpse God’s majesty

Our duty is to obey Him without whys

Even when logic suggests otherwise

He witnesses the sacrifice we make

For no other reason but for His sake

When, as we heed the Voice that He instilled

God sees His righteousness in us fulfilled

Do not despair when evil-doers flaunt

The depth of man’s depravity and Want

But pray for them before it is too late

And the Key fits the hole that opes the Gate

© Janet Martin

How Can We Show Love...

These are dark days but because He lives we can face tomorrow!

"Because I live, you also will live."

John 14:19

 

Have you found it hard to feel encouraged in these dark days? 

 "it's so hard to know how to show love in a city where everyone is afraid"

said Melissa last night as she struggled with ideas on how to show love

in a world where again this week so much of the news 

is heavy and hard and we want to change the world with love but how?

~ "You must be the change you want to see in the world."~
Mahatma Ghandi 

Melissa shared an encounter with her intent to show love the other day...

she heard a lady in a wheel-chair calling 'will someone please help me cross the street?'

so she thought, 'well, that's pretty obvious! I can help her'

but as she pushed the very heavy wheel chair the woman wailed in pain over every bump,

Melissa got stuck in an LRT track and sheer panic forced the chair free!

When she reached the other side one woman was as distraught as the other

and she said 'all I intended to do was show love'.💝

It's hard not to let anger take root in the unfairness-es of life...

but God IS love. 

He IS good!

Psalm 145:8-9

 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

 The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.

 

Let's trade our anger in for humble prayer

for a heart of forgiveness and love!

I turned to Psalm 37 yesterday for comfort and encouragement

It begins like this...

Do not fret because of evildoers,...

We are not equipped to stand up for what we believe

until we get down on our knees! 

How can we show love in a world where fear’s dark fathoms roll

With woe and pain, anxiety, chaos out of control

Mountains can seem so hard and high, but we are called to climb

And suffer the strain of its struggle one step at a time

How can we show love in a world where doubt and mistrust mars

The heart where hope should spring immortal, instead of hate’s scars

How can we hold a hand when Covid keeps touch beyond reach

Or comfort one another in death’s losses, dark and deep

How can we show love in a world of love misunderstood

Because broken humanity has not loved like we should

This place where racial prejudice makes people vile of heart

Makes we who want to show love, wonder how to do our part

How can we show love in a world where opinion takes charge

The Word of God rejected/neglected by the masses, by and large

How can we gain wisdom to know how to love without fail

On an ocean of ships tossed to and fro without a sail

How can we show love and not take offense when ‘they’ oppose

When we are crowned with thorns while scorn tramples love’s perfect rose

When evil seems to triumph and the world screams ‘where is God’

When answers are inept when instead of a kiss, a rod

How can we show love in a world that needs it desperately?

We start by looking through lenses of true humility

We start by seeking God to guide, for we are called to climb

One smile, kind word, one retort withheld, one prayer at a time

One heart that trusts the One who battled in Gethsemane

Surrendering His will to Love’s Supreme Authority

One life committed to the call no matter what the price

Where the greatest Command of all begins with sacrifice

© Janet Martin

The Young and The Old

 Last month I wrote this poem 

Of Chapters Closed as I contemplated the impact of

The Changing of the Guard next door

(aka new owners of the farm next door)...as young farmers kicked up

the dust of planting crops and dreams.

It officially changes hands on June 1st

...now, just to clarify for my own peace of mind;

the farmer that is retiring is by NO means old!!

(he is the in the age-bracket of hubby and I😀)

He is just ready to hand over the reins to younger drivers...

(H-m-m! I wonder which one is the bride-to-be...scouting out their dream-home💓)

The young have the ambition that within the old has waned

The old have gathered wisdom that the young have not yet gained

The young have dreams enough to withstand work, grueling and hard

The old have borne Time’s sleight of hand and changing of the guard

The young are young enough to feel that Time is on their side

The old have been old long enough to know how swift its stride

Then thank God for the young where fire burns within their veins

And thank God for the old, willing to hand over the reins

The old train and equip the young, knowing what Time will do

…how soon the younger will become the older, yes, it’s true

For what once seemed remote and something other people bear

Has run its course across their skin, its fingers through their hair

The young have what it takes to make the old loosen their grip

The old have what it takes to make the young tighten the ship

The young have hopes not hampered by energy's empty jars

The old have sense enough not to throw water at the stars

© Janet Martin

So...
This week-end is bittersweet; though we look forward to meeting our new neighbours,
we sure will miss the old!
 our life-long farmer-neighbours are moving/retiring!
 Couldn't have asked for better neighbours,
always so kind, generous and helpful
and we certainly wish them the best yet to come!

Heart and Goal

A calm hour with God is worth

a whole lifetime with man.

-Robert Murray McCheyne- 

What goal fires our purpose?

Is it temporal or eternal?

 1 Peter 1:24
For, "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field;

 the grass withers and the flowers fall,

So much seeks our full attention

Weak or strong are not immune

To the ethereal dimension

Of the dreamer’s private room

Where no mortal master governs

What no guard can chaperone

In thought’s invisible caverns

Where the heart becomes a throne

…where the one who reigns upon it

Breaks through flesh and blood façade

By the way we weigh life’s moments

Serving either Self or God

By the object of our wonder

By the comforts that console

Where each moment draws asunder

The gap between Heart and Goal

© Janet Martin