Prayer for the Real Deal

the song below is a great one to start a new week on!

I ask Lord, to be fitted for life and love’s tasks at hand

To keep motive committed to Mercy’s First in Command

To see the best in people, to be kind, not finding fault

To recognize how blessed we are and the Giver exalt

I ask that we remember we all carry hurts and hopes

That the conclusions we assume can concoct slippery slopes

That in our heart of hearts which you behold we humbly claim

The goodness of your grace, and then grant fellowman the same

I ask for strength; we are all care-carriers, so it seems

And we all need to learn to rearrange our plans and dreams

To reach rather than wait and see what falls into our laps

To lean upon the One who knows the Full of each ‘perhaps’

I ask for true compassion; so much so it changes goals

Because we realize the priceless-ness of living souls

How what we feel is often not the real deal, but the curve

Of love weighed in the balance as we choose whom we will serve

I ask that we do not despair though weighed with what life grants

Remind us You are everywhere, greater than circumstance

And that we make the most of what will never pass again

For thy kingdom, power and glory forever, Amen

© Janet Martin

Psalm 34:14
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

The Great Orchestra of Livelihood

 If COVID-19 has shown us anything it's that we all have a vital part 

to 'play' in the Great Orchestra of Livelihood!

We all need a bit o' bread to eat and a little nest to sleep in!

It struck me as the farmer waved as he rolled by on his tractor,

as the 'mess' behind the house gaped at me as I hung out laundry...

...waiting for the plumber to get the proper permits to proceed

as campers roll by on the first July weekend

as campgrounds depend on patrons

as does every other business,

that we all need each other!

 Surely we are all essential to someone!

Some of my instruments come from the garden today!

Oh, what sweet music medley (aka salads) waits to be made!

Thank-you God (and very hard-working truck-driving husband)

Always like to go to some extra pains pleasure, for Saturday night supper

for Jim after mostly lunch-box menus all week.

Through a mist-kissed colour-flue

Orange-emerald-purple-blue

Pink, magenta, yellow, red

Tolls the quest for daily bread

Rolls the wheels of cars and trucks

All to earn a couple bucks

To address the need, the like

Susie’s braces, Tommy’s trike

Dreams to fill and bills to pay

Banker versus holiday

Some days bad and others good

In the quest of livelihood

Don the duds to fight the fight

All heroes in our own right

Banker, trucker, farmer, nurse

Reap the fruit of Adam’s curse

Picker, painter, poet, ah

All part of its purposed law

Wielder of hammer or trowel

Spatula, shovel, tea-towel

Florist, dentist,baker, cook

Author of best-seller book

Bard and bloke part of the brood

Yoked with quest for livelihood

Seller, buyer, shy or bold

Doctor, lawyer, young or old

Astronaut or engineer

Pilot, pastor, puppeteer

All share in a common quest

Bread to eat and little nest

Garbage collectors and those

Who cut our hair and groom our toes

Who sweep the streets, who drives the cab

Who polices those who would nab

That earned by other’s sweat and blood

All in the quest for livelihood

Meat-packers, mechanics too

All with vital work to do

Caregivers, delivery boys

For our tradesmen, make some noise

Librarians, grocers, oh

By the grace of God we go

Big or small, all a part of

Living’s leap of eat-sleep-love

Then, if you have a bit of bread

Remember to bow your head

And thank God, from man's curse He wooed

The Orchestra of livelihood

© Janet Martin

Mustering a Morning Hymn of Happiness

The lightness in dawn’s tread is felt rather than heard. The lark

Sensing her advent before light seeps through blue velvet dark

Pipes praises from veiled stages to the Maestro of the morn

Where beckoning of newness from the old is brightly borne

Upon the beaten path of Choice God re-extends His grace

He cannot wait to stun us with mercy’s mysterious ways

Then on and upward, darling, from night’s nebulous cocoon

A butterfly unfolds its wings and brushes out the moon

The readiness of reckoning resumes its ardent task

The summoning of summer pours persuasion from its flask

Where hope and hunger clash in a splash of opposing tides

And on its foaming residue a world of wonder rides

…then we cannot resist the urge (if faith in God empowers)

To wade, waist deep into the day and rediscover flowers

To kneel upon dust-tarmac scarred and starred with ‘no’ and ‘yes’

To muster from heartstrings of trust a hymn of happiness

© Janet Martin

 
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of Your strength and proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning. 

For You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

The pics below taken at yester-dusk...

The Way It Goes...

gardening always drives home

the raw reality

of the circle of life...

The way it goes

Each perfect rose

Succumbs to time’s incumbent must

And all that breathes

Surely bequeaths

Its tallied timbre to the dust

Then, toss thy head

But don’t forget

Each lilting leaf will fade and fall

And rise and shine

But keep in mind

The Lord and Master of it all

This circle of

Life’s learn-laugh-love

by strength’s reason might grant four-score

But that last breath

Ushers in death

How utter then, forevermore

© Janet Martin

Psalm 103:14-16

 14 For He Himself knows our frame;
            He is mindful that we are but dust.

      15As for man, his days are like grass;
            As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

      16When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
            And its place acknowledges it no longer.

to stop reading here sounds rather futile, doesn't it?!
THIS is verse 17&18
 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear Him,
            And His righteousness to children’s children,
      18To those who keep His covenant
            And remember His precepts to do them.
...and verse 13?
 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
            So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.