Where Fear of God Has Ceased...

We vow that we are smarter now than they were ‘way back when’

Those terrible mistakes they made we will not make again

But then the way it always was, is; history repeats

Because good versus evil never offers easy streets

And as long as the earth remains people will be at odds

And many will be fooled by what Popular Voice applauds

And many, hoping things will not turn out the way they fear

Put faith in something they can see rather than trust/revere

And like a dog returns to its vomit, after the feast

So fools return to folly where the fear of God has ceased

© Janet Martin

 Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returns to its vomit, 

so a fool repeats his folly.

Always Someone...

 ...always someone small who steals the breath of someone tall(-ish)😉

Always someone following somebody in the lead

Always someone harvesting the fruit of fallen seed

Always someone learning what somebody else learned too

Always someone earning what becomes appointed due

Always someone loving while another someone hates

Always someone hurting while another celebrates

Always someone working while a freeloader sits back

Always someone doing more to make up for the slack

Always someone dying and somebody being born

Always some who witness dusk while others greet the morn

Always some who make the best of what seems like the worst

Always someone second because someone else is first

Always someone needing what another has much of

Always someone seeing with opposing points of love

Always someone seeking what another one has found

Always everybody treading Mercy’s holy ground

© Janet Martin

Symptoms of Something Amiss

 The doctor tells us to know our physical bodies,

to be tuned keenly to them so we are aware when something seems off.

Good advice but it got me to thinking we should also be tuned keenly

to the 'spiritual body' aka Undying Soul so we are aware when something seems a little off.

The land in lack of rain is not asymptomatic.

 (a word that's been used a lot recently due to COVID-19)

...and we welcome, like little else, the refreshment of much needed rain!

Symptoms of spiritual drought are just as visible

 though discussed much less than weather!

(BTW, this poem is a self-evaluation exam, not a pointing-fingers-at-you poem

but praying the Holy Spirit will convict all of us of present symptoms

and perhaps our need for spiritual refreshment?!)

Can we truly say with David in Psalm 63:1?

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

Symptoms suggest illness

Help pinpoint the source

Symptoms are the telltale signs

Of something off course

Physical or spiritual

Symptoms usually are

The inklings that implicate

Something not on par

Good to be tuned keenly

To body and soul

Diagnose the point before

It consumes the whole

Fear and faith, keen rivals

Cannot coexist

Symptoms tend to escalate

If left unaddressed 

Good to be tuned closely

To the inner core

Recognizing symptoms

We should not ignore

 

© Janet Martin

The church in this COVID-19 season,

is before the firing squad of differing opinion

like we have never experienced.

Maybe time for each of us to do a serious

spiritual check-up? 

How humble and obedient are we willing to be?

The Dark, Grim, Dire, Holy Waning Hour (of the world)

The hour of the world is dark, so dark, so dark, my Lord

The masses surge in ignorance of truth; Your living Word

They storm the streets and scorn the freedom You died to atone

They worship the Created Thing with hearts of flint and stone

The hour of the world is grim, so grim, so grim and mean

Where those who ‘put their trust in Him’ are far and few between

The Golden Calf at Mount Sinai now fits into a purse

And makes a mockery of all who cater to its curse

The hour of the world is dire, so dire with apathy

Prophecy is unfolding in startling accuracy

Ah, who will stand the test of all the best we’ve ever known

For faithfulness is something that is never once-and-done

The hour of the world is holy, holy, holy, oh

But many, far too many do not think that it is so

Oh Lord, dear Lord come quickly, but no Lord, dear Lord, delay

For there are far too many who have not yet found the way

The hour of the world is waning, waning, waning, then

Lord, You will reign victorious, forevermore, amen

And some will leave behind life’s worst and some will leave its best

And some will be forever cursed and some forever blessed

© Janet Martin

Matt. 25:31-46

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Muse/Prayer Medley

(hoping that wisp of red ribbon in the sunrise means rain!)

July's parade of scorching days has parched the land 

For days we miss

And ways we wish

Some things would change for good

For dawn that spills

Across yon hills

And over field and wood

For bread to break

And head to shake

When we choose not to speak

For hands to hold

And wands of gold

To give our blues a tweak

For much, much woe

And touch to show

The words we cannot find

For doors that fling

O’er shores that ring

With more than daily grind

For beauty’s bliss

And duty’s kiss

And summer’s sunny laud

For thorn and rose

For morn that glows

We trust and thank-you God

© Janet Martin

I shared verse nine of  Psalm 36 a few days ago but

there is so much more before and after...

here is a bit of the before

 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

A photo from last night while I was sitting in the flower-garden waiting for Jim
to call for me to pick him up/aka vehicle sharing:)