Where Waves of Outrage Roar...Reach Out!

Love suffers long and is kind.
1 Cor.13:4

 

The song below reminds us we all have

the ability and opportunity to do Something!

There is no small Goodness in God's eyes.

Do Something! Matthew West

It is impossible to sit with idle folded hands,
to clench an angry fist
while reaching out...

Reach out; where waves of outrage roar in darkness and despair
Reach out; let Jesus calm the storm through faith's patience and prayer
Reach out; and be the hands of Jesus in a world of strife
To cheer, to dry the mourner’s tears or dress the wounds of life

Reach out, and do not be confused by views, ignorance-blurred
When Jesus was falsely accused, He answered not a word
But stooped to heal the lame, deaf, blind with tender sympathy
Amidst the plots to frame and fault His kind humility

Reach out; each private kindness One who witnesses, records
Without a pedestal or walls that showcase grand awards
Reach out; without the handicap of partiality
And be the hands and feet that Jesus here on earth would be 

 

Reach out; we all want God though many think that they do not

Reach out; where waves of outrage roar in merciless onslaught

And be a glimpse of Him in a depraved and broken world

Reach out and be Love's beautiful banner of grace unfurled

Love suffers long and it is kind in spite of blind rebuff

God keeps his promises and in them we all find Enough

To grant the strength and courage to reach out to one in need

And let the love and mercy of The Giver intercede

© Janet Martin

After a Certain Stage/Age...;-)

 

Far-off gazes are reined in now
Too much joy/care too close to home
Love is like a wide-flung window
With a view second to none

What a war-room of emotions
Time enough unfolds the truth
We no longer flirt with notions
Of another crack at youth

We have learned Life is a lover
That can stab us in the back
And that we all need each other
To make up for what we lack

What a swift, surprising sojourn
Where the ups and downs thus far
From the nucleus of newborn
Shapes us into who we are

…as an air of Deeper Dawning
Keens awareness to Time’s toll
Where we sense the chill of Autumn
In the Summer/Summ'ner of the Soul

And we start to feel the ‘oh my’
As we take ‘Clichés’ to heart
‘Life is short’ ‘time really does fly’
‘Too soon old and too late smart’

…so we stop to smell the roses
Taste the moments as they stream
Rather than pressing our noses
To ‘supposes’ of a dream

 
While we bear love’s full-time labour
More aware of Past’s vast shelves
As we learn to love our neighbour
And think less of Little Selves

Heartache molds a purposed blindness
Hones honest humility
Metes the milk of human kindness
Where harsh judgement used to be

…far-off gazes more reined in now
Too much close at hand to greet
Where Love/life like a stained glass window
Casts reflections bittersweet 

...then pray, we have found Trust's Anchor

In God's kind mercy renewed

Pray the Presence of Love's Author

Fills our hearts with gratitude

 

Gratitude for home-spun wonders

For His kind keeping thus far

For the grace that forgives blunders

While becoming who we are

 

...where Farewell has shed its molding

Origami of hello 

With deft fingers always folding

Holding into letting go

 

© Janet Martin

Well, Well Worth Our While

The Fruit of Labour
is what makes work well worth each wearying While ...

Some fruit of labour comes in due season,
and sometimes we have (Faith has) a long, long row to hoe with no end in sight!

 

Then when the garden starts to bloom it is so well, well worth our while
And when the child begins to yield the fruit of discipline, we smile
And when we humbly count our blessings they always outnumber ills
And make us more committed to the call that only love fulfills


And when the task that seems so great gleams from the realms of retrospect
How well, well worth the while bright-beams the labour we did not neglect
Be of good cheer, sweet suff’ring saint, though weary with love’s Second Mile
For all we offer in His Name is always well, well worth our while


The long-run we are in is always a Short Leap when we compare
Time with eternity; so keep the faith, press on, do not despair
Then when at last we hear ‘well done’ oh, don’t you think that we will smile
And weep with wonder-stricken joy for This, so well, well worth our while

© Janet Martin

 

2 Cor.4:16-18

16 Therefore we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

A Birthday Poem

(birthday girl front left)

Food, (Mrs. Mitchell's) flowers and fellowship.
Can't think of a better way to spend a day with mom and sisters
celebrating Carolyn's birthday (4th sister to turn 50)!

A birthday, what a special gift
From He who grants its rite
While closing in the sacred rift
When faith will turn to sight

A birthday, what a perfect time
To humbly celebrate
God’s mercies that tumble and climb
Over hope’s weathered wait/gate

A birthday to cherish with love
Is a perfect chance too
To thank God for the beauty of
The lovely gift of you


© Janet Martin

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

 coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows

 

James 1:17