The Futility of Poetry/Words Alone...

Better to walk than talk it 

For who we serve shines through 

And words will often mock it 

If they spar with what we do 

Better to live love’s token 

Than write them in a song 

Love that is simply spoken 

Is like a clanging gong 

Better to be a sermon 

Rather than just sit by 

For words can weave a poem 

But second miles don’t lie 

Better to serve God wholly 

With kind humility 

For all our boasts are lowly 

Compared to Calvary

Better to guard heart-lockets

Than paint a fine façade 

Better to walk than talk it

And leave the rest to God

Fear God; keep His commandments

This whole duty of man

Speaks louder through obedience

Than any fine speech can

© Janet Martin

Ecles.12:13-14 NKJV

 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter;

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.

Luke 6:45

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, 

and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. 

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Quick Quest-Quiz

 

If God would ask of us today 

To sell all that we own 

To feed the poor, would we obey 

And say, ‘Thy will be done’? 

If God, so rich in mercy bid 

Us to take up our cross 

And follow Him with nothing hid 

Would we count all else loss? 

If God who gave His all for us 

Stripped all away but Him 

Would we confess ‘He is enough’ 

And glorify our King 

© Janet Martin 

 Matt.16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Matthew 10:38
...and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.

Christ in Us

 

The darkness of this world is great 

But never greater than the light 

No matter how cruel the hate 

Love will always exceed its might 

For all the trouble that we see 

Is not too hard for Christ in me 

One cannot win without the One 

Through Whom no challenge is too hard 

This world of sin is doomed, my son 

Therefore, dear soul be on thy guard 

Where the whole of humanity 

Would perish without ‘Christ in me’ 

Be not dismayed when you behold 

These days unfold the prophet’s voice 

How accurate Last Days foretold 

Then be of good cheer and rejoice 

For what no peril can undo 

The hope of Christ in me and you 

© Janet Martin 

...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Col.1:27

Consolation Prize

Thank-you Lord for Your works of art...

  

 
 

Thank-you Lord, for your works of art

You always satisfy the heart

The wonder of Your ways and means

Consoles this breadth of in-betweens

You wow us with Your majesty

In spite of all we cannot see

While Time unfurls trouble’s torment

To a world full of discontent

The forge of faith is full of prayer

The gorge of grace is full of care

Life would be too dreary to bear

Without You; You are everywhere

Lord, Your indescribable worth

Overflows hearts, heaven and earth

Pity the one who cannot see

Beyond visual periphery

...where hate can never overthrow

The love and grace whereby we go

And fear, for all its dread and doom

Can never infiltrate the bloom

© Janet Martin

Palm 92:4-8

For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds;

I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

5How great are Your works, O LORD,

how deep are Your thoughts!

6A senseless man does not know,

and a fool does not understand,

7that though the wicked sprout like grass,

and all evildoers flourish,

they will be forever destroyed.

8But You, O LORD, are exalted forever!

Quest-Mark

In God's Eyes- Willie Nelson

To fault another for our faults is but to prove where true fault lies

To tally secret sacrifices is to forfeit giving’s prize

To give up before we are finished is to fail; try, try again

For we are all still works in progress; no best effort wrought in vain

Life tests the best of good intent to weigh the measure of the man

That wrestles with deep woes and wants that vex the taunts of dream and plan

To fight against all odds takes more than we can muster on our own

Where lesser gods with winks and nods pretend one true God to dethrone

To turn the other cheek is not a response that comes naturally

The one and only way we may is through utter humility

To make the most of what we have is to focus on what remains

Till choice is tendered to the grave and soul will reap its endless gains

We cannot hold a grudge and yet somehow be all that we can be

Enough to let God be the judge; He knows more than the part we see

For he beholds the heart; then let love be our daily enterprise

Lest in the quest of doing good we miss the mark and true love dies

© Janet Martin

Romans 7:21-25

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me,

waging war against the law of my mind 

and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

These Little Ones

Remember the Sears Christmas Wish Book? 

Oh, the excitement/longing that turning those pages would bring to children's hearts?!!

For my grandson the Living Waters Catalogue seems to stir the same kind of response!

Get this!! the day after they got it his best friend came to his house to play; 

(someone he has not seen very much due to the times we re in (COVID-19)

Well, he informed his friend he couldn't play until he was done 'looking at my new maganazine'!

This week he asked a little girl playing at the park

"wanna come to my house? I have a new maganazine' (his way of saying magazine)😂

And this catalogue is stress free! 

no need to worry that they might be exposed to something negative!

It's so important to guard their little hearts

and nourish their minds with upbuilding things!

Train up a child in the way he should go,
[a]And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Prov.22:6

Yesterday...

This morning...

last week...

Sometimes I wonder as I watch you 

Run and laugh and play 

What your pretty, sturdy hearts 

Will dare to dream someday 

 

I wonder what will dash and cheer you 

Comfort or dismay 

Will you trust the Lord to hear you 

When you kneel and pray 

 

What will shape you, hurt you, heal you 

Through days dark or fair 

Will you trust the One wo keeps you 

In His loving care? 

 

Sometimes I wonder as I watch you 

Innocent, carefree 

Watching those who watch and teach you 

Who you’ll grow to be 

 

© Janet Martin 

Sometimes I wonder as I watch you 

Run and laugh and play 

What your pretty, sturdy hearts 

Will dare to dream someday ...