Morning Prayer

 

Oh, how I love this season of mist and mellow fruitfulness...John Keats

Lead us Lord, through miles still mantled in the mists of The Unknown 

Grant Thy grace to make us thankful and Thy strength to be our own 

Whet the appetite of longing, not for plunder of this world 

But for riches of a kingdom in eternity unfurled 

Guard us from a fear of people with a rev’rent fear for Thee 

Excuses we make are feeble; fix our eyes on Calvary 

Where there is no condemnation if we repent and believe 

Lead us not into temptation where its promises deceive 

Remind us we are forgiven; not duty, but honour-bound 

As we serve the Lord of heaven and earth from time’s holy ground 

Help us to be kind and humble as we love our fellowman 

Not given to thankless grumbling, help us do the best we can 

In Jesus’ name, 

Amen 

© Janet Martin

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; 

In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

Psalm 5:3

In Jesus Name I Pray- Charlie Pride

The More That We Are Thankful

Today our new neighbour is getting married!

I'm so thankful for the beautiful weather!

Due to drastically reduced guest-attendant numbers, due to Covid-restrictions

we are invited to a drive-through receiving line to give them personal congratulations.

Judging from the smile on his face this morning

the restrictions are not putting a damper on his joy and excitement💓

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 

whose mind is stayed on thee: 

because he trusteth in thee.

Isa.26:3

The more that we are thankful

And count life’s simple joys

The less we become rankled

By discontentment’s ploys

The more that we are thankful

For what God’s goodness grants

The less reason to grumble

About the circumstance

The more that we are thankful

The more we seem to find

To make our goals more humble

And make our souls more kind

The more that we are thankful

The less we fear and fret

As we worship the Giver

And not the things we get

© Janet Martin

(In case you wonder why this sudden poem influx...

I have scads of scribbles I'm trying to decipher/salvage

from pages filled while waiting for our new computer.)

More Than Moments Can Estrange

Just as the constant surge of water shapes the shore

so our words and deeds shape so much more...

Two years ago we were enjoying the stunning scenery of Canada's east coast.

They are now bracing themselves for (or weathering) Hurricane Teddy

Praying for safety and warm, dry places for all to have shelter!

Like waves that wash across the shore 

The impact of exchange 

Twixt man-to-man is always more 

Than moments can estrange 

The tender or the angry glance 

The cruel word, or kind 

Leaves impressions called influence 

Upon the heart and mind 

This wave that rushes and retracts 

By virtue, will impart 

And influence what it impacts 

...the shoreline of the heart 

Therefore, we at the mercy of 

The touch of fellowman 

Should heal, not wound, not hate but love 

By every means we can 

© Janet Martin

Mist-kissed

What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:14

This Thing that wears our patience thin with grace-lent grin and groan 

That hones the character within these skiffs of skin and bone 

That tests the measure of a man and adjusts attitude 

That vexes people’s precious plan with trouble’s interlude 

That breaks the hull of hearts and dreams for love’s incumbent Chief 

And makes us more the same, it seems, because love’s price is grief 

That proves the master of the mind by what we do and say 

Where consequence is never blind to what we sow today 

This Thing that makes us laugh and weep and keep score but to fail 

Where both the bitter and the sweet are poured from Mercy’s Grail 

This Thing fashioned with gifted days time garners into years 

Is but a breath of misted haze that softly disappears 

Until the Giver of its lease through farewell’s ordained Must 

Retrieves once more the Sacred Piece that outlives dust-to-dust 

And ends This Thing that we call life where what seems commonplace 

Will rend this wink of joy and strife to unveil Mercy’s Face 

© Janet Martin 

Declaration of Dependence

 

Lord I Need You- Matt Maher

Without You Lord, no one can sustain absolutes of truth 

Hope is a life-boat low’red in vain if not anchored in You 

And what is joy without assurance of a Better Day 

I need You Lord; Your Word means more than all the world can say 

Your all-surpassing power is my utter confidence 

I carry in my body the hope of deliverance 

Though death may seem to have the final say, it is not true 

The mortal body will decay; the Soul returns to you 

I need you Lord lest fear would crush; perplexity despair 

The persecutor cannot grasp how futile is his dare 

For we who believe receive promises man cannot make 

Where we who are alive are called to die for Jesus’ sake 

How dark the future seems where demons labour to deceive 

Without You dreams are futile fortunes man seeks to achieve 

But through You Mercy hears the prayer that makes man’s hope come true 

Therefore, thankfully I declare my dependence on You 

© Janet Martin 

Much doom and gloom abounds these days but… 

Because we have God’s Word; The Truth 

No demon can devour 

This treasure cupped in jars of clay 

His all-surpassing pow’r 

Hallelujah, 

…for Thine is the kingdom, the power and glory forever and ever, 

Amen 

2 Cor.4:7-12

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

First Day of Fall Mosaic

 

 

Dewy dust drapes dusky sweeps 

Geese-vees perforate yon blue 

Sparser now the cricket cheeps 

Jarring senses with adieu 

Soybean fields unfold mauve mist 

Morning is a frost-kissed barge 

September’s perfect Artist 

Strews masterpieces; no charge 

Longing is a hunter, wild 

September is easy prey 

Vexing, taunting summer’s child 

Torn between ‘let’s roam, let’s stay’ 

Autumn’s advent chills and thrills 

Farewell trembles, bittersweet 

While a fount of petals spills 

Fragrant vagrants at our feet 

Orchard oboes mesmerize 

Apple-dappled rhapsodies 

Steal the sorrow from our sighs 

With annual ecstasies 

Golden rod and gentian 

Wild aster and Sweet Joe Pye 

Flow into roadside gardens 

Like a buffet for the eye 

Like a river none can see 

By a tide of wild wind borne 

Sea-song rushes obscurely 

Through channels of brittle corn 

Ginger-pumpkin-cinnamon 

Warms and seasons comfort foods 

Firesides regain aplomb 

Leaf-lanterns ignite the woods 

© Janet Martin

Sweet Slow-motion (Dis) Ensemble or Small Fall Request

Fall's soft-fluttering tempo before the crescendo

 trembles beneath boundless blue breadth.

But I have a small fall plea...

Don’t gratify us instantly 

But unfold nature’s law 

Of fall’s masterpiece poetry 

In sweet slow-motion awe 

Don’t undo woodlands all at once 

But as branches unfold 

Let breath-stealing wonder ensconce 

Our wants with red and gold 

Don’t rush the beauty of good-bye 

Like a wild pianist 

While overhead geese honk and fly 

And leaf-ballets untwist 

Don’t usher us, with brusque brush-strokes 

Across earth’s cluttered desk 

But tease us as your touch evokes 

Unraveled arabesque 

Don’t drain the beggar’s ballroom yet 

But let the music fade 

Fall's leaf and petal pirouette 

In sweet, slow promenade

© Janet Martin 

The Unforeseen Known by The Unseen One...

The Priority of Prayer

(for mobile devices click web version at the end of the post to see video)

Charles Stanley reminds us often in his messages to

hand the day over to God each morning before our feet touch the floor

in a prayer something like this,

 "Lord, you know what today holds. We don't.

We entrust all our plans, comings and goings to your care'.

What comfort to know when plans go awry 

someone far above you and I is in perfect control!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, no kiddos today...

Plans are always subject to change 

No matter how well laid 

Often, we need to rearrange 

The careful plans we made 

Life is an intermingling of 

Hopes and matters of fact 

Relinquishment, the test of love 

Leaves no heartstring intact 

But if we entrust by God’s grace 

Life’s highway to Love’s Chief 

Then no matter what we may face 

He fills us with His peace 

© Janet Martin 

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, 

spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

James 4:13-15