The Poet/Poem's Charge

An unexpected day off means unexpected extra-poem time! 

Between more mundane mandates, of course 😀

But writing poetry is far more than easy, breezy rhyme time!!

The poet’s task 

Pours from a flask 

That holds a large 

Charter of Trust 

Thus, if we drink 

This sacred ink 

We bear a charge 

Most serious 

For poetry 

It seems to me 

Is more than mere 

Rhythm and rhyme 

It is the ilk 

Of malt and milk 

Poured through the sphere 

Of thought and time 

…for beck and call 

Of madrigal 

is more than paint 

With verbal laud 

A poem is 

A kind of kiss 

To reacquaint 

The heart with God 

© Janet Martin 

Colossians 3:17 - 

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] 

all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 - 

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 

do all to the glory of God.

Titus 2:7 - 

In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: 

in doctrine [shewing] uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

What The Lord Has Done In Me

love this song and this version!

Then Ships Ahoy And On We Sail...

This sea upon which we set sail 

Where thick of night is a black veil 

Until white, fading stars exhale 

To fill the mast of morn with day... 

Rescue The Perishing

The Stranger of Galilee 

Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy

This sea upon which we set sail 

Where thick of night is a black veil 

Until white, fading stars exhale 

To fill the mast of morn with day 

Is glossed with frost in autumn-tide 

Is tossed with waves of want-fear-pride 

Where drops of moment-measure hide 

What waits to test the vessel’s sway 

This surge of highways, hills and trees 

Composes a landscape of seas 

-ons juxtaposed with jeopardies 

Of treachery, hunger and woe 

But we of the household of faith 

Are not doomed to death's dreaded fate

Christ anchors hope beneath the spate 

Of deadly current’s undertow 

Then ships ahoy and on we sail 

Buoyed by joy that will not fail 

Mercy deploys both calm and gale 

With loving kindness, full and free 

Then to the drifting dory call 

Caution the careless, reckless yawl 

Lest by some sudden 'weather-brawl'

They fall into eternity 

© Janet Martin 

God's Infallible Purpose in Christ

Hebrews 6:13-20

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the [f]immutability of His counsel, [g]confirmed it by an oath, 18that by two [h]immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we [i]might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

How Indeed or How? In Deed

How faithfully his hand bestows

Inside each little bud, a rose...

(early morning childcare means late day poem-post😊)

In spite of the gloomy rain outdoors there was still  lots of sunshine indoors

Sometimes the days that I secretly worry might be a little long and indoor-dullish

turn out to fly by in a flurry of happiness!

And I humbled-ly whisper, 'thank-you God'

How kindly He our need supplies 

He thrills us with constant surprise 

How faithfully his hand bestows 

Inside each little bud, a rose 

How manifold his majesty 

As we behold a fringe of He 

Whose ways and wonderments extend 

Beyond what man can comprehend 

How often He protects and keeps 

While we proceed with flying leaps 

Into a heap of wish and whim 

Without a single thought of Him 

How patient is the One who hears

The tender tenure of our tears

How wise and loving the design

That tests the branches of the Vine

How trustworthy and absolute 

Is He who no one can refute

How holy is the ordinance

That requires obedience

 How never mistaken or late

How ever loving, ever great 

How dare we live and never laud 

Our everlasting Father, God 

How kindly He supplies our need

How we should worship Him indeed

How faithfully his hand bestows

The grace whereby each mortal goes

© Janet Martin 

Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; 

and his truth endureth to all generations.

A Servant's Song/Prayer

NKJV

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, 

let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Matt.16:24

Watching the morning-mist evaporate before my eyes

was a vivid image of this verse

 What is your life? 

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

James 4:14  

Makes us reevaluate our goals and motives,

doesn't it?!

Lord let my life, whatever be 

Lift up a hymn of praise to Thee 

And let my love, through deed and tongue 

Be poured out in a servant’s song 

Lord, let life’s labour be more sweet 

In worship poured through hands and feet 

Lord, let my soul-hunger be fed 

Through sustenance of Living Bread 

Lord, Thou the Potter, I, the clay 

Oh, let me not despise Thy way 

But in whatever doth betide 

Let Thy peace the storm override 

Dear Lord, this is my humble plea 

Let Your Divine Light flow through me 

Let Your love my flawed love refine 

To make my 'light-house' shine, shine, shine

© Janet Martin 

'Do you want to die and face the Lord 

Knowing you didn’t give Him your best?'

from this message below

The Second step: Growth-Dr. Charles Stanley

 

Sovereign Silence

Is it the brooding before dawn?

Is it a missed-kissed bower?

Is this your Sovereign silence 

The brooding before dawn 

A test of faith’s endurance 

A wrestling Angel’s pawn 

Is this the Mount of Horeb 

The place where you reveal 

The power of your Spirit 

To conquer Belial 

Is this Your gentle whisper 

After earthquake and fire 

A Message you deliver 

To temper heart’s desire 

Is this glory’s hiatus 

Of three days in the tomb 

Before the Rock of Ages 

Rolls back the rock of gloom 

Is this a mist-kissed bower 

Hope’s silent suffering 

The bud before the flower 

Is this shadow Your wing 

© Janet Martin 

Still, Still With Thee

(this morning felt bathed in this hymn)

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

He Hideth My Soul

If This Should Be Time's Final Fling

Psalm 62:11-12

One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:

“Power belongs to you, God,

and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;

and, “You reward everyone

according to what they have done.”

Dawn is someone's farewell hymn today!

What if it is you or me?

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written 

in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16

If this should be time’s final fling for you or I today 

If dawn would be a farewell hymn with no more songs to play 

If buttered toast and coffee was our last repast before 

The Soul sets sail through time’s thin veil into Forevermore 

If today one of us would cross that dark and mystic deep 

As you or I were ushered from time’s thrum of wake and sleep 

Are we prepared for God who gives to take it back again 

And seal the pledge that drives a wedge between our soul and skin 

Are we ready to be rewarded for what we have done

To hear what is recorded in a ledger read by One

Where what is written there will prove the God we worshiped here

(yes, we should all contemplate this with reverential fear)

If Opportunity today would grant its final let 

Would what we do and say fit us to leave without regret 

Are we ready to meet the One who knows heart’s yea and nay 

If this should be time’s final fling for you or I today

 

© Janet Martin

Of Gratitude Parades...

Short and sweet is what all time feels like

with those we love...

 

My camera kept dying and my phone camera stinks but you get the idea💓💕😍

picture below; Victoria reading Jack and the Beanstalk

"fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman"

Happy 7th Anniversary, Rob and Emily

I’m thankful for the days that always seem to fade too fast 

Where, when we are together dusk’s shadows seem swiftly cast 

The past is always hungry for the present I have learned 

The eagerness of hours leaves not one moment unturned 

I’m thankful for the memories after a day is spent 

To press soft on my reverie love’s bittersweet lament 

Where we are always hungry for more time with those we love 

And farewell always rushes in before we’ve had enough 

I’m thankful for the blessing of a place to hang our hats 

And call it home sweet home; a place to recharge and relax 

I’m thankful that the heart can hold, long after laughter fades 

The reel that plays its pictures back in gratitude-parades 

© Janet Martin

Nothing Puts Us At Ease Like a Trek Among Trees

 

Nothing puts us at ease like a trek among trees...

 

the woods I was in today wasn't quite as colorful as the one from the other day

so I'm tucking in some of those shots for a pop of colour!

nothing puts us at ease like leaf-canopies...

 

nothing puts us at ease like stature of trees...

....where the hill and the field culled of earth's goodly yield

evokes a most conflicting tide...

Nothing puts us at ease like a trek among trees 

In autumn apparel bedecked 

Nothing satisfies hearts like the ache earth imparts 

As farewell spills in thrills unchecked 

Where the hill and the field culled of seed’s goodly yield 

Evokes a most conflicting tide 

As bitter and sweet with equal force compete 

In autumn’s arid countryside 

Nothing puts us at ease like the fine harmonies 

Of wind-song from wood-calliope 

Where over our heads the lofty lintel sheds 

Fall’s Magnum Opus, note by note 

A kaleidoscope swirling hunger and hope 

Into a heartache-humbled hymn 

As the hierarchy of time’s supremacy 

Beams bold on the red and gold limb 

Nothing puts us at ease like simple luxuries 

We take out of doors to full-taste 

Where the nip in the air grips and makes us aware 

Of preciousness we dare not waste 

Nothing woos and consoles like the anthem that tolls 

From fall’s late-day gold-dappled eaves 

Where change cannot faze or estrange nature’s ways 

Emphasized in soft-falling leaves 

Nothing puts us at ease like the stature of trees

Though they make us feel oh, so small

Nothing puts us at ease like cool sass in the breeze

Rousing a rush of pure fall

Nothing puts us at ease like autumn canopies

In orange-scarlet-yellow tat 

Nothing puts us at ease like a trek among trees

On a crunchy and colorful mat 

© Janet Martin