Aha Moment-um

“We see now how it doesn’t take long to get old” 

Commented Jim as we chatted this morning

 and marveled at the hastier haste of each year. 

From smooth youth to wrinkles

from 'na' to 'aha'

in the ever-present now

time keeps its vow

(this weekend our son is planning on moving out for a few months

so I dug up this song)

Where Does The Time Go?

flashback...

I might not miss Matt's mega-laundry heaps that much but

I will miss cooking for him. 

Jim is gone most weeks and I was always glad for

Matt's working-man appetite to give me an excuse to cook

heartier suppers than we women generally choose.

We see now what those before us, tried to tell us those years before 

We understood how swift the surge of moments washes Decade’s shore 

Where we become more tuned to tides that flow so fluidly through us 

While marveling at how each year seems quicker than the previous 

And now we see how easily we get to where our parents were 

When they tried to impact on us the brevity of here-to-there 

While we were busy being much the way that young people still are 

So sure, that time is on their side and getting old is far, so far 

Aha, aha, we say as we see time its timeless truths unfold 

Where we cannot divert the flux bent on turning young people old 

But bear in mind that to be kind is always age-appropriate 

And we are not at the mercy of time but of He who authors it

We see now how we ought to make the most of each and every age 

Where, no matter how old we are change always strives for center stage 

Thus, keeping us astonished by Time’s polished howdy-do and bow 

As it keeps on delivering the aha, of what we see now 

© Janet Martin 

sometimes it feels as if Jim and I turned old-er like this...

He sends me pictures...

as well as he often calls while rolling down the highway.

He is a much better conversationalist than I, so thanks to him

we communicate a lot in spite of miles between!

Happy New Year!!

Let's not look back too long

Or look ahead too far

For we might miss The Very This

Of right here, where we are!

May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You 

Jim Reeves

 

Numbers 6:24-26

“The Lord bless you

and keep you;

 the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

 the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace.”’

Take Time

Who, at the Hinge of Old Year's end to New Year's start doesn't not contemplate Time?

Farewell, Old Year.

...you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 

What is your life? 

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:14

How will we spend time's coins?

What will we have to show for it;

this mist that appears for a little while,

these days of grass?

1 Peter 1:24-25

For, 

All people are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

25but the word of the Lord endures forever.” c

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Take time; this thing that transports us from cradle to the silent grave 

It wears the cares and noisy fuss of we abreast its teeming wave 

its momentum of moments metes morn’s virgin streets to you and I 

And gathers as it grants, the fetes that compose Past’s collective sigh 

Take time; Soul’s Sacred Rubicon whereon there is no turning back 

Where the first breath sets us upon an all-important, one-way track 

Where present-sprees and centuries are not so very far apart 

And everybody ought to seize what each dawn frees, with awestruck heart 

Take time to contemplate the Gate that waits to swing but once, for all 

Where nothing else can compensate when it comes to the Gospel Call 

And no one can afford to scoff and cater to indifference 

When it comes to the subject of Offering and Deliverance 

Take time to get down on your knees and make peace with the God of grace 

For who knows when this life will cease and we will meet Him face to face 

Where those who believe will receive faith’s glorious inheritance 

But those who rejected God’s pleas, to suffer Choice’s consequence 

Take time; its transitory isle nobody outsmarts or outlives 

Our mist appears a little while then vanishes to He who gives 

And what would be the point of it, but for the opportunity 

Of a lifetime, to inherit what everyone must wait to see 

© Janet Martin 

I heard a minister make the comment that 

if everyone while on earth was given but a glimpse of either Heaven or hell,

hell would be empty; so awesome Heaven, so awful hell

Before this year ends, if you have not done so,

 please do not put off what tomorrow does not promise to give;

opportunity to make your peace with God

and receive the gift of eternal life

as you repent and believe.

John 3:16

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It Is No Secret What God Can Do

(It's powerful to listen to the words of this song as if it is written

for each of us, personally!)

Catch Me If You Can

Away, away, ebbs break of day 

Dawn’s newest nuance flows 

Its height of bloom soon wooed away 

Like petals from a rose 

How soon, how soon the afternoon 

Folds up its gleaming fan 

And fills the shadows with a tune 

Of catch-me-if-you-can 

A-tsk, a-tsk, the brooding dusk 

Is like a clucking hen 

She spreads her wings over her chicks 

And draws them home again 

© Janet Martin 

 

With Fresh Surprise

 

Where green had been,

White stucco sweeps...

...roll out to meet dark denim deeps

Where we, caught on the tides of change 

Gape at what nothing can estrange 

Like moonrise on dusky skies, pinned

Where green had been, white stucco sweeps 

Roll out to meet dark denim deeps 

The resting earth is kissed and tucked 

Beneath the heavens, sparkle-shucked 

Where we, caught on the tides of change 

Gape at what nothing can estrange 

Like moonrise on dusky skies, pinned 

As long and blue shadow-flues thinned 

Until the hand that none can stay 

Brushes the pretty world away 

And we are left peering into 

The cleft that centuries ran through 

Where, for a bit we own the eyes 

That gaze at it with fresh surprise 

© Janet Martin 

Psalm 39:4-6

4“Lord, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
5Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
6Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they [b]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

Height of Perfection

 

There is

a point

in life

when we

become

so

very

small

When we

with

humble

wonderment

at last

are

thank-you

tall

 

© Janet Martin

 

So Soon Strewn Behind

 

This poem 'happened' as I was thinking about my brother-in-law and his wife 

about to hand over the home-farm to their son and wife 

who are excited to become parents soon,

 My brother-in-law will leave the place he has called home all his life,

because he took over the family-farm from his mom (not so very long ago, it seems)

Needless to say, this is a Bittersweet time.

The above photo was taken five years ago at Christmas

as we drove in the laneway,

 knowing doors would be flung open to warmth from the woodstove pouring through,

tables laden with lovingly-prepared favourites, 

and to laughter, so much laughter💗

We had intended to have a final, farewell dinner here this year 

but that didn't happen due to Covid-restrictions.

This wheel-and-deal of daily grind 

This ever forward-flight 

Grants only what we leave behind 

So, hold, but not too tight 

This here-and-now that steals our breath 

With oceanic wave 

Always succumbs to shore-line’s death 

And Bygone’s brimming grave 

The old-farmhouse where once we grew 

And knew love’s finest joys 

Is fondly handed over to 

Tomorrow’s girls and boys 

While we with tear-wreathed fondness gaze 

Across the quickened years 

And wonder at life’s age-old ways 

…how swift time disappears 

For we, in the thick of love’s fight 

Abreast the westward tide 

Often forgot the sacred rite 

That tunes the common stride 

Where moms and dads, not long ago 

Wore winsome threads of youth 

Ah, when did Wisdom’s crown bestow 

The snows of Telling Truth 

How near the yesterday still seems 

When we with star-blind eyes 

Peered through Kaleidoscope of Dreams 

Toward some far-off Prize 

How subtle is the pledge that drives 

Its weightless wedge between 

Hellos always hinged to goodbyes 

What is to what has been 

As we become the meeker ranks 

Of much less understood 

Yet gladder in the humbler thanks 

Of knowing God is good

The measure of a photograph

Though fine and fitly framed

Is always but the aftermath

Of what the Past has claimed

So whether we are young or old

The thing to keep in mind

Is to treasure the moment-gold

That soon is strewn behind

How soft and suave the hours fly

Through living's loving fuss

To fill the framework of a sigh

With memories of Us

© Janet Martin

Psalm 90:12

So teach us to number our days, 

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Some-Things or Some-One To Sing About

Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man, 

but a good word cheers it up.

Isa.50:4

He wakens me morning by morning, 

wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

Eyes to see and ears to hear; 

Mouths, His worthy praise to spill 

Where the headlines broadcast fear 

God’s Word whispers ‘peace be still’ 

Hope to heap the heart with joy 

Faith to trust Invisible 

Love to heal hate’s hurtful ploy 

God who makes it possible 

Season-circuit none can sway 

Seed instilled with harvest-fare 

Morning to brush night away 

God who hears the humble prayer 

Laughter’s medicine to cheer 

Let its sparkles fill the room 

Time is just the way, my dear 

To God, greater than doom’s gloom 

Beauty breathed to common ground 

Duty to bequeath the task 

Countless mercies that abound 

God who knows before we ask 

Tea kettles with home-sweet tune 

Happiness in simple things 

Yellow cello of high noon 

God who holds and tunes its strings 

Courage, not by mortal creed 

But as we confess our sin 

We are given what we need 

By the grace of God within 

A most able Hand to hold 

Though some doubt His wherewithal 

Whether we are young or old 

God so loves us above all 

Longing’s sacred appetite 

Heaven-glimpses framed in pink 

Poetry too grand to write 

As we marvel at God’s ink 

God with each and every one 

To all who believe, hope’s door 

Then, when this small life is done 

We with God forevermore 

© Janet Martin 

Morning Has Broken

Prelude to the Fulfilled Promise

Rom.1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--

his eternal power and divine nature--

have been clearly seen, 

being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

Dusk was a divine blend of mauve, pink and blue...

He flings fragments of grandeur to the frames of earth and sky 

And draws from worship’s wonder the pure homage of ‘oh my’ 

Oh so much that we wished for disappears as we behold 

The beauty from a Troubadour whose art never grows old 

He exceeds expectation without stipulation’s fence 

The Author of elation showcases His evidence 

And extends with His handiwork on sky and land and sea 

An open invitation to Creation’s Gallery 

Ah, who could afford the price of a daily ‘looking fee’ 

If God would change his mind and not awe humankind for free 

If we needed a ticket to see clouds or sun-moon-stars 

Or to feast eyes on the Beauty of earth’s four-season bars 

He manifests his qualities, eternal and divine 

In the wondrous intricacies of Creation’s design 

So that we are without excuse in recognizing He 

Who spills His transcendental proof on sky and land and sea 

We are treated to glimpses of God’s Supreme Majesty 

Ere Heaven stuns the faithful ones with promised wait-and-see 

He tells us these are but the outer fringes of His ways 

The faintest whispers sparking the prelude to endless praise 

© Janet Martin