Let the love of Christ tru-
The heart to give thanks
With rapturous praise
To Great God who grants
Mercy all our days
So, let His peace rule
And let His word dwell
And let His love tru-
-ly, completely compel…
© Janet Martin
Monday, February 8, 2021
All Right...
Into Your hands we place today
For all we cannot see
Is already on full display
Before Your Sovereignty
Where all we do not understand
And all we cannot know
Are safe when placed into the Hand
Through which all moments flow
Then help us brave the soul’s release
Of yielding utterly
For Thou wilt keep in perfect peace
The heart that trusts in Thee
© Janet Martin
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee:
because he trusteth in thee.
Isa.26:3
What waits to be
we cannot see
(save One) it is enough
to know that He
Beholds you, me
With everlasting love
The only way
to begin well each day
is to pray...
Charlie Pride
I will pray with my spirit,
but I will also pray with my mind.
I will sing with my spirit,
but I will also sing with my mind.
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Time Is a Bird of Prey
It floods the earth with seasons rich with Beauty's boundless cast...
And the greatest beauty of all;
He loves us with an everlasting love.
Jer.31:3
and He tells us to look at the birds...
(which all bird watchers and feeders in Canada have no problem doing these days,
the feeders an absolute feather-flurry these cold, snowy mid-winter days!!)
as the shadow of a Bird of prey floats across the snow...
(Unlike Time, from which no one can hide😉)
Time leaves its mark on faces, places, wisdom’s crowning snows
It tumbles from God’s grace, like a river that stilly flows
It floods the earth with seasons rich with Beauty’s boundless cast
And stitch by stich unravels future while weaving the past
Time does not change its ways though best known for the change it brings
Where nothing stays the same for long on its gossamer wings
It is a dauntless teacher, leaving no student unsought
The foolish scorn its lecture but the wise are humbly taught
Time stuns we, all first-timers in its only one-go-round
Where deftly/definitely getting older is our very common ground
As we weather and shoulder, by the grace of God above
The feather and the boulder of His everlasting love
Time is a bird of prey devouring each day with ease
To scatter in its wake the warring ache of memories
As it flies faster, faster, so it seems, yet tick and tock
Have never deviated from its elemental clock
Time is a buffet table laden with morsels of choice
And although much is taken much remains to give Thought voice
Where Choice speaks far more plainly than man's vain verbosity
And tethers the selection to accountability
Time is a gift; the Giver knows the number of our days
How far the river flows before it empties into graves
Where only the immortal soul transcends the mortal shell
Thus, time takes a most sacred toll and we should heed it well
© Janet Martin
note; as I was posting this a sparrow-hawk sailed in out of nowhere and snagged a bitty bird😢
It's a 'bird eat bird world out there', so watch out for the hawks!
Friday, February 5, 2021
No Score-keeping In Love (because love is not a sport)
Love...never fails.
1 Cor.13.8
When we keep score, nobody wins
The more we measure that for this
The more we miss of hug and kiss
And the sweet bliss of ‘love-you’ grins
When we keep score, we leave behind
Words like goodness, mercy and love
Better to count more than enough
Reasons to be thankfully kind
When we keep score, how we lose out
On wondrous would-be happiness
And life’s most valuable success
Of what true love is all about
© Janet Martin
A Wild Winter Morning Poem
This morning the world is wild and wooly!!
Today dawn does not slip her feet into slippers, soft-misted gold
She roars across the eastern ridge and shakes a snowflake-frenzied wold
And bids us bundle up to brave her biting notoriety
Or keep home-sweet-home fires stoked, and kettles readied to pour tea
This morning mettle meets with might of swirling, seething, white-star storm
It seems the east released a wild beast of fury in finest form
She seizes tree-tops, eaves and sashes, shaking earth with howling rage
While blazing trails of sweet nostalgia through the smiles/isles of middle-age
Gone is the crystal gallery showcasing Jack Frost’s feather-strokes
Where we all stood agog and gazed with amazed hearts caught in our throats
Now parkas, mitts, scarves, hats and boots put on their puffy fashion-show
As bundled ‘models’ trundle, shovel, forge their way through drifts of snow
Good Morning, Old Man Winter, making your boreal presence known
As cold and cozy duel in a boxing ring of skin and bone
As we become more thankful for the four walls, we call home sweet home
And cherish joys like buttered toast, a cup of tea, a winter poem
© Janet Martin
Is it tomorrow now? asked little Girl
Yes! I said. It is yesterday's tomorrow!
Yesterday seemed to her to be full of promises of what is happening 'tomorrow'.
such as, on Friday we always have a popcorn party,
and today is extra special because if the weather allows two little girls
soon joining the childcare routine, are coming for a visit!
As much as we are able let us remember to be glad and rejoice
in this day the Lord has made.
Ps.118:24
Thursday, February 4, 2021
While The Rest of Heaven Waits...
Good Evening!
It's been a busy day starting with a most stunning sunrise and sparkle-world...
When the
world is washed with sparkles
And the
morn is like a cloak
Softly
draped in misty purple
Over hemlock,
birch and oak
We feel
like a bit of heaven
Somehow
spilled through pearly gates
Making life
so worth the livin’
While the rest of Heaven waits
© Janet Martin
...and ending with my very first attempt at
It was a hit!
My version was loosely based on the above link;
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Of Ribbons and Veils, or Of Rivers and Vales
The reason I enjoy photographing January sunrises so much is because the sun comes up
straight out from our property at the end of a pristine sweep of snow-covered fields.
Now, in February it has shifted past this perfect vantage-point!
A ribbon rises from the east like a river of gold
And spreads before our eyes a feast of wonder to behold
Dawn’s river overflows its banks as heaven’s high seas brim
The Giver fills hope’s cup with thanks as we lift it to Him
The shoreline of the earth is etched upon yon thoroughfare
The spectrum of day’s birth is stretched and fanned upon the air
Where from the depths of grace unfurled His mercy makes amends
As from the breadth of groaning worlds incense of prayer ascends
The earth and its fulness thereof belongs to God, not man
His truth is not a fickle glove we tickle with our plan
Where, just as plainly as the dawn is set on eastward scrim
We, as dust’s veil of days is drawn will surely behold Him
The ribbon soon runs ragged on life’s jagged edge of death
The veil that hides Jehovah’s face is thinning with each breath
Dawn’s river that is pouring morn to morn from sea to sea
Is but the vapour mooring on shores of eternity
© Janet Martin
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
There is so much trouble in those old world!
But
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Because Of The Lord's Mercies...(You and I were Not Aborted)
When we think of the millions and millions of unborn babies
killed and sucked from what should be their safest haven; their mother's womb SURELY,
"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not all consumed, why?
because his compassions fail not..."
Because of the Lord's mercies every single one of us was conceived in a womb
where our mothers chose life!
Have we prayed, spoken out in the defense of the unborn?!
How are we helping our most helpless?!!
Here is the link to the video that partly inspired this poem
Because of His mercies our breath is stolen by wonder,
hearts leap with joy and break with love,
We get to choose...what we want to eat for breakfast,
what we will wear, what we say;
'Look at the gorgeous sunrise,
Wow, you like nice today!'
Because of the Lord mercies here I am and here are you...
Man may take life but only God gives it!
What an awesome charge and privilege then, this life is;
What an account we will owe.
Because of our Good Lord’s kind mercies, we are not consumed
Because his compassions fail not, faith is not void or doomed
Because his promises are sure, enduring to the end
We have above all else a true and everlasting friend
Because of His kind mercies flowers bloom and morning breaks
Each winter wends its weathered way to summer’s sparkling lakes
Babies still make us meek and kinder, puppies make us grin
And Hope is like a sky wide window letting sunlight in
And love, though scarred with life’s hard knocks and rocks flung from word-gates
Still suffers long and returns good though hate retaliates
And we wake up with strength renewed according to His will
And though we do not always thank Him He blesses us still
And does not hold against all the judgements we deserve
Because of His compassion grace extends Time’s vim and verve
And composes a hymn of praise from stones when we do not
The brook still brims with babble-song by nature’s Maestro taught
And little lambs still leap in spring and longing still inspires
A little girl with her grandma still kindles joy’s home-fires
A book-nook and a cup of tea, a young lad with his dad
Are mementos of His mercy that make us humbly glad
Because His compassions fail not; they are new every morn
We might have second bites of bread and butter for our corn
We might have friends drop by or be the friend that says ‘hello’
And be blessed with dear Holds we find quite painful to let go
Where seasons leave their footprints in the garden of the heart
And wonder weaves a tapestry from God’s master-pieced art
Where sorrow is not without joy, because of Mercy’s Stay
And morrow is not without hope, for Mercy leads the way
Because of our Good Lord’s kind mercies, we are not consumed
But without faith in He who IS our little life is doomed
Because His promises are sure, His compassion is just
He holds ajar Salvation’s door and beckons us to trust
© Janet Martin
So, so much brokenness, the result of sin:
where we have not heeded the whole duty of man...
Eccles.12:13
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you,
and so that your days may be prolonged.
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