Monday, February 15, 2021

Poem-Tango



This beginning of February, due to a lot of sorrow 
a lot of friends are suffering I just wasn't in the heart-space 
for the annual splurge of 
pre-Valentine's Day love-poetry 
although I have been thinking a lot about love lately 
and will continue to ponder it in poetry 
as The Poem-Provider persuades.
Will you join me in praying for healing and restoration 
for the sorrowing and broken!
It's so hard to know how to be there during covid-restrictions 
when you just want to give someone a hug!



Thank-you to all of you who stop by this page-stage
and grant me the privilege of a poem-dance.
I love you, dear friends, near or far💕

What luxury to lavish you with lines of poetry 
To move your heart in sync with mine, across thought’s ballroom floor 
Or kiss you with the lyrics of romantic chivalry 
Where we are at the mercy of love’s Timeless Troubadour 

What privilege to orchestrate iambic cadency 
And sashay to the tempo of instinctive twist and bend 
To glide with you as one across a page of poetry 
And find within ink-intimacy, the love of a friend 

What honour to be asked to dance with somebody like you 
Forgive me when I stumble or forget to pirouette 
Sometimes without fair warning the rhythms of love run blue 
And all I can remember is a heart-shaped silhouette 


© Janet Martin 


1 Thess.3:12

May the Lord make your love increase and 
overflow for each other and for everyone else,... 

Remembering What's Important


I've come to the conclusion
that happiness
 seldom fits like a glove
That clutter 
is the tinsel of
Live, 
Laugh, 
Love
💗

Some tinsel-tatters of the weekend...

(Victoria's hand-painted valentines)

 
Melissa's  sketch-table

Furniture rearranged for comfort, not style!


traces of Grand-daughter's visist


Sunday was a wonderful day for a winter walk...





...and sometimes instead of the futility of scolding about pet peeves we just 
let. it. be...😍




Today in Ontario, Canada we are celebrating Family Day!
Cherish.

Jim and many others do not have a holiday today.
Thank-you snowplow-drivers, truck-drivers, healthcare workers etc.!


Here's to remembering what matters and letting go of what doesn't!
Who knows what a day may bring?!

Rememb’ring what’s important 
Hand to hold, a hug 
Thinking more of others 
As we learn to love 

Remembering what matters 
(put that phone away) 
While the young child chatters 
While he wants to play 

Remembering to let go 
Of the bitter grudge 
Lest its malice poisons 
All we taste and touch 

Remembering the merit 
Of love’s chast’ning rod 
Knowing we can bear it 
If we yield to God 

Remembering to cherish 
What we have and hold 
Soon yon echo-chariots 
Refine gray to gold

Rememb'ring to be reckless
With kind word and kiss
Priming time's momentous
Metamorphosis

Remembering the treadle
 Making memories
From the common mettle
Of moments like these
 
Remembering what matters 
Never mind the mess 
With its homespun tatters 
We weave happiness 

© Janet Martin 

A few more mementos



And on the golf-front
Jordan Spieth and Spieth-fans hopes soared
and fell with the ball!
Better, but not Best.


Best goes to Daniel Berger!
What an impressive eagle putt on the 18th for the well-deserved win!


Dear family, church-family, friends, neighbours, and blog-visitors...

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, 
remembering you in my prayers.
Eph.1:16


Sunday, February 14, 2021

Let Love Be...

 

Happy One of 365 Days in a year to celebrate love!

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
  36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God 
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
  38This is the first and great commandment. 
39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
  40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”





Let love be our compass, it’s steering is true 
Let love be the drive in all we say and do 
Let love be our Master; then we will endure 
Let love be the servant of Duty so pure 

Let love be a flower that blooms all year long 
Let love be the author of our heart’s song 
Let love be our anchor, in duels of desire 
Let love be the tinder that fuels its fire 

Let love be the wish that turns into command 
Let love be the force that no foe can withstand 
Let love be the Beauty time cannot annul 
Let love be the joy that keeps our hope-full 

Let love be God’s whisper that He will provide 
Lot love be our Mainstay, whatever betide 
Let love be the answer to every why 
Let love be a wellspring that never runs dry 

Let love be the Greatest Command we revere
Let love be devotion's ocean of glad cheer
Let love's first-hand grace, scarred with Hard Agony
Help us find our third place with humility

Let love be the wonder that wakens the soul 
Let love be our comfort when doubt’s dark waves roll 
Let love be the picker-upper when we fall 
Let love be our Greatest Achievement of all 

© Janet Martin 

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Let's Not Keep Love A Secret



The worst secret to keep
is our struggles in love!
'Because love is the fight of all fights, all right'!!
And its success depends on you and me
 has hit closer to home in the past year than ever before
Making me wonder perhaps if we should be better acquainted

Photo below taken a year ago when life was still 'normal'

(this would be our annual getaway weekend)

I will be the first to admit I/Jim and I could plaster a massive wall with mistakes made,
and mementos of 'failure' BUT we commit to never quit forgiving each other
to keep our marriage vows and remain faithful to the finish!

Maybe all women should be asking this poem of our Lifelong-Love-to-be



Love flows like fire in a pen 
It tugs heartstrings with mute amen 
Where farewell often steals the show 
And love must learn how to let go 
While ever honing the fine art 
Of keeping motive pure in heart 

Love is more than ‘my happiness’ 
Or a costume worn to impress 
Love suffers much and bears in mind 
That to be strong love must be kind 
It does not harbour for itself 
Some idol on a secret shelf 

Love is a weapon and a shield 
A mountain and an open field 
It weathers, tethers and equips 
With iron will, and gentle lips 
And in its sacred ties that bind 
We leave words like ‘my, me’ behind 

Love intertwines with its cohort 
For love is not a solo-sport 
But cleaves to its betrothed ally 
To keep vigil with watchful eye 
For when love lets its guard grow lax 
It invites enemy attacks 

Love seems to be the favoured prey 
Of dreams and lies and cunning sway 
Then our greatest goal should be 
To protect it ferociously 
And defend love’s holy ought 
Lest we fail it, for love does not 

Love is far more than meets the gaze 
Of those who wonder at its ways 
Love is a front-line, prayer-immersed 
The aftermath of ‘others first’ 
It does not covet, does not steal 
It does not trust the dust of ‘feel’ 

Love is a God-begotten tryst 
Without Him, love does not exist 
For God is love, in Him we trust 
All else is hate’s accomplice; lust 
And whether we believe or not 
All who have loved have witnessed God 

Love never fails; lust desecrates 
What havoc Selfish Yes creates 
When it is seduced by the lies 
That masquerade as love’s disguise 
Behooving us to reassess 
Who and what brings True Happiness 

Darling, let’s commit to the fight 
For This is what love is, all right 
White knuckled grit to hold on so 
While we submit to letting go
Of all that does not benefit 
Love’s long and short and whole of it 

Love has no trophy wall or shelf 
It never succeeds by itself 
But exceeds all else, above all 
Though its accolades may seem small 
When weighed with the success Fame hails 
Where love commits, love never fails 

Love, let it be our sole/soul intent 
Let it be the humble cement 
That binds the mason-work of days 
With devoted, trustworthy ways 
So that when death our last breath drains 
The legacy of love remains 

© Janet Martin 

In this community, recently Death has drained so many, suddenly
of Last Breath, leaving behind Love/life's permanent legacy
which is why, in these very troubled times
 I am choosing this simple song by Don Williams to remind us
of what really matters!






Friday, February 12, 2021

Betrayal; The Chief of Grief

This week-end many will celebrate love on Valentine's Day.
I am so thankful for all the faithful love in my life
but this year I feel an unutterable sorrow for so much brokenness!💔

And while the word Betrayal renews reverence for the word Faithful 
it also leaves us grief-stricken with a sometimes-feels-helpless heartache, 
to witness the ruins of shattered lives!

Is there any hurt more bitter and brutal than betrayal; When trust is broken?! 
When spouses, friends, preachers, teachers, apologists, priests 
betray those who trusted their love, 
their counsel, their ‘wisdom’, their vows, their office. 

One of Jesus’ twelve disciples betrayed Him, (with a kiss!
Surely there is a sorrow more bitter than death! 
That of betrayal! 


When trust is shattered, love besot, 
When what we thought was so, is not 
When lie and liar are unveiled 
When it seems, alas, love has failed 
God, who, still trustworthy and true 
Abides, resides, provides; He knows 
The pain of thorns that pierced the Rose 
He wept, while his beloved slept 
Betrayed by a friend’s kiss, no less
He reaches down with hands nail-scarred
He understands; his brow thorn-marred
Who plumbed the depths of pain and grief 
In suffering, ah, He is Chief 
So then, whatever bitter lot 
We can trust Him, no matter what 

© Janet Martin 


Heb.4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. 
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes 
of him to whom we must give account.

So we pray and pray for the broken, the betrayed, 
and the betrayer, just as Jesus, Son of God though He was, did. 

Heb.5:7-9
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions 
with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, 
and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
 8Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered
 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation 
for all who obey him...



Changeless Chancellor...



Dawn broke gray today,

rather than the spectacular radiance we raved over, morning


after morning,


after morning,


this week!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, 
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 
who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

He does not change, like shadows shift
Who grants each good and perfect gift...




He does not change like shadows shift 
Who grants each good and perfect gift 
His grace sufficient day by day 
Whether windows frame gold or gray 
From founts that refine faith with test 
He counts us worthy of His best 

He does not change, while all else does 
HE IS, while This soon turns to Was 
Then pray that awe and love commence 
To adjure meek obedience 
Lest we confuse the order of 
Desire’s Want with Perfect Love 

He does not change; His Word transcends 
The leap of faith that time extends 
Where surely the Love we embrace 
Behooves recipients of grace 
To consider with reverence 
Our duty of obedience 

He does not change; where you and me 
Bear great response-ability 
As seasons pass and shadows shift 
But not the Giver of the gift 
Who charges mankind with the call 
To love Him, Lord God, most of all 

Forbid we settle for far less 
Citing reasons like ‘happiness’ 
Brushing off sin like flecks of dust 
Winking at God, worthy of trust 
Because He does not change or shift 
As love pours out gift upon gift 

© Janet Martin

For the obedient and faithful a great day is coming!


Rev.19:1-9

After these things I [a]heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to [b]the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both[c] small and great!”

6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the[d] Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Ravished, Raptured, Dazzled...

Another stunner!!







How much more wonder we are lavished with
than we ever deserve!
Thank-you, Lord!

After taking these photos I took the truck to the mechanic just up the road
and walked a long, loveliest way home!









Ravished and raptured by sun up and down 
Lavished with laughter at nature’s renown 
Wonderstruck by weightless shadows, blue-bent 
Dazzled by diamonds that don’t cost a cent 
Wooed by a woodland begging to be trekked 
Stunned by its branches and bloom-hulls, star-flecked 
Awed by God’s goodness that reckons no bounds 
Resolute mercy beckons and confounds 
Ravishing, rapturing, lavishing oh 
Dazzling and wooing and stunning us so 

© Janet Martin 

I had just returned home, brewed a fresh pot of coffee
when the door was flung open
and 'what to my wondering eyes should appear
but my darling daughter and two grandchildren dear!'


With camera still in hand I said wait and let me get a picture,
because, in spite of all the beauty I've seen so far today,
this tops it all!
Needless to say, my heart over-floweth with wonder and gratitude!


Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof, 
the world and all who dwell therein.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Each Divinely Different...

Psalm 113:3

From the rising of the sun to its going down 
The LORD’s name is to be praised.






Each divinely different; 
Heaven’s claim to fame 
Flows for all to witness 
He who stays the Same 
Spilling ether pigment 
To refreshed façade 
Filling frameless fathoms 
With Glimpses of God

Each divinely different
Time will never drain 
Master-pieced arrangements
Man cannot attain
Kindling adoration
With pure majesty
Author of creation
Awes humanity

© Janet Martin

I enjoy posting these for those who do not have access to
eastward horizons and sunrises.
Where we live we cannot see the western skyline so I am thankful to take full
advantage of the east!