Because Time Flies...

This week I added two tots and an extra day to the childcare routine.

...as I repeat the weathered words-

Where did this last year go?!!

A year ago one of these tots was born,

then blink! 

she is one! and mom is back to work!

The wings that bear away the day 

Flash silver in the sun 

We from our heaps of frazzled fray 

And battles to be won 

Behold the Bird the draws the dawn 

From some far-phantom nest 

Ere dusk across the air is drawn 

And feathers fold in rest 

Where soon the fledgling, wild with youth 

Will join the gaping clan 

That wonders at the ageless truth 

Of fleeting days of man 

As Time’s momentous bird of prey 

Startles us with its wings 

And keens us to the changeless way 

Of ever-changing things 

We, tethered to Time’s old surprise 

Surge with the awe-struck throng 

Aboard the barge of  'how time flies’ 

That draws life’s charge along 

And teaches us to treasure more 

The moments as they come 

Because Time flies toward a door 

Not one will return from 

© Janet Martin 

Psalm 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, 

and my lifetime as nothing before You. 

Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. 

Selah

Beauty-calls

Sometimes Jim just shakes his head when I say,

'Gotta go! Beauty calls!'😊

Ecclesiastes 3:11 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

He has also set eternity in the human heart; 

yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Beauty calls, thus task will wait 

Before the sun falls past the gate 

And tucks the twinkle of today 

Its mementos of fleeting fray 

Into The Land of Far Away 

Beauty calls and bids us pause 

To marvel at its gifts because 

So much of life is harsh and hard 

So much of love is sorrow-scarred 

So much of laughter is tear-starred 

Beauty calls; we should reply 

So small beneath the big old sky 

But tall enough and not too old 

To balk at Duty’s rigid hold 

Beauty’s sheer wonders to behold 

With eyes to see and ears to hear 

And mouths to speak a word of cheer 

It dawns upon us wondrously 

We have the wherewithal to be 

Part of the call and the beauty 

© Janet Martin 

What Is the Purpose of a Poem?

A poem leaps, lilts, swirls and sings 

Syllabic waterfall

 

A poem may not change the world 

But it can cheer the heart 

A eureka of joy unfurled 

Where secret sorrows smart 

A poem is a butterfly 

Perched on spring’s budded hold 

From a cocoon of winter-sky 

Hope’s welkin wings unfold 

A poem is a gift composed 

Of ink-wrought counterpanes 

Where words weave wonders juxtaposed 

With troubles aches and strains 

A poem probes beneath Façade 

To tug at tender strings 

That keep the soul attuned to God 

Amidst a mess of Things 

A poem leaps, lilts, swirls and sings 

Syllabic waterfall 

It tumbles from ten-thousand springs 

In metered madrigal 

A poem paints its scenery 

With ordinary jot 

While spilling an art gallery 

To theaters of thought 

Ah, here a darling daisy beams 

And there a meadow-brook 

Its bank, a haven for daydreams 

A fishing pole, a book 

A poem unveils city-streets

Upon a parchment tray 

It teases sound of hurried feet

To paper-work-a-day  

A poem is the salt sea-air 

Where farewells sweep and surge 

And Poem is a tender prayer 

As seasons ebb and merge 

A poem is Beauty at large 

An earnest work of praise 

God, guide those who shoulder the charge 

Of unearthing its phrase 

...because a poem is far more

Than fickle fits of rhyme

A poem keens us to a Door

That ushers us from Time

© Janet Martin

Eternal Wonder

 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, 

a worker who does not need to be ashamed, 

rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Tim.2:15

Thy Word-Amy Grant

Keep God’s Word in your heart 

It is His hand held out 

To hold the shield that thwarts the darts 

Of fear and hate and doubt 

In God’s Word fix your trust 

While dark doom’s billows roll 

Faith keeps steadfast the bark of dust 

That harbours deathless soul 

Cling to the Word of God 

When storms of life assail 

It is the only staff and rod 

Of hope that will not fail 

God's word wakens within

The wonder of His love

And how to guard the heart from sin

That plagues this mortal glove

God’s Word is sure and true 

Heaven to earth’s embrace 

His grace the arms that draw us to 

Behold him face to face 

© Janet Martin

Heaven and earth will pass away, 

but My words will by no means pass away.

Matt.24:35

To the pure, all things are pure, 

but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, 

nothing is pure. 

In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 

16They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. 

They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Titus 1:15-16

Season of Lion and Lamb

 Back and forth the lion paced and raged on Mar.1

Pausing at times to gather his breath...

...only to return with renewed fury!!

and then finally! nothing quite sings hallelujah like headlights turning in the driveway

seeming to say hello, we made it home!!

March opened the door with a lion's roar

But we are not too glum

Because we know March is a door

To meadows yet to come

...then came March 2nd..FRIGID but friendly!

Brusque but beautiful!

Dawn

Dusk

To everything there is a season, 

A time for every purpose under heaven:

Eccles.3:1

Upon a broader meadow now 

The lion roars, the lamb replies 

A song is born beneath a bow 

That runs across snow-tousled skies 

To tumble like a mighty stream 

Through dreams that stir from winter’s sleep 

Where slumber melts beneath the gleam 

Of hope and dusk’s gold-embossed sweep 

That toasts the lion’s noisy sham 

Before the frolic of a lamb 

Earth’s stage is set to whet the duel 

Twixt spring’s advent and winter’s leave 

Now rampant runs the heady fuel 

The sparks both ire and reprieve 

Where morning hoists a pink beach ball 

That Old Man Winter tries to pop 

But cannot scale the polished hall 

The ball rolls up too far to stop 

He throws a tantrum while spring grins 

This is a fight he never wins 

Track records sometimes take a bit 

To prove that some things never change 

In spite of howling hissy-fit 

That spills its sparks to rill and range 

No one can stay the Hand of Time 

Not winter, nay, not even spring 

The belfry from whence seasons chime 

Dangles from an ethereal string 

To set the stage where roars resound 

With meadows where lambs leap and bound 

© Janet Martin 

...and now Mar. 3 waits to make its moments known!

A pretty intro indeed!

Come To Jesus

 Come to Jesus - Chris Rice

One scandal after another after another...

One we are all a part of; Sin

We all need Jesus

for there is no one righteous, no, not one

So when they continued asking him, 

he lifted up himself, and said unto them, 

He that is without sin among you,

let him first cast a stone at her.

John 8:7

Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, 

because He will save His people from their sins."

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else, 

for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind 

by which we must be saved."

Come to Jesus, 

Full forgiveness 

Waits the sinner to immerse 

Come to Jesus 

He releases 

Condemnation’s 

Woeful curse 

What is man 

But bent and broken 

‘neath a debt of guilt and shame 

Come to Jesus 

Mercy frees us 

There is hope in Jesus’ Name 

Come to Jesus 

Heavy-laden 

Come to love that will not fail 

Lay down dread 

And regret’s burden 

Death and hell will not prevail 

Let the rivers 

Of salvation 

In scarlet redemption flow 

There is no more 

Condemnation 

To sinner’s washed white as snow 

Come to Jesus 

He receives us 

Without prejudice and blame 

Come to Jesus 

Trust His promise 

‘to pardon is why He came’ 

Do not let the 

Lies of evil 

Keep you bound by doubt’s dark hour 

This is but 

The blight of Eden 

Seeking who he may devour 

Come to Jesus 

Rock of ages 

Anchoring the storm-tossed Soul

Come to Jesus 

He will save us 

Only faith can make us whole 

© Janet Martin 

Only God/Love

In the Court of Thought

do you sometimes feel like shouting,

'Order in the house, please!'

That's when hopefully

Humble Prayer rises up

and orders Thought

to 'be still and know 

that He is God/love'!

 (Ps.46:10)

What a power-house for good or evil every single one of us

 carries on our shoulders, right?!

Around a table full of people

there is always so much more than

meets the eye...

so much more than

Sunday-night supper at Gramma's House...

Some after-homemade-pizza and carrot cake-reflection/digestion😋😊

As we shed innocence, we all struggle at times with that hidden world of thought!

Here's hoping, nay, here's praying we do not try to order thought's steps on our own!

Thought can be a darksome dungeon wrought with dangers in disguise 

Carving warpaths through assumption with the razor-edge of sighs 

Mercy meets us in the moment if we reach beyond the noose 

That inflicts its guarded torment and that only God/love can loose 

Thought can rage, a cage of demons bent on carnage of good cheer 

Who knows what can brim unbidden, havoc hidden in a tear 

Consequence’s score is settled on a stage none can outsmart 

Only God/love can melt the mettle of a cold and bitter heart 

Thought can threaten course of action it ought not to contemplate 

Only God/love can break the pattern wrought by thoughts of spite and hate 

Lest stones heaped for easy access in a quick slip of the tongue 

Hones a hotbed of responses often rude and rashly flung 

Thought can set a deadly snare and snuff the flame the love would fan

Who can bear for long the brute that shakes its fist at fellowman

Hosting a cruel slew of reasons for vengeance to vindicate

Only God/love is fully qualified to set the record straight

Thought can be a harsh task master, sarcastic, heartless and mean 

Authoring certain disaster without God/love to intervene 

Thought alone can never conquer what thought ought not to resound

Only God/love can overcome the foe that rushes Holy Ground

Thought can rise on wings of worship from the belly of despair 

Turn discouragement to courage as hope’s feathers beat the air 

Not by sudden surge of honor as noble logic gives chase 

But by God/love alone who offers and authors goodness and grace

© Janet Martin 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 

whatsoever things are honest, 

whatsoever things are just, 

whatsoever things are pure, 

whatsoever things are lovely, 

whatsoever things are of good report; 

if there be any virtue, 

and if there be any praise, 

think on these things.

Phil.4:8

For the word of God is living and powerful, 

and sharper than any two-edged sword, 

piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, 

and of joints and marrow, 

and is a discerner of the thoughts 

and intents of the heart.

Heb.4:12

Spring of Sod and Soul (Happy March!)

Okay, in Ontario we are not quite 

at the verses below yet,

but here's hoping, soon! 

See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

 

Just as the warmth of sun can melt cold winter from earth’s slope 

Thus, the kind grace of God can pierce soul’s dark with Light of hope 

And just as spring brings back bud-beauty of the blossomed limb 

So too God replenishes gladness when we trust in Him 

And just as spring whispers deep in the chill of dormant sod 

So too, the heart is reawakened ‘neath the touch of God 

© Janet Martin