Friday, May 7, 2021

Even If...



'We give relationships our best efforts because we love the Lord.'

...and that's the crucial element; if/because we love the Lord! 
It/He helps us forgive even when it seems it doesn't change anything.
When we put Love/God first it changes everything!
First and foremost, our focus.
Wow!
seemed to speak directly to me,
feeling a little/ a lot guilty at my less than loving response
to someone this morning which set the fur flying
(I won't bore you with all the juicy, dirty details)😁
and while we did sincerely apologize
for losing our 'cool', two people in their mid-fifties
are not miraculously changed just because we say
"I should not have said what I did, I'm sorry, (but)" 
But, by the time we reach our mid-fifties
 we also realize how vital reconciliation is!
(I'm sorry without the 'but'!!)

On this blog I try to keep life and love real!
Love is hard, often hidden work, but
vital work, so worth the effort, 
because it affects so many more people
than just ourselves!

So, by God's grace we forgive
and try again...





So, here's to love, even if...

Even if we feel neglected,
rejected, 
misunderstood
Love is patient
kind and gentle
Not angry,
vengeful
or rude

Even if, when disappointed
by the twists 
and turns
of life
Love protects,
considers others
does not wield
a verbal 
knife (oops!!)

Even if, we feel that our
frustration
is justified
Love requires
meek repentance
of self-serving
stubborn pride

Even if it feels lopsided;
 scales of loving's
give and take
Love respects,
lest we,
misguided, think
Self is love's
highest stake 

Even if we lose our tempers/mercy
Love apologizes,
then
Prays when he/she
pushes our buttons
we learn how to
count to ten
😏😓😊
and try, and try
and try again

Janet Martin~

Love never quits

Love never fails
1 Cor.13:8

Speaking of pushing buttons...

If we were push-button machines
we could 'order-up'
and all would be well
in Love of Self's little world...
but, since we are people
for better or worse
feelings and opinions come into play
and our only saving grace is,
'if we love the Lord'
If we don't then long-term 
happy, healthy relationships
are hard! 

...even if for just a bit
we want to sit and
nurse
'poor me'
Love makes us strong 
enough
to get up
and serve
with humility

Love is patient, 
love is kind...
1 Cor.13:4



Thursday, May 6, 2021

May's Maestro



Perchance, doth art of May entrance
With undulating hues/views...









Perchance, doth art of May entrance
With undulating hues/views
Doth it stir hearts to sing and dance
As earth its garb renews

Doth Blossom’s dainty decoupage
Rouse hallelujah hymns
Played like an orchestral montage
From bud-bedazzled limbs

Doth May ignite awed happiness
As breathless gaze beholds
The evidence of God’s caress
Where emerald tress unfolds

Doth hope feel like it finds it wings
As verdant vibrato
Spills from earth’s trembling springs and strings
In vibrant crescendo

Doth its melody keen delight
As nature’s opus lauds
In symphonies hidden from sight
Until May’s Maestro nods

© Janet Martin

Song of Solomon 4:16
Awake, O north wind; 
and come, thou south; 
blow upon my garden, 
that the spices thereof may flow out. 
Let my beloved come into his garden,
 and eat his pleasant fruits.

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Living the Dream

 

Love; how often it (He) leaves us at
a loss for words, but we try anyway...

Love always...


makes room


for one...


more!


And never seems to find the time or reason to complain
With so much to be thankful for in both sunshine and rain






Love leaves so very little room for gloomy ‘woe is me’
It sets the heart a-bloom with mercy’s gentle sympathy
And never seems to find the time or reason to complain
With so much to be thankful for in both sunshine and rain

Love steps into a world of need and beauty intertwined
To make the most of here and now so swiftly left behind
It forgives flaws because we are all broken from the start
Love sees beyond appearance to the person of the heart

Love always makes room for one more, with warm, welcome embrace
It cherishes the moment as a sacred gift of grace
To employ for the joy and benefit of fellowman
Mindful of its Employer, love gives the best that it can

...and looks forward, not back at facts no wishing can undo
Love focuses not on the 'What' but rather on the 'Who'
So often softly startling us with opportunity
To serve the King of kings with honour and humility

Love makes worthwhile each mile no matter how common they seem
And often smiles to realize, love is living the dream
Because love leaves so very little room to fret and fuss
With so much to be thankful for from He who so loves us

© Janet Martin

 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more 
in knowledge and depth of insight, 
so that you may be able to discern what is best 
and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—
to the glory and praise of God."




Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Cradled...

 

Pease excuse the unartistic flaws of the drawing below
...it vaguely mirrors the image in my mind




Morning murmurs in mist tresses
Tints earth’s eastward fringe, flushed bronze
Draws the darkness from hushed meadows
As the shadows melt, day dawns

Morning metes Time’s maiden voyage
Always today is untried
Into the Unknown, life’s passage
Rolls from morn to eventide

Morning is God’s mercy-token
Great, the faithfulness of He
Who does not leave us forsaken
He knows all we cannot see

Morning, flings ajar barred/starred shutters
Daylight sweeps o’er sea and sod
Unfolding uncharted waters
Cradled in the hands of God

© Janet Martin

Deut.31:6 NIV
Be strong and courageous. 
Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, 
for the Lord your God goes with you; 
he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Isa.43:2 NLT
When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.



Monday, May 3, 2021

Already Breath-taken

 




Already breath-taken
Ere buds fully waken
And silence is broken
By leaf-token’s laud
Already dumbfounded
By beauty unbounded
For we are surrounded
By glimpses of God

Already enchanted
By blooms, still unplanted
And tree-tops half-glistered
In whispers green-gold
Already delighted
By dreams unrequited
Yet we are excited
To watch them unfold

Already forgotten
Winter’s frigid cotton
And battles we fought in
A world, cold and white
Already forgiven
The green side of livin’
Rolls out to blue heavens
In sighs of delight

© Janet Martin







Hooray for May or May Minuet

 For as the earth brings forth its bud...







In Ontario buds are on the brink of bursting into glorious hallelujah...
We watch, already breath-taken by the prelude!

Bright bolts of flower-fabric unfurl with flamboyant flare
Where emerald backdrops emanate from worlds, long bleak and bare
The woodland, draped in olive haze of lacy filigree
Beckons both feathered busker and bumbling humanity

Where mercy’s favor is renewed the farmer plants the field
He labours yet must learn to lean on He who grants the yield
Lord pray, first green will burst with gold and gold with harvest hymn
As earth becomes a fountain where bud and seedling-hope brim

Now garden dreams run rampant like a stream after spring-show’rs
Forgotten are the aches and pains of toil’s back-breaking hours
Where mosaics of morrow’s posies bloom in flawless form
And culinary conceptions take thought’s tastebuds by storm

Wild apple-orchards dapple hillsides in pastel chiffon
Like ballerinas poised to twirl as the music turns on
And we all become boys and girls, in heart if not in skin
As May melts chill winds with romance of sunbeam’s dance and grin

May’s Masterpiece Creator dazzles sweeps of sky and sod
Mankind, the awed spectator strolls art-galleries by God
The wonder-pangs that Beauty both kindles and satisfies
Since time began grants glimpses of a Perfect Paradise

Three cheers for May, a pansy-lilac-hyacinth-hooray
A sit-a-bit and take a quick half-aft-noon holiday
To drink the ink of poetry not snared on pages yet
To watch while earth becomes a stage for nature’s minuet

© Janet Martin

Isa.61:11
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 
to spring forth before all the nations.


(reminds me of sunbeams, breezes, butterflies and blossoms)



Sunday, May 2, 2021

Of Season-Spectrum


Let no one despise you for your youth,
but set the believers an example 
in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Happy 23rd Birthday, Matt!

We love the laughter your sense of humour brings to our home
 as well as your conscientious attitude to life!
Wishing you God's guidance and blessing in the year ahead!


Photo Credit; Brittany Ruppert


The spectrum of a season swiftly sweeps from now to then
The boys and girls of Good Old Days become women and men
The dreamlands of sweet childhood clash with brash reality
As fruit begins to emerge on green branches of the tree

Accountability begins to replace innocence
What was footloose and fancy-free now demands diligence
And where the air once wore the cheers of ‘no more school, hooray’
The student starts to learn that lessons take no holiday

...where shoes too large for little feet to fit, suddenly do
As boys and girls of Good Old Days shoulder life’s ‘Nothing New’
‘Remember your Creator then, in the days of your youth
So that you may be able to discern well what is truth’

Because the spectrum of a seasons soon loses its sheen
Branches become set in their ways, that once were limber-green
And harvest that seemed far off starts to render its return
Where a new age of Innocence waits eagerly, to learn


© Janet Martin


Saturday, May 1, 2021

Word Percolator...(written while the coffee brewed:)

 

We pour water into a coffee percolator and out comes yummy, black coffee
We pour all matter of material into our minds and out come all manner of words!



We set words free yet in a sense we take them with us too
For new words always percolate where former words dripped through
But if used wisely words can change the course of someone’s day (just like a good cup of coffee😋)
And in a sense, a life, as kind words cheer us on our way

Think gently then, for thoughts are always on the verge of speech
Who knows how far the ripple of its spoken touch will reach
To teach, to tear, to build, to break, how swift our words become
A hug, a blow; therefore fill well the fount they will flow from

© Janet Martin

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 
be acceptable in thy sight, 
Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.