On Yesterday's Tomorrow...

This morning, as I made a reference to tomorrow one little girl in my childcare said,

"But today is tomorrow!'

because she was thinking about how yesterday

I told her tomorrow we would do such-and-such again

(like, eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches ...

...and blow more bubbles)

...and laugh!

God’s universal favor grants to all a brand-new day

It sets a beaming backdrop to bud’s stipule applique

Come; yesterday’s tomorrow perches on dawn’s creamy brink

It rises from time’s ashes like a phoenix, molten pink

Mercy’s unfailing promise in generous pardon rolls

From heaven to earth’s gardens, through the berth of hearts and souls

God’s universal favor grants to all a brand-new day

It sets a beaming backdrop to bud’s stipule applique

And refills what was empty when dusk drew death’s silhouette

Where morn runs rife with life and moments none have ransacked yet

Come; yesterday’s tomorrow cannot keep its posture long

Like a bouquet of blossoms, or the last note in a song

It fades; and trades places with what is yesterday today

Till yesterday’s tomorrow turns tomorrow to today

We cannot return to rewind to relive happiness

Today is all we ever have, my dear, no more nor less

To make the most of moments that fall like gossamer rain

A treasure-laden measure that will never pass again

© Janet Martin

Jesus Christ the same yesterday,

 and to day, and for ever.

Heb.13:8

Sometimes I feel like the children chasing bubbles

as I chase hours in a day...

pop! and they disappear!

Sometimes break of new day/today

 feels like a chipping sparrow perched on yon eastward fence

singing its heart out!

The Eloquence of Groans...

Hear my cry, oh God...

God hears our hearts

No fluent art

of speech required where

He intercedes

and heeds the groaning pleas

we utter there

Sometimes we know not

how to pray

where reason cannot reach

when godless verdict

has its say

and horror stuns our speech

But, woe to pride

The One who died

to pay sin’s debt we owed

makes no mistake;

Forbid we shake

a fist at loving God

…who hears our hearts;

Mercy imparts

A kind and listening ear

when our prayer

is but a groan

embodied in a tear

© Janet Martin

Rom.8;26

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: 

for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: 

but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us 

with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Monday Morning Mosaic

 

For farmers May is planting season

For all of us it is a gift of grace and blossom-glory!

Sometimes, when our feet and hearts hurt

we get distracted by the dirt of life and love

but no matter what, we are in the care of the Giver 

...the blossom but the bloom before the fruit;

The fruit, the fortune of harvest!

Nurtured and nourished, tossed and tested

by many a sunbeam and gale!

Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

Eccles.11:4

Laughter leaves us feeling nourished

Longing drains delight

Kind words gladden and encourage

Harsh words crush and bite

Love is patient and forgiving

Others-ward inclined

Not intent on shallow living

With self first in mind

Hope is more than bread for hunger

Hope is for the soul

It is like a steadfast anchor

Where doubt’s billows roll

Failure makes us feel like quitting

Success makes us smile

Though the struggle is faith-gritting

God makes worth earth’s while

Heaven, beyond comprehension

Waits if faith endures

Hell should seize sober attention

Devious are its lures

Life was never a gift granted

To be a joyride

Immortality-implanted

Mortal dust is tried

Worship keeps us meek and thankful

Worry binds and blinds

Pray each day love’s flame will kindle

Heart, soul, strength and mind

Life is laughter, longing, hunger

Gain and loss's pains

Life is never growing younger

As its charter wanes  

God is love; He never leaves us

His Word, firm and true

Is the Light HE IS, to lead us

Till this life is through

© Janet Martin

The Other Side of Why/Clouds

May has offered up a ceaseless cloud panorama

both in the sky and on the ground💔😢

Many sky-lovers gaze up at the underbelly of clouds and marvel

at their show, quite oblivious to the golden light dancing and dazzling

the other side of them.

 (from the ground we only ever see the dark side of clouds)

Clouds; we prefer them in the sky rather than

the metaphorical clouds of life which press and darken days.

But some day the other side will be revealed and the 'why'

of many a care and test will dissolve in the resplendence of 

the glory of the Lord.

As so magnificently described in yesterday's devotion from the book 

Storms in the Desert...

We cannot see the other side of clouds that hide the light

That dazzles vaults and valleys veiled from the limits of sight

Faith's Substance of things hoped for, Evidence of things not seen

May lead where waters seem not still, nor pastures soft and green 

We cannot understand the Higher Thought and Ways of He

Who orchestrates the pontoons that sail heavens boundless sea

Nor can we comprehend the fulness of the miracle

Till heaven flings ajar its gates and fades faith's tear-stained hull

The other side of trial's tears of suffering will be

Not thousand or a million years, but for eternity

So, thus we fight the sacred fight and pray faith will not fail 

Until God's Everlasting Light will rend time's transient veil

Janet Martin

1 Cor.13:12

For now we see through a glass, darkly; 

but then face to face: now I know in part; 

but then shall I know even as also I am known.

To Ink-Wranglers and Revelers

In the middle of house-work,

burnt cookies (h-m-m! I wonder what happened to one!😉😋)

yard/gardenwork,

 flora...

 and fauna,

tot-care

 (aka laugh-till-I-cry and -tear-out-my-hair!!')

Midst this...

This poem, I've been trying to finish since yesterday morning,

begs the question, is it worth the hard-fought while?!

'Are there still parts of hearts unstirred?'

to make worthwhile wrangling of word

and try to capture winks of time

into a memento of rhyme?

And as I contemplated this thought

 midst all the modest mayhem

of everyday life I say, 

a thousand times 'yep'💝!

Are there still parts of hearts unstirred

By artistry of written word

Doth aught yet wait within the pen

To storm the gates of acumen

Tell me, is yet a poem left

To cheer the broken and bereft

Where archives groan with printed page

Of whispers honed from age to age

Can yet sheer wonderment remain

To cheer, to delight and sustain

As poem-seeds tremble and press

Can they sprout into Happiness

Beneath the skin, in heart and soul

Impressions of ink tug and toll

Surely tis not for naught, to free

The bloom from looms of poetry

Behold, the bud of daybreak brims

And earth is charged with heaven’s hymns

Hark, for the dark dissolves in grace

From Holy God to human race

The earth gives birth where nature’s law

Kindles the mirth of ooh and aah

And draws us, but not by our hands

To revel in momentous sands

…where tots are filled with lots of More

To inspire the troubadour

Innocent curiosity

The purest form of poetry

The Poet cannot justify

To gaze unfazed without reply

While welkin flask and task compete

Where star-tides wash work-weary feet

The poet returns to retrace

The aura of yesterday’s face

To kiss the curves of see-to-saw

To preserve for rekindled awe

For, like a fledgling, tots soon fly

Into a world of peopled ‘sky’

Like feather-down, silver and soft

The fluff of dusk-blown echoes waft

Where parts of hearts ache to be stirred

By artistry of written word

Where whispers wait with winsome wink

To storm soul-gates with wrangled ink

© Janet Martin

 "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; 

the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isa.6:3

'The earth gives birth where nature’s law

Kindles the mirth of ooh and aah'

What began with this burst of gold...

.

yesterday at sunrise...

(Is a sunrise not enough to waken the poet in all of us?!!)

...or sunset?

Is completed at Saturday noon midst much domestic distraction😅💗

A Prayer on Ascension Day 2021

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? 

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, 

will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

Acts 1:11

Happy Ascension Day!

The clouds were captivating today;

like a cumulus garland...

But no King of  kings and Lord of lords returning on them...yet!!!  

Matthew 24:30
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: 

and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, 

and they shall see the Son of man coming 

in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Lord, help us not to fret when circumstance conflicts with careful plan

But help us to be diligent in loving Thee and fellowman

And help us not to put Self first but with humility entrust

Our ways and wants to Thee because you understand our faulty dust

For we are oh, so fearfully and wonderfully made by You

Then help us to remember there is nothing that You cannot do

Where doom and gloom are very real but never greater than the hope

We have in You, oh Lord and by this truth we are able to cope

Oh Lord, this world is full of trouble; mortal groans within its throes

Greed exults over heaps of stubble, trips on those who have no clothes

Worldwide threats and dread of war loom where atheistic leaders woo

And disaster is definite because nations have turned from You

Help us to seek first Your kingdom first (Lord, who can wake the breathing dead?)

Who walk and talk and laugh and dare to never bow their heart or head

As they mock sacred sacraments and applaud blatant godlessness

Waken them Lord and help them hunger and thirst after righteousness

Evil abounds but truth abides and your Word leaves fear’s tempest stilled

You will return but not until each jot and tittle is fulfilled

Then keep us ever on our guard, help us to live each day for You

Lord, by the power of Your Word help us to stand faithful and true

In Thy Name we pray,

Amen

© Janet Martin

This poem started as a morning prayer but 

ended as a bedtime prayer 

with a big, busy day tucked between!

Honing Happiness/Holiness

 Here we go, high and low, sun-shadow-shamble...

Twilight's bronze hinges highlight leafy fringes...

Rushes of wonder, hope, heartache and hunger

War in this wisp of God-kissed nope and yes

Depth of resentment and height of contentment

Tip scales of sacrifice or selfishness

Reason and reverence season thought’s thunder

Want’s fingers pliable or tightly-clenched

Grateful or grumbler, where beauty and blunder

Clash; calm and tempest, duty and dream-drenched

Twilight's bronze hinges highlight leafy fringes

Dawn's yellow hello soon yields to dusk's door

Splurge of new falters on merge-of-blue altars

Rise and shine flowers then fades on west-shore

Hark; the dark quiet is shedding its riot

Of stars; mist-bars melt in  gossamer gold

Eluding miser and pilfering pirate 

Happiness trembles where mercies unfold

Planting and reaping and giving and keeping

Fond, fleeting flicker twixt greeting and dirge

Sorrow's bowed weeping and laughter's wowed leaping

Morrow's unknown always on today's verge 

Hurry-up scramble or slow and sweet ramble

Where bloom and bramble delight and distress

Here we go, high and low, sun-shadow-shamble

Grin, grunt and groaning, honing happiness/holiness

© Janet Martin

1 Sam.2:2

“There is no one holy like the Lord;

there is no one besides you;

there is no Rock like our God.

Altar-Call

Whenever I feel overcome or mobbed

by barrages of negativity and fear,

by suffering, and the despair it could bring,

it helps me to picture Today as an altar

on which I/we stand as hands reach down,

pouring out the anointing of new day, 

and I am transfixed by the Scars on His Hands

and how they got there!!

I look at my own hands, not so very scarred...yet,

and am immensely humbled 

by Mercy renewed!

Lam.3:22-24&31-33

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[b]

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

For the Lord will not

cast off forever,

 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

 for he does not afflict from his heart

or grieve the children of men.

From Hands, scarred by our redemption

Framed in heaven’s flawless form

Without bias or exemption

Today, takes the world by storm

Grace extends hope’s invitation

Over track-records, sin-flawed

Mercy’s renewed salutation

Unfurls cloud-pearled gift from God

Like a sign to all earth’s people

'Rise and shine, for day is here'

Like a whisper to the feeble

'I am with you, do not fear'

Like a symbol of His Presence

Darkness cannot keep its hold

Heaven overflows with incense

Mist-kissed amethyst and gold

From Hands, faithful to the finish

From Hands, helpful to each task

Love grants what time can’t diminish

Free to all, if we but ask

From the flask of Eden’s awning

Daily dawning is outpoured

I AM treads Time’s transient spawning

That threads an eternal cord

From Hands that will never falter

Dawn unfolds faith’s piercing price

Ash of days gleams on an altar

Awaiting our sacrifice

Look; a flood of light is breaking

Waking what yet waits to be

Look, mercy free for the taking

Holds scarred Hands to you and me

© Janet Martin

Wherever in life we are, God's mercy is more!

His Mercy Is More...