Thank God!

a few May morning creation-treasures...

Thank God for beauty of creation, nature’s free-for-all

Where no one can claim credit for His creatures great and small

Mankind beholds what earth unfolds; we cannot intervene

To haste a bud to bloom or baste the countryside in green

We owe the crowning glory of worship’s unbridled praise

To He who orchestrates and grants the number of man’s days

Thank God for beauty beyond reach of evil’s ruthless rod

The heavens timelessly declare the handiwork of God

To set before our gaze, buffets laden with trays designed

By clouds and colours man cannot muster or mastermind

Then praise God, who furnishes seed, bud and celestial fount

Before the day when we bow down to give sacred account

Thank God for seasons we can only skim the surface of

To marvel without merit at earth’s laden treasure trove

To be the sole recipients of joy as we behold

The wonders of creation that somehow never grow old

Unbridled beauty clothes this globe compelling awestruck gaze

To touch the hemline of His robe with reverence and praise

Thank God, that while the ages roll creation keeps its youth

Where time will always take its toll yet cannot alter truth

Or usurp the Creator; from the dawn of ‘let there be’

No one and nothing can deter divine authority

He cups creation in His Hands, commands sun, moon and stars

We smote our chests, cry ‘what is man’ and drink from Mercy’s scars/jars

Thank God that He charges no fee for wonderment’s surprise

But spreads showcases lavishly before our very eyes

Where nature remains innocent in spite of mortal guilt

A kind of picnic basket emptied on earth’s tartan quilt

Where we are all invited to partake of beauty’s fare

And give God all the glory for glory He chose to share

© Janet Martin

Psalm 104:33-34

Click link to read the whole glorious chapter!)

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the Lord.

Oh Lord, Please Send an Angel Army (to minister to moms)

 

Sometimes home-sweet-home feels more like a battleground

where soul-diers in training can put up quite a fight

and test the best of any mom's/dad's fortitude!

Dear mother, daddy, do not despair! 

This little charge is worth every hard correction and prayer

Tots depend on mom and dad to do what no one else will;

 train them as they grow!

 It's not easy but it is the most important challenge

you will ever undertake!

 before time tips them out of childhood's 'wheelbarrow'...

Oh Lord, please send an angel down to minister to moms (and daddies)

In the thick of a battle with most crucial outcomes

Grant them wisdom and patience as they plant and prune and cull

Without the advantage of an instruction manual

Oh Lord, please send an angel down to minister to moms

Theirs is no undertaking of love, soon over-and-done

A mother’s love, a balance of both tough and tender, oh

As they train up a child in the way that they ought to go

Oh Lord, please send an angel down to minister to moms

For they grow weary as they discipline daughters and sons

It isn’t easy working for precious Child’s greater good

Lord, send an angel army to minister to motherhood (parenthood)

© Janet Martin

Prov.22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Prov.3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight

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!