What a Gift...

 

This is the day which the Lord hath made; 

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

'What beauty to behold amidst brokenness and decay'

When we plant tomatoes and peppers we expect to reap

tomatoes and peppers; 

We plant word-and-deed seeds, often without thought;

What will the reaping of them produce?!

What delight this; a new day (that the Lord has made) to pour

Its moment-sand through hands and feet until it is no more

What privilege to embark where the darkness lifts its veil

And make the most of this, a gift from He who will not fail

What joy to know no matter what, God goes with me and you

He parts the waters of Unknown so that we may pass through

Trustworthy to the finish is the One who grants the gift

Of buds that break and bloom where soon its withered petals drift

Today is like a garden that we plant with words and deeds

God is not mocked; soon we will reap the fruit of scattered seeds

The fount that yields the harvest field instills beneath our skin

A time to sow and watch it grow; a time to gather in

What delight this; but what sacred responsibility

To labour for the Lord and Master of eternity

The dust of time’s entrustment soon returns from whence it came

Where days of grass blaze on a wick soon snuffed of mortal flame

What beauty to behold amidst brokenness and decay

This day the Lord has made is like a wonder-laden tray

Lowered to we who sometimes cannot see the fulness of

The Hand that overflows with grace, goodness, mercy and love

© Janet Martin

Be With Us, Lord...

This poem kind of composed itself as I prayed this morning,

So much suffering, as many personal situations as there are people!! 

and one true God on whom all may call.

 Hallelujah!

In Need... P&H Harmony

Be with us Lord, for we all have a daily cross to bear

Be with the elderly; with those cared for and those who care

Be with the mother in her home with tots to test and try

The parts of hearts that need more than mere mortal can supply

Be with us Lord, the young striving to keep their passions pure

Convict and guide and chasten pride, the bait of satan’s lure

Be with the child who teaches us how to be mild and meek

Help us be swift to hear and slow to anger or to speak

Be with those who are suffering abed, and those bedside

Comfort the broken-hearted with hope only You provide

Be with the lonely, longing-tossed, the lost you came to save

Be with the needy poor and needy rich who crave and crave

Be with our loved ones far and near; let Your kind presence fill

The holes that gape with waiting and the hunger of 'until'

Be with us so that we may treat our fellowman with love

And meet impending circumstance with power You will prove

Be with the head of countries, corporations, churches, homes

Be with the barge who bears the charge of yet unwritten poems

Lord, lead, guide and direct, where we are often unaware

Of how you intercede, protect and keep us in Your care

Be with all who are quarantined; the healthy and the sick

Be with those blind to time and how it cuts souls to the quick

Help us to learn to lean upon Your grace, faithful and true

To find the perfect peace you grant to the mind stayed on You

Be with each one of us, instill the powerhouse of Thought

Help us to trust rather than understand what we cannot

As we embark from where we are, on miles still held at bay

Be with us Lord, and help us with the cross we bear today

In Your precious Name we pray,

Amen

© Janet Martin

You will keep him in perfect peace, 

Whose mind is stayed on You, 

Because he trusts in You.

Isa.26:3

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.