Book of Qualms/Psalms

It's been a week where I have shed tears of deep disappointment and sweet joy!

A week of weariness mingled with heart-melting meek wonder!

Do you think the reason we love the book of Psalms so much is because

it is an outpouring from highest highs and lowest lows?

A book of agony and assurance!

confession and courage!

wonder and worship!

heartache and hope!

A book so relevant to today's qualms as we

compose our own psalms of anguish and awe!

Cries of anguish, hope and awe

Tears and prayers of joy and grief

Conscriptions of grace and law

Where the Word of God is chief

Groaning on damnation’s brink

When temptation stakes its claim

Wonder too profound for ink

As creation shouts His name

Clashes where doubt’s demons war

Confession, again, again

Worship without wanting more

Than God’s promises, amen

Fear and faith at constant odds

Fight or turn the other cheek

‘Thou shalt have no others gods’

Spirit willing, flesh so weak

Highest highs and lowest lows

Composing heart’s humble cry

On my knees or tippy-toes

‘By the grace of God go I’

© Janet Martin

A few go to fav-chapters...

too many to list all!

Psalm 8

Psalm 19

Psalm 23

Psalm 24

Psalm 27

Psalm 46

Psalm 56

Psalm 61 

Psalm 89

Psalm 103

Psalm 139

Psalm 145

One Day/Step At A Time

This poem kinda progressed as the morning unfolded

stunning me afresh with the need to

Only Trust Him

We would wear ourselves weary with worry, 

but for what good?!

Oh Lord God, rich in mercy, help us trust You 

like we should

Help us to look longer at the lily's attire 

Until fear and pride turn into worship's pure fire

My little 'longer look' at lilies this morning

while pouring out my heart to their Creator/Clothier 

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 

and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory 

was not arrayed like one of these.

Luke 12:27

Life grants us one day at a time

Then leave to God tomorrow’s dread

For on this ever-present climb

We cannot leap back or ahead

Futile to fret the ‘Yet’ none sees

Where fear and faith ever compete

Better to get down on our knees

And pour our cares at Mercy’s feet

For as we yield, we learn to trust

And as we trust we learn to yield

The love of God is not unjust

He clothes the lilies of the field

God grants us one day at a time

A step-by-gifted-step ascent

He holds the ladder as we climb

Where all we have and hold is lent

Then as we soften our grip

And cling to nothing but His Word

We start to taste the fellowship

That waits in heaven, undeterred

God ministers in 'breath-by-breath'

His purposes, oft unrevealed

While he finetunes the strings of faith 

He clothes the lilies of the field

How flippant is our finest boast

And all that mortal may applaud

How foolish to propose a toast

Blind to the faithfulness of God

Grace grants us one day at a time

Oh, pray that our goal will be

To give God glory as we climb

From time into eternity

© Janet Martin

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The [b]help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43:5

The World tells us to reach within ourselves!

The Word tells us to reach out to God and trust...

in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 

and the Word was God.

John 1:1

Of Summer's Day

Duty's marching orders can be quite relentless,

but hopefully not so much so that we forget

to 'sail away on summer's Day', now and then

Summer serves up its splash of sheaves

On silver platters made of leaves

A bloom-extravagant buffet

On counterpanes of Summer's Day...

Let’s put on smiles and sail away

Through glorious isles of Summer’s day

On seas of green and gold beneath

The gleam of heaven’s cobalt heath

Let's kick off shoes and wade through hues

Of wild-flower and welkin blues

Or we might miss the best there is

Of this old world, with much amiss  

Let’s pause without apology

Because of nature's Majesty

So many wonders to behold

Before the wings of summer fold

Before the songs of summer fade

Like youth, marching in a parade

That steals the vigor from their form

Like winter takes the world by storm

And we cannot return to climb

The hills of Once upon a Time

So, while the world is summer-young

And dew-drop-pearled and grandly flung

Like Creation’s magnum opus

From God to every one of us

Let’s linger where the landscape gleams

With lavender and lily-streams

With golden tides of rippling grain

With blush and rush of sun and rain

Where goldfinch flits and swallow skims

And lyrics lilt from leaf-lush limbs

And gardens burgeon with delight

That kindles healthy appetite

And makes our labor worth its toil

As seed begins to spill its spoil

To we, humbled to do our part

To glean earth’s gifts with thankful heart

Awed by His grace, aware of He

Who still creates with ‘let there be’

And sweetens creature-care with hymns

Where beauty’s ballad broods and brims

From founts of hollyhock and rose

Creation’s color-cadence flows

Through glorious isles of Summer’s Day

So, let’s don smiles and sail away

On seas of green and gold before

This sweep of summer is no more

Summer serves up its splash of sheaves

On silver platters made of leaves

A bloom-extravagant buffet

On counterpanes of Summer's Day

© Janet Martin

Rev.15:3

 “Great and marvelous are Your works, 

Lord God Almighty!

 Just and true are Your ways, 

O King of the saints!

Look At Me!

Look at me! Look at me! they call, countless times a day, eager to impress their care-giver!

Oh, imagine if we did that to our Caregiver who is always watching over us

even though we cannot see Him!

(We/ I tend to plead the opposite, embarrassed/ guilty at our/my often less-than-eager efforts)

Imagine if we lived for our Creator with this mindset...

Look at me! look at me

Did you see? did you see?

How I gave willingly, without bound

How I put others first

Rather than, self-immersed

Paid no heed to the need all around

Look at me! Look at me

Did you see? did you see?

How, without jealousy I rejoiced

In the great happiness

Of another's success 

Leaving my disappointments unvoiced

Look at me! look at me!

Did you see? Did you see?

How I walked second miles for the weak

How, in the face of spite

I did not choose to smite

My opponent, but turned the other cheek

How, not stubborn and proud

I submissively bowed

 Beneath Mercy's Higher Command

Trusting Your promises

Rather than fuss and stress

Over ways I do not understand

Look at me! look at me!

I'm a sinner set freed

From the debt that I owed but You paid

Now all I want to do

Is love and honour You

In this beautiful day you have made

Oh, imagine if we

With true humility

Loved each other, how happy our cries,

'Look at me, look at me

Did you see? did you see

It is You that my life glorifies'

Janet Martin

 Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works 

and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matt.5:16

This constant contest of trying to 'shine the brightest'

reminds me how we are all created differently

with unique gifts and strengths

to allow all of us to shine the brightest

with the light God has instilled.

Let's try to twist ourselves inside out

with goodness for God's glory!

Because all goodness is but a reflection of You, oh God!

 

Season-sparks

this poem was sparked by the soundless spiral of a petal...

We've gone from This...

...to This

...to This! in a matter of weeks! (4, I think)

How swift a season sets a match to moments tinder dry

No one can find a net to catch the sparks that upward fly

How soon the garden-patch showcases a seed’s wondrous ways

While barefoot laughter races through life’s care-unhindered days

Oblivious and chivalrous to time’s unbridled flight

While morning sheds its blush cocoon, and noon morphs into night

The flower flares ere petal ash settles its beaming score

Come, let’s not wait until too late to take the time to pore

Over a gate or arbor laden with bud’s maiden boon

Over the pretty pages of a summer afternoon

Over the landscape changing right before our very eyes

Where none can find a way to bind the seams through which time flies

The way to where we were is always barred by where we are

Then let’s not linger, looking back or wishing on a star

But rather, run our fingers through the fabric of today

Before its gold turns misty blue then fades into the fray

Of yesterdays, gossamer-gray and always out of reach

For none can stay the waves of dusk that wash across yon breach

We’re all in this together, getting older by the hour

All learning how to weather where we’ve never been before

Coming to terms with what time gives and takes, momentous must

As lessons of relinquishment compel us to adjust

Our points of view where vantage points are altered or estranged

Where no one can persuade time’s hand to leave the sheave unchanged

Let’s never take for granted, morning’s easy come and go

For soon the seeds we’ve planted turn to reaping what we sow

While Now-to-Then beneath a swaying sickle soon is felled

Where none can stem the trickle filling seasons, briefly held

Like brushstrokes on a canvas that keeps changing its façade

Each season softly dances to the music played by God

© Janet Martin

Eccles.3:1

To everything there is a season, 

A time for every purpose under heaven:

Psalm 103:15-18

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

To Live For Thee, Oh God

When we dissect the moments of a day, 

do we find a life lived for Self or God?

This was a sobering challenge to me recently.

Oh God, let my love be more

than an acknowledgment of Your existence,

whilst harbouring a heart of prideful resistance

Have Thine Own Way, Lord-Jim Reeves

To live for Thee, oh God

Affects all that we do

It keens the heart to do our part

To serve and honour You

To live for Thee, oh Lord

Is more than pious nod

To testify with mouthed reply

The existence of God

To truly live for Thee

Means self must be denied

Love’s price is always sacrifice

All else is selfish pride

To live for Thee, oh God

Nobody can ignore

For we all prove who we most love

By who we’re living for

…then when death comes to claim

Soul’s cloak back to the sod

Heaven or hell will surely tell

Life lived for Self or God

For who we love we serve

Life, not lips testify

If we believe, and thus conceive

The fruit of love's reply

© Janet Martin

Matt.6:24

“No one can serve two masters. 

Either you will hate the one and love the other, 

or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve both God and money.

Joshua 24:14-15

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. 

Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped 

beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 

15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, 

then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 

whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, 

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 

But as for me and my household, 

we will serve the Lord.”

Gal.1:10

Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? 

 am I striving to please men? 

If I were still trying to please men, 

I would not be a servant of Christ

I posted the above post before church...

then, lo and behold, our scripture passage for 

this morning's message was;

1 Thess. 4

Living to please God...

verse 1: As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 

we instructed you how to live in order to please God, 

as in fact you are living. 

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus 

to do this more and more.

Wonder-full

First, when I got up this morning a wave of woe washed over me;

So much would-be worry and want, without true trust in One greater!

 Wonderful, Merciful Saviour

Wonder-full, though oft-times dismayed

By disappointment’s rending rod

In spite of plans and dreams waylaid

Nothing separates us from God

Wonder-full, though heart-cries resound

With grief where unbelief is bold

Because iniquity abounds

The love of many has waxed cold

Wonder still fills the heart with awe

To think, God, rich in mercy gave

His Son to die because He saw

How many souls His death would save

He did not, in the face of hate

Retaliate, but cried ‘forgive’

His suffering, so very great

So that the least may look and live

Thus, we may live, still wonder-full

In spite of hardship’s draining toll

God’s Word and love none can annul

Or thwart the Saviour of the soul

© Janet Martin

Wishing you a weekend filled with wonder!

So much to steal our breath in His Word and in His works!

Psalm 10: 12-18

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

Giving All Diligence...

I feel a bit like a cowboy this morning, trying to lasso this poem before it got away...

It was wrangled and wrestled to the page midst the muddle and music of life💗

Inspired in part, as I read this morning's Daily Bread Devotion based on this passage below;

Also included in the devotion is inspiration from the life of Charles H. Spurgeon!

2 Peter 1:3-9

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,

 to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control [b]perseverance, 

to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither [c]barren nor unfruitful

 in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, 

and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Last week on the post Star-trek I mentioned a preacher from my youth

intoning repeatedly the verses that come after the above scripture...

(ha-ha, I bet Ira B. never imagined his name in any way used with the words Star-trek😂)

2 Pet.1:10-11

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, 

for if you do these things you will never stumble; 

11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly 

into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Stanza 4 of today's poem was inspired by the joy of laughter this morning...

Miss Four-year-old has not yet mastered the letter 'f',

so she is enjoying a bowl full of toot-loops😂

I told her I don't think I will ever see fruit-loops in quite the same way again! lol!

I do not want to live, my dear, as if I had no vow to keep

No Highest Calling to revere or like a soldier half-asleep

Rather than standing on full guard, wary of enemies that lurk

To lure me from the Sacred Hard of diligence in prayer and work

I do not want to drift as if this dawn-to-dawn was nothing more

Than a cruise down the Amazon to some yon-not-so-endless shore

I do not want to squander time as if life was a holiday

Rather than a most sacred climb to what will never pass way

I want to recognize what lies beyond this Bitty Beckoning

A long ‘dirt-nap’ is not the Prize that will succeed the reckoning

Therefore, I do not want to live as if this was some dead-end street

Without account we all will give to Holy God we all will meet

I want to laugh, fully in touch with the joy in its melody

I want to hear, see, smell, taste, touch with a rush of holy-holy

I want to think of Him, not me when weighing wishing’s cons and prose

I want my heart and hope to brim with thankfulness for Mercy’s woes

Imagine, as time disappears and I fall down in reverence

I would look up to see God’s tears crowning my lack of diligence

As I behold His Hands still scarred with pardon’s awful autograph

Imagine being barred from Heaven for life lived on my behalf

© Janet Martin