When Our Prayers Seem But In Vain...

 

How do we explain an Invisible God

with often seemingly invisible answers to prayer?

We can't.

We live by faith

How do we get faith?

By trusting Who we cannot see by believing His Word.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:17

See Heb.10 && 11&12 for more encouragement in faith

Without faith it is impossible to please God

Heb.11:6

...consider Him (Jesus) who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself,

lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Heb.12:3

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,

for He who promised is faithful.

Heb.10:23

Under His Wings

 

When our prayers seem but in vain

In a world so full of pain

Trouble, terror, hunger, grief

Apathy and unbelief

When replies for which we plead

Do not seem to intercede

Dark the night and deep the vale

Where prayer sometimes seems to fail

When we groan, bereft of word

When reasoning’s best is blurred

When like waves that surge and beat

Rock-bound shores, our prayers repeat

God, still help us to believe

When we seem not to receive

When the faithless scorn and jeer

At prayers You seem not to hear

God, lest our faith grows cold

Call to mind those men of old

Examples of faith and love

This world was not worthy of

Help us suffer to obtain

Faith’s better and greater gain

Joining clouds of witnesses

Trusting in Your promises

Trusting, without present proof

Sanctify us with your Truth

Your Word is Truth, come what may

So, we pray and pray and pray

© Janet Martin

Psalm 39:12

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry;

hold not thy peace at my tears:

for I am a stranger with thee,

and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.

To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

Thomas Aquinas

There is a way that seems right to a man, 

But its end is the way of death.

Prov.14:12

Show-and-Heart Stealer

The first six lines of this poem

I pegged out last night while waiting for the supper crew.

They eventually did come home, 

a little later than normal...

...laughing as they came through the door completely

oblivious to the possibility of steaming cook and

cool food instead of steaming food and cool cook😅

(Actually, one of the great things about being on the lookout for poem-potential is

I am NEVER a steaming cook! I'm an oh-great-A-bit of-unexpected-writing-time-cook!

And yes, this kind of cook sometimes burns over-cooks supper😑

The rest of this poem evolved as today dissolved...

I love the way fall steals the show

While want and wonder ebb and flow

The woodland wick that flares and dims

Cut to the quick by farewell hymns

The brush that highlights bush and bow’r

The hush of twilight’s supper-hour

The glowing benediction of

Rites we have grown to hate and love

Where hearts and hands must learn the art

Of have and hold’s bold counterpart

I love the way a platter snares

The poetry of garden-prayers

Where spoils of toil and mercy meld

In fruit of labor not withheld

Where, as we gather in life’s best

Of hard day’s work and sound night’s rest

We always, first and foremost bring

To Giver, worship’s offering

For health and strength, for harvest yield

From orchard, vineyard, garden, field

I love the way each season spills

A cornucopia of thrills

Where autumn boasts a diadem

Of garnet leaf and berry-gem

But cannot keep for long its crown

From falling-falling-falling down

To ‘splay beneath the barren tree

A picture of mortality

To wake in us need for reply

To so much more than meets the eye

I love the glockenspiel that tolls

And wears fall-fabric full of holes

Where lilt of leaf-song strums until

There is no leaf-song left to spill

Where flowers bloom, but, just like youth

Cannot escape time’s loom of truth

Where cricket-choirs dissipate

Like fires on yon welkin-grate

Where carousel of color twirls

And leaves behind a string of pearls

I love how words like bake and baste

Birth aroma-preludes to taste

Where it is hard to pick and choose

Which favorite recipes to use

But find a few sure to delight

Everyone’s eager appetite

Where cinnamon, ginger and sage

Please palates of most any age

And pumpkin finds its way into

Anything we cook-bake-blend-brew

I love how autumn makes us feel

A little scarlet-umber-teal

A little apple, earth and sea

A trespasser of poetry

A little more aware of how

Swift seasons pirouette and bow

How, in the middle of applause

The scene that Is turns into Was

And new arrangements fill the stage

As subtle as the turn of page

I love when the harvester hums

And gleans the fields of all but crumbs

And even little fellows grin

To see the harvest gathered in

I love autumn on rainy days

Tea-kettle’s hum and candle’s blaze

Content to tackle household chores

Without wishing we were outdoors

I love the way fall steals the heart

With galleries of frameless art 

© Janet Martin

And even little fellows grin

To see the harvest gathered in...

October is the Time of Year/Leaf...

 October Mementos...

NOTHING excites neighbor's pup like a good game of Catch Me If You Can!!

First she finds a stick and taunts me,

...then, round 

...and round

And round we go!

until I say, NAY, pant-pant-pant 'you win!'

(winner was panting pretty hard too😅)

The Prize is!!!! Two puppy pals courtesy of Little Girl

October is the time of year

When we are torn twixt smile and tear

Where paths of summer left behind

Are tucked in, as treetops unwind

Where leaf by leaf and note by note

From splurge to dirge fall-lyrics float

A medley of gladness and gloom

Bends earth with aftermath of bloom

October is the time of year

When Beauty spills its bright veneer

To deck death’s cold and sullen Must

And fleck with gold, its dust to dust

To evoke, in awe’s uttermost

The strange awareness of a ghost

That wafts in curlicues of smoke

In clouds that drape the gaping oak

October is the time of year

When longing duels with good cheer

When gleaming tress is haunted by

Strains of a leafless lullaby

And in the middle of the show

The sense of splendor letting go

Seems to beseechingly endear

Us to the woodland’s falling tear

Where laws of give and take ignite

Grave-stippled grounds with sheer delight

As October’s vistas unfold

A masterpiece of red and gold

And, in the middle of applause

A little teardrop slips because

October is the time of leaf

That bears the brunt of joy and grief

© Janet Martin

Of Lessons Yet To Learn

Between the covers of Dawn-to-dusk,

are pages filled with lessons to learn

and whether the Teacher seems kind or brusque

it's up to us what marks we earn...

***

Dawn draws the gauze of Today's front-cover back 

as today's lessons, yet veiled

 are lowered from love's Hand that knows no lack

and never, ever fails

***

From belfry towers old as time

A golden gong begins to chime...

Beneath our feet and overhead

As night with morning light is wed

A fresh sheaf of work-sheets is spread

To teach and test and hone

Where sometimes it seems all we earn

Midst ups and downs and twist and turn

Are brand new lessons left to learn

Heave-ho, grunt, grin and groan

From belfry towers old as time

A golden gong begins to chime

And ushers in new hills to climb

Of dismay laced with awe

Where study books are full of care

And hope, a hunger full of prayer

Where wonder keeps us from despair

With moments of aha

From dusty tomes of yesteryears

To very present fights and fears

‘Neath tutelage of smiles and tears

In classrooms far and wide

We tackle Today’s no-return

Of lessons yet to live-and-learn

Where by God’s grace we humbly earn

High marks for having tried

© Janet Martin

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 119:12
Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:26
I recounted my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:33
Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep them to the end.

Psalm 119:64
The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:68
You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:108
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your judgments.

Psalm 119:124
Deal with Your servant according to Your loving devotion, and teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:135
Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

Five Senses Smorgasbord or Autumn Accolades

These days earth's Smorgasbord groans with Autumn's abundancy

appealing to all the senses but especially taste and see...

Season where halos overhead...

float leaf by leaf...

to lawn and street...

And so, we muster up excuses fine reason to put indoor chores on pause...

Because we know how soon this season drifts away like milkweed gauze...

Season where halos overhead float leaf by leaf to lawn and street

Where hazy, lazy days turn red and gold and crisp and apple-sweet

Where woodland beauty turns our heads and steals the autumn-lover’s heart

Where nature’s loom weaves lustrous threads that only God’s touch can impart

Season of flower-frond farewells as petal bells, frost-kissed, are stilled

Of fields where harvest homage swells as bins and barns and jars are filled

Of oh, so silent aftermath as hymn of limb and field are doffed

Of foot-fall vacant garden path, save for the frames where echoes waft

Season of epicurean thrills, seasoned with cinnamon and cloves

Where nature is a fount that spills to nutmeg-ginger-tinted groves

That dwindles fall’s pigment from heights like a slow-ebbing color-sea

And rekindles our appetites for books and cozy nooks and tea

Season of comfy sweaters tugged from shelves and boxes long forgot

Where we feel warm and wooly hugged and dance a jig right on the spot

Where thanksgiving is not about the meal of turkey, dressing, pie

But daily living out life’s zeal of gratefulness in rife reply

Season of lingering outdoors because we sense the numbered days

Before the chill of winter roars through corridors where sumacs blaze

And so, we muster up excuses fine reason to put indoor chores on pause

Because we know how soon this season drifts away like milkweed gauze

Season of acorn, butternut squash, pumpkin popularity

Of hearty chowders, succotash, of simmer-steep-knead gaiety

While the wind whinnies like a horse tossing the tress of tree and reed

While nature takes its steady course of bud to bloom to scattered seed

Season where longing mingles with gentle contentment, bittersweet

Where tingle of excitement and lament for what is spent compete

Season of simple wishes like savouring autumn’s melody

And delighting in the delicious smorgasbord of Taste and See

© Janet Martin

And rekindles our appetites for books and cozy nooks...

... and tea

From Green Leaf to Silver Sheaf

This life we live is lent

Green leaf to silver sage

A perpetual annulment 

Of scenes, once center stage

Four-season circuits gleam

Where dream and wanderlust

Soon clash with the more brash Regime

Of ash and mist and dust

Where, from green leaf to sheaves

With measure, always lent

Tumbles the filigree that weaves

The way a life is spent

…aware or unaware

From Whence lent moments brim

Yet all weaving the Thoroughfare

That draws us back to Him

© Janet Martin

It feels like we went from spring....

to summer...

to fall...

...in next to time at all!

Earthen Treasure Chests

 Christ, Our Hope in Life and Death

Therefore we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing,

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary,

but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Cor.4:16-18

I think I shared this scripture verse a week ago,

but it is in today's Daily Bread Devotion

as well as much needed encouragement

where suffering does not seem to take a break in this broken world.

But, for we who have placed our faith in Jesus

we do not lose heart!

This afternoon I will go to the visitation

for one of the young moms I did childcare for briefly

before she started working from home because of Covid-19,

before being diagnosed with cancer in the spring.

Our hearts are broken for this young family!

Will you hold them (Dana's family) in your prayers??

While the outward man wastes away

As seasons take their toll

Still, we are renewed day by day

In fathoms of the soul

And, though we cannot keep at bay

The hardships we must bear

Within these vessels made of clay

God puts His Treasure there

So that the excellence we boast

Is not of us, but He

Who gave for man, love’s uttermost

To set cursed sinners free

Then though the outward wastes away

Beneath affliction’s rod

Within these vessels made of clay

Shines the treasure of God

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 

that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

A Morning/Today Mantra

Sometimes it easy to drag yesterday's baggage into New-day/Today!

Sometimes it hard to cast all our care upon Him, 

for He cares for you/us...1 Peter 5:7

and leave them there!

And proceed with renewed ambition in what... 

He has shown you/us, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you/us?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your/our God.

Micah 6:8

Dawn’s door, once more has swung ajar

Eyes turn toward the east

Where mercy spreads on welkin bar

A lavish beauty-feast

And bids the sojourner of care

To trust the Artist of the air

Soon pink ink pales, gold fringes fade

Blue heavens crown the world

As this new day the Lord has made

Is furthermore unfurled

Where His hand cups each stepping stone

Poised on the crux of The Unknown

Then, pray we cast our cares on He

Who cares for one and all

May we with renewed fervency

Proceed and heed His call

To act justly with loving laud

And to walk humbly with our God

© Janet Martin

Well, it's off to the races graces once more!

Last night's finish-line, 

midst much background action-attraction-distraction-music...

...boasted fresh applesauce, finally!

On my need-to-do list all week!