Heaven's Overflow

Psalm 113:3

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, 

the name of the LORD is to be praised.

This November we are treated to one spectacular sunrise/sunset after the next...

this Never-Before-Seen sunrise is happening right now!! (or was when I started this post)

Honey! Says Mr. Very-Extra-Matter-of-Fact to me whenever

I am over-rapturously rhapsodizing at heavenly declarations.

'there have been skies forever, with many a sunrise and set.

This is nothing new!!'

and I reply Yes!! but, that's the beauty of it!

This is new! 

No one has ever seen this sunrise/set before!

This is the Beauty of each and every day...

always new!

Like God's mercies every morning!

Lam3:22-24

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

A tremor on celestial strings...

Who knows what will unfold

On music sheets from welkin springs

Of magenta and gold

Where, wonder of all wonders, He

Who measures dust of days

With original Majesty

Not one sunrise replays

The Beauty of the Lord is such

No daybreak can deplete

Beneath His unparalleled touch

He never hits 'repeat'

But breathes upon the dark of dawn

Mercy's latest release

Beneath the charge of Hope's baton

A brand, new masterpiece

A brand, new day the Lord has made

For His Name to be praised

Beauty is like a love-song played

To keep Faith's gaze amazed

Then, lift your eyes unto the hills

That hang from heaven's gates

And join the worship hymn that spills

For God knows what yet waits

Sunrise, sunset, again, again

As long as grace bestows

The music bars for love's refrain

As Heaven overflows

Janet Martin

Behold Our God

Living Hope

Symphony That Was...

 

Leaf-lamps clung to woodland wicks for dear life this year!

We didn't get a killer frost to hasten their departure!

But now suddenly earth feels like a hall emptied of crowds

after the show...

Dusk casts brief shadows on a strobe of golden stillness

before drawing the shades as darkness swaddles supper-hour

Victoria and I were drawn outdoors

 as November Dusk outdid itself

in symphonic splendor

Now that the limb is stripped of leaf

The woods and countryside

Seem stilled beneath a silver sheath

Of silence amplified

Now that leaf-lilt has been subdued

The landscape dons an air

Of reverence and solitude

Akin to solemn prayer

Now that the lamp of leaf is snuffed

Of luminescent glow

The halls of hills and field seem buffed

To showcase stars of snow 

Now that the leaves have fallen down

The hush after applause

Swaddles the countryside and town

With Symphony That Was

© Janet Martin

On Living The Gift

This is the day the Lord has made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it

Psalm 118:24

(the circumference of the brilliance of this sunrise was almost full circle!!

It’s so much more than merely left-foot-right-foot-left-foray

This life we live so much more than moment-metered decay

So much more than an unrewarded leap of say-and-do

This life we live is what we give to God when it is through

It’s so much more than toast to boast about what we achieve

These steps we strew behind become the legacy we leave/weave

Then, as the door to One More Day swings stunningly ajar

May we remember by Whose grace and love we go, and are

It’s so much more than grin-and-bear-it, tick-tock-morn-to-night

Or touch-and-taste’s burgeoning tray of distress and delight

This is the day the Lord has made and as its mercies brim

We live the gift we give to God when we return to Him

© Janet Martin

Here are twenty-one beautiful verses on 'living the gift'!

Eph.5:1-21

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 

2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, 

an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, 

let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 

4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, 

but rather giving of thanks. 

5 For [a]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, 

who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 

6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, 

for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 

7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Walk in Light

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 

Walk as children of light 

9 (for the fruit of the [b]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 

10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather [c]expose them. 

12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 

13 But all things that are [d]exposed are made manifest by the light, 

for whatever makes manifest is light. 

14 Therefore He says:

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

Walk in Wisdom

15 See then that you walk [e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 

16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 

19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 

singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 

20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father 

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

21 submitting to one another in the fear of [f]God.

...then it began to snow...

...and the sun disappeared

into a snow-globe swirled world!

Tell Me, What Good Can a Good Thought Do (without God)?

A few Good Songs to start a New Week on...

Promises-Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

  

O, Worship the Risen Christ-Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

Goodness of God Rhett Walker

 

'Think good thoughts' and 'think positive thoughts'

are becoming popular phrases in this age!

Please tell me what good can a good thought do

without God?

(without yielding thought to prayer)

James 1:16-18

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,

 that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

Tell me, what good can good thought do

When we are down and out

If Good Thought is not first thought through

To Who ‘Good’ is about

Good thought is good but cannot turn

The tables of despair

To hope if we rebel and spurn

Good thought turned into prayer

For if the Good Thinker refutes

Goodness by Goodness blessed

Mortal’s inferior substitutes

Are pitiful at best

Dare we with atheistic bent

Omit the Name whereby

Goodness, mercy and love prevent

What law would justify

Ah, what is thought (both good and ill)

But our utter need

To submit to the Perfect Will

Of God to intercede

Good or positive thoughts alone

Are like trying to fly

While we, manacled to a stone

Are leaping for the sky

Tell me, what good is Good Thought’s sum

Without the power of

The One all Goodness proceeds from

God’s Never-failing Love

Therefore, the goodness Mind suggests

Flows not from mortal aught

But from God's grace that manifests

His love in noble thought

Tell me, what good are good thoughts when

By True Goodness bereft

Bids a façade without God, then

Is any goodness left? 

© Janet Martin

Lots more 'goodness' where these verses came from:

God's Word

You are good, and do good; 

teach me Your statutes. 

Psalm 119:68

You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, 

and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, 

and gave them water for their thirst. 

Nehemiah 9:20

Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; 

turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. 

Psalm 69:16

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; 

and He knows those who trust in Him. 

Nahum 1:7

No one is good but One, 

that is, God. 

Mark 10:18

He loves righteousness and justice; 

the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 

Psalm 33:5

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; 

blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 

Psalm 34:8

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 

For the Lord is good; 

His mercy is everlasting. 

Psalm 100:4-5

Oh, how great is Your goodness, 

which You have laid up for those who fear You, 

which You have prepared for those who trust in You 

in the presence of the sons of men! 

You shall hide them in the secret place

 of Your presence from the plots of man; 

You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion 

from the strife of tongues. 

Psalm 31:19-20

Day Breaks...

From moonrise 

to sunrise

the heavens draw our eyes upward

in universal worship to the Creator of heaven and earth.

Day breaks the sky, ebony-hued

Like wonder-thunder without sound

Like Mercy’s covenant renewed

Like golden signatures unbound

Day breaks the seal on skyline’s scroll

The blush of Beginning unfurled

To weathered carriages of Soul

Perfection crowns a broken world

© Janet Martin

Psalm 19:1-6

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

I Cannot Help But Laugh a Bit...(A Precious Moments Medley)

Sometimes I look back on a day or week that at first glance seems quite commonplace

until its scenes/music plays back to me and I see it for what each moment is; precious!!

 

Pumpkin Snowman instructions here

Tea-party 'cheers'

...and last but not least, the ever-changing window-framed art of each season!!!

(because it was this view through my window as I was passing through the kitchen

that inspired the first four lines in this poem)

I cannot help but laugh a bit

At the dear and sheer thrill of it

Of seasons as they spill and slide

Across acquiescent countryside

Of vistas ever changing hue

Of kiss and hug, hello, adieu

Of Old Man Winter’s hearty grin

In spite of what we think of him

Of home-sweet-home’s sweet friendliness

To thwart life’s out-of-sorted-ness

Of cherishing the day in hand

On pedestals of waning sand

Of passing pictures, window-framed

Soon by the Rite of Twilight claimed

Of what seems common until we

Scan it with closer scrutiny

Where word like ‘us’ and ‘with’ and ‘we’

Suggest your lovely company

Suggest a cup of tea and such

The poetry of taste and touch

And then I have to laugh, tis true

At the sheer and dear joy of you

I cannot help but laugh a bit

And sing and weep and pray a bit

The fling and swing and sway of it

The come-whatever-may of it

The way the tune of Time is played

The way that flowers flare and fade

The ebb and ache and eddy of

The give and take of life and love

The sense of something like a dance

Where moment-medleys glide and glance

Where wave on wave of hours roll

Across shorelines of grave and goal

Where youth soon wears the tender trace

Of truth; where dreamlands interlace

With matters of four-season fact

Where time will not leave us intact

And Want is better now because

It is much simpler than it was

When we were green as spring, fresh-spun

And king and queen of Opinion

Where in the autograph of it

I cannot help but laugh a bit

© Janet Martin

Soon, soon a season's sweet collage

turns into echo-decoupage 

November Blues...

Aha! I said this morning.

So THAT'S what was in yester-dusk's transfixing hues of blue!

November blues offset the hues of nature’s sparser clime

To wake within the heart a grin akin to joy bell’s chime

To draw our eyes beyond the rise and fall of season-surf

And feel the toll of transience roll across surrendered turf

I think the poet’s ink is siphoned from November blues

A welkin well where whispers swell and syllable subdues

A brooding deep above a sweep of sentenced green-gold-gray

A sacred sense of an immense changeover under way

November blues thunder with dues we cannot keep at bay

Where woodland throbs with muffled sobs of leaf-song snuffed away

Barren limbs stark against the early dark of Autumn dusk

As nature sets its silhouettes on backdrops, blue and brusque

November blues; who can refuse the sentimental *rush

Of lowered skies authoring sighs of awe beneath a brush

That drips with hues of smold'ring blues that steals our breath and gaze

As Artist spills a storm of thrills from fall's more muted trays 

 

November blues unfetter hues of frigid, downy-white

Where on the morn the heart is torn twixt dismay and delight

A strange tableau, transformed by snow, yester-ago far-swept

Where blue unfurled a wonderworld of winter while we slept

© Janet Martin

* yes, I mean rush (not crush)

unlike Grandsonny yesterday morning

announcing to his mom that

'I got a big rush on Millie'

 (name changed for privacy sake)😂

His mother assumes someone must have

used the word 'crush'😄😘

Sigh...'I suppose it's not so-o bad' acquiesced Victoria

(a fellow-November blues lover)

gazing out to the serene snow-globe scene

This is My Father's World

More Than a String From the Sky

Hope Has a Name-River Valley Worship

  

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus-Steffany Gretzinger

No One ever Cared for Me like Jesus (different from above)

Hope: the second most powerful

4-letter word in the English language after love!

Hope without Love is impossible.

God IS love!

The hope to which we cling is more than a string from the sky

It is the grace of God reached down to buoy you and I

It is a Beacon in the storm, an anchor for the soul

The touch that wakes the mustard seed of faith that makes us whole

It is the power of the cross where man’s redemption flows

The confidence in promises that nothing overthrows

It is the satisfaction that, (though oft misunderstood)

To all who love the Lord He works all things for our good

It is a still, small Voice that whispers while doubt’s cannons fly

‘The hope to which we cling is more than a string from the sky’

The cynic and the critic cannot thwart its sacred thread

The heathen and heretic cannot find a stable stead

The toast and boast of pagan pride can never satisfy

Only the Perfect Lamb that died to rescue you and I

From death and hell's damnation; from sin's cursed and lethal rope

The God of all creation became salvation and hope 

As He, so rich in mercy suffered our penalty

To rend the noose around our souls and set the sinner free

To restore to His bosom we who without Him would die

The hope to which we cling is more than a string from the sky 

© Janet Martin

This passage below was today's devotion and though a familiar favourite

 God's word has a way of leaving us completely smitten 

with the wonder of His love again and again

(read it more than once and feel your wonder increase with each reading)

Hallelujah! Praise God!

Let's live and love with honoured humility 

because of God's gift of grace!

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world 

and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, 

the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 

3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] 

and following its desires and thoughts. 

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 

5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—

it is by grace you have been saved. 

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, 

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:1-10