Perfect Grief and Joy

This world is full of the sorrow of

Christmases without loved ones...

My son-in-law and his family are mourning the

sudden loss Grandmother/mother

the victim in this head-on collision on Thursday evening.

My prayer is that the love and comfort of God

will be their strength and peace in the days ahead.

(will you pray too?)

and for my son-in-law as he travels home for four days to be with his family? 

I'm running a bit behind on my Luke reading's reflections

Such a treasure trove of Scriptural wealth

makes it difficult to choose just one or two gems to share...

this post is inspired in part by Luke 17, 

in part by our music and message this morning

(click link then click Sunday Service Dec.19)

and in part by this week's advent theme of love

We sang this breathtaking song this morning

(a new one for me!)

Chris Tomlin - Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) [Lyric Video]

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. 

Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 

‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 

8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready 

and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?

 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 

10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say,

 ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Luke 17:7-10

 

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 This is how God showed his love among us: 

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, 

God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:7-12

Unto earth’s span of toil and test

Where trouble takes its toll

God gave to man His utter best

The Saviour of the soul

This little mist of time and place

Soon vanishes away

God’s gift of salvation and grace

Succeeds faith’s cup of clay

Imagine if time’s trifling toast

Was all that we could win

But love robbed the grave of its boast

And broke the curse of sin

The love of God did not withhold

His Son from suffering

But saw the joy that would unfold

As Death loses its sting

Life’s bitter brunt of grief and loss

Is but triumph’s prelude

Servanthood’s blood and tearstained cross

Unworthy gratitude

To He who came, by Heaven sent

Counsellor, Father, Friend

The Prince of Peace whose government

Will increase without end

Who, in his very nature God

Did not refuse the call

Humility and love unflawed

Obeyed. Death, once for all

From heaven’s throne the Savior stepped

Bethlehem’s Baby Boy

While surely heaven’s angels wept

With perfect grief and joy

© Janet Martin

Joy to the World (Christmas is Far More Than Just a Happy Holiday)

How shallow a happy holiday is compared to the Christmas Celebration

of God's gift to humanity when the fullness of time had come!

This post is inspired in part by Luke 15...

Gal.3:4-5

But when the fullness of the time had come, 

God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law, 

5 to redeem those who were under the law, 

that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Hallelujah!

This week's advent theme is Joy...

Joy can seem a hard-fought battle when we focus on what we see without

The world groans with oppression,

with havoc and loss through natural disasters,

with sickness and sorrow,

but, Jesus is still the true light,

Still joy unspeakable

because He is the living hope for humankind...

Though you have not seen him, you love him;

and even though you do not see him now,

you believe in him and are filled

with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

1 Pet.1:8

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee-Chris Tomlin

Joy Has Dawned

Castles built on the sand cannot withstand life’s stormy cares

Thus, nations disregarding God, (fools, unfaith-flawed) will fall

The One who came to save us and to make us sons and heirs

Is still the Rock of Ages and the Godhead over all

He is not mocked; He who suffered and died to set us free

(Though some may scoff and buffer fear and doubt with foolish pride)

He, to his own a stranger on the earth, left majesty

Laid in a lowly manger at his birth, then crucified

All hail the True Light of the world has come, the Son of God

 Pierces the dark. A star unfurled in sympathy and grace

When all creation groaned beneath oppression's brutal rod

Jesus obeyed His Father and atoned the human race 

He fulfilled mercy’s masterplan, afflicted and despised

King of kings, rejected by man and acquainted with grief

Like a lamb to the slaughter led, eyes esteemed Him chastised

Not knowing yet that His blood shed hope’s bedrock of belief

Then let’s make Christmas more than just a Happy Holiday

Let’s worship and adore the Reason for this season’s joy

Jesus, is mankind’s Saviour still, hope’s confidence and stay

No death-fated dominion will with hate God’s love destroy

Like a banner, let’s lift the name of Jesus above all

And praise Him for the love that came to seek and save the lost

Though He could see the awful price and sorrow of God's call

He saw beyond the sacrifice and deemed us worth the cost

He welcomes home each prodigal and meets us with arms wide

He works in us the miracle of righteousness and peace

By gift of grace the soul is saved and sinner justified

Praise Jesus for the cross He braved, with songs that never cease

© Janet Martin

 'leap for joy, for great is the reward in Heaven'.

Luke 6:23

After hearing that the remaining missionaries that were taken hostage in Haiti exactly two months ago were released today I wept for joy! Pure joy! Praise the Lord!

The Great Undoing...

Child-caring inevitably has some very hairy moments!

right? moms and all other child caregivers😅

And now and then in those wearying moments we are

tempted to say 'I can't do this!!!"

but then along come those moments that just melt our hearts

as joy trickles from our eyes in sweet surprise!

A reminder that in all of life, with the high comes the low and vise-versa!

When my grandaughter's 'pleath?' is accommodated with yes 

she is as sweet as sweet could possibly ever imagine being!

but if 'ple-e-e-ath' ith anthsered with 'no' the thweet thmile can turn upthide-down in a wink

and rather astonishing unpleasantness can ensue😂

I uthed the lithp(lisp) becauthe right she steals my heart with hers.

Yesterday, except for one incident that partly inspired this train of thought,

it was pure sweetness💖💖💖

Helping gramma with the dishes...

(and wearing an apron that I wore when I was her size...)

Teatime on the deck in mid-December!!

(she prefers pouring it to drinking it)😂

Trying to find 'auntie' Matt's shirts on the clothes line... 

(yes, she calls him auntie Matt)😁😂😅

The tapestry that moments weave achieves its work of art

By intertwining joy and grief from looms within the heart

Where subtle shuttles whir and bind time’s threads of gray and gold

Into a picture designed for retrospect to behold

Where we begin to learn, in warp and weft of lows and highs

That grin and groan and twist, turn into Beauty’s sweet surprise

...as startled senses waken to time’s ever-changing sway

Yesterday overtaken by the colours of today

Bidding us, with each gifted fray to always keep in mind

Swift, swift the tendrils of today with past are intertwined

And, never in life’s kiss and cuss should we forget The Whole

The shuttle that weaves This undoes the shroud around the soul

© Janet Martin

Delighted with a whole 'new angle' on playing house

Of Highs and Lows (aka as Life's Arpeggio)

Life is full of highs and lows...

High; a wonderful time at a ladies Christmas brunch on Saturday morning

Low; extremely high winds on Saturday afternoon destroyed our play-center/swing-set

this loss is small in scale compared to the destruction of the tornadoes in Kentucky

but its disappointing all the same!

Another glorious sunrise!

'The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody

The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery'

The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody

The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery

Life’s gain and loss an albatross of mingled joy and strife

As seasons surge and moments merge into a song of life

The stroke is swift that snuffs the gift from morning’s gleaming wick

The string that tunes spring afternoons is soon cut to the quick

And a new page becomes the stage for faith’s arpeggio

Where He who grants its song and dance will never let us go

Look up; the cup that overflows with highs and lows is held

With utter care and God knows where and how each drop will meld

Like notes, into the rush and woo of holding and release

Each rise and fall and beck and call part of life's Masterpiece

© Janet Martin

...and in our lows we are reminded in Luke 12:22-31

Do Not Worry

22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 

what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 

23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 

24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;

 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 

25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]?

 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. 

Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 

28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, 

and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,

 how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 

29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 

30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, 

and your Father knows that you need them. 

31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

tots looking at the birds...

'They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;

 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! '

Have a wonder-full day!

Priceless Provision...

Visiting the dentist that I have had a long-standing 

Or rephrase, a long tipped almost upside-down relationship with

is NOT the way I would choose to start the week 

but I am very thankful for him nonetheless😅😂

This morning I couldn't help but laugh out loud when he asked me

if I'm feeling numb yet? Oxy moron?

Visiting the dentist always allows lots of time to reflect!

The eastward edge of earth and sky gives birth to break of day...

(to we who remain)

We know it will be so for nothing can dawn’s courser’s sway

How beautiful the funeral service message of comfort was yesterday

to the family and friends of my Uncle Ernie Frey

In closing the minister reiterated the wonderful comfort in the knowledge

 that though we mourn it is not without hope

because God did provide a way that defeated death

and leads to life eternal.

Oh, what a blessed hope and joy for all who believe!

So, though this year for many, Christmas is marked with sorrow

for those who believe it remains a season of everlasting joy as well!

The Child in the manger 

became man's redemption on the cross at Calvary!

Now, that's a Tree worth revering,

a joy worth shouting!

From it hung the Light of the World

in time's darkest hour!

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

The quote below is from a book of Peter Marshall messages...

The eastward edge of earth and sky gives birth to break of day

We know it will be so for nothing can dawn’s courser’s sway

Just as we know the west will showcase sunset’s artistry

Faith fixes eyes upon a prize it knows but cannot see

This is the day the Lord has made with hope and grace renewed

Time’s march, far more than stiff-starched moment-soldiers, season-hued

It is a footpath to an aftermath by breath concealed

And only when life ceases, then the rest will be revealed

God does not leave grief comfortless when death collects its due

If we believe then we receive Hope’s anchor, firm and true

Though storms may toss with loss, the power of the cross abides

Faith dearly clings through sufferings to the hope God provides

The Faithful One who gave His Son to pay the sinner’s debt

Will never fail though dark the vale of sorrows that beset

God, through His Son, knew love had won, though it appeared He died

The triumph of faith, hope and love was on death’s other side

© Janet Martin

Luke 12:31-32

But seek [f]the kingdom of God, 

and all these things shall be added to you.

 “Do not fear, little flock, 

for it is your Father’s good pleasure

 to give you the kingdom. 

Jesus, Son of God

Haloed Ground

Dusk’s halo crowns the dimming day

Earth draped in a luxurious shawl

Embellished where blue shadows fall

In patterns pressed like applique 

As twilight dons a hallowed air

And day that was is gently drawn

To gossamer worlds of bygone

In ambience akin to prayer

Leaving behind a kind of sense

That grants no answer as we peer

Down corridors of yesteryear

...of Time hinged to Something Immense

© Janet Martin

Serenade to Simple-Sweet

Good-bye Granola, Hello Muesli (and a few other taste-bud EUREKA moments)

I was inspired by this video by Kylie Flavell

to make a batch of muesli instead of granola

To a baking sheet of rolled oats add 2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon

 and a teaspoon slightly rounded of cloves. Mix

Drizzle with olive oil (approx.1/4-1/3 cup) Mix.

Spread out and bake at 300F-ish until golden brown.

Toast coconut, nuts and seeds...

I used sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds (sesame would be delicious as well)

 I used sliced almonds (you can use whole and chop after toasting)

Chop dates or apricots (scissors works well for this because they are sticky)

measure out raisins, cranberries or any other dried fruit

If you are watching sugars remember dried fruits are sugar!

They add the sweetness to this muesli recipe.

No sugar, honey, maple syrup etc.

When oats are finished baking mix all together.

So-o-o delicious!

the next recipe has been saved since I came across it in the summer, 

to try at Christmas

Frosted Cranberry Drop Cookies

Worth the wait. WOW! 

Taste-bud bliss😋

(the only tweak (optional); 

a bit of orange juice and grated rind to the batter 

and a bit of grated orange rind in the frosting)

And last but not least...

Not so exciting to look at but

pure pleasure to eat!

Creamy Soft Caramels

Warning; can cause caramel addiction😅

One of life's sweetest, simplest pleasures

 is homemade goodness.

Makes one kinda want to sing 

a little song of gladness/thankfulness

for life's little treasures...

 

sing a song of simple pleasures

let love's longings leap with joy

count thy wealth of humble treasures

 little puppy, girlie, boy

little home-cooked warmth for supper

little hug-kiss, tuck in bed

little starlight-sparkle cover

underfoot and overhead

like a diamond duvet spread

little book-and-tea vacation

little prayer and little poem

 little patchwork of creation

for our little home-sweet-home

little birdie at the feeder

little butter for our bread

little laughter to make sweeter

little sorrow's scarlet thread

binding wounds with hope, not dread

little lease of little learning

little footfall of today

 little tick-tock's no-returning

always slip-slipping away

little moment-elum filling  

little hold and letting go

little lamp-light softly spilling

little halos on the snow

like an angel's afterglow  

Janet~

(new puppy next door wants to meet his neighbors)

'little birdies at the feeder'

'little home-cooked warmth for supper' (or lunch)

 

Because Love Came Down

When Love Came Down to Earth

And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

Luke 9:43

This post inspired in part by Luke 9

and this message by Charles Spurgeon

The Secret of Loving God

(a few excerpts from this message)

"Faith is an act, partly of the intellect, and partly of the affections.

And we must therefore have both head and heart renewed by the spirit of God

Or we shall not have true faith.

…it is no mere child’s play. No matter to be settled off hand without thought or consideration.

Search yourself and see whether the spirit of God has produced in you

the true knowledge, 

the true faith 

and the true love 

or otherwise whatever you may think you possess 

of these things is not of God.

We love Him because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Oh, if you really believe that Jesus loves you 

sit down and turn this over in your mind...

Jesus loves me.

Jesus chose me.

Jesus redeemed me.

Jesus called me.

Jesus has pardoned me.

Jesus has taken me into union with Himself.

Jesus has made me to be a part of The Bride, the Lamb’s wife. 

I shall be one with Him forever!"

When love came down, yon starry height

Was rent with angel host

The darkened world was bathed in Light

And hymns of Heaven’s Boast

When love came down from God to man

In form of helpless babe

The offspring of Love’s Master Plan

Was in a manger laid

When love came down from glory’s Best

To suffer evil’s worst

No one could confound love by test

Because He loved us first

When love came down no man could claim

Worth justifiable

To deserve Jesus Christ who came

One sacrifice for all

When love came down mankind beheld

Love’s/God’s Holy Mystery

The seed that in Virgin’s womb swelled

Infant, Infinity

When love came down, man could not know

How Satan’s scheme was wrecked

Hate tried but could not overthrow

The Cause that births effect

When love came down to you and me

Ah, who with logic whole

Could reject He who came to be

The Savior of the soul

When love came down to sinners vile

Their affection to woo

It made the hosts of Heaven smile

May it make us smile too

...and let the heart of worship brim

And sing, ‘Jesus, Jesus’

And shout for joy this; 'we love Him

Because He first loved us'

From well-springs inexhaustible 

Love's living waters laud

To fulfill the impossible

The love of man for God

With joy unspeakable and sure

God's sorrow forged a crown

The prize of faith and hope secure

Because His love came down

© Janet Martin

another small excerpt from the above message...

Our love is a simplicity founded upon a Mystery…

We love. That is simple enough.

Because He first loved us.

Ah, there is the great mystery which none of us can fully understand.