The Lily-Garb of Innocence...

Last night we celebrated Grand-sonny's 5th birthday!

We have been blessed with five swift years of cute,

curly-headed curiosity and sweetness,

and once again as I marvel at the way

moments meld into years before we know it,

it sure makes me want to make the most of here and now!

Eager little sister, watching on the sidelines, suddenly leaned in with a hefty 

(greatly unappreciated) huff to snuff the final stubborn candles

 (you can imagine the response from Big Brother)

while we adults heartily assured him that his huff got there before hers. 😅

Checking out the next Lego project

(the ice-cream truck)

 Reminiscent of sweet summer days

Childhood’s pure garb of precious, carefree innocence is brief

Soon human nature starts to test sweet darlings with its grief

As moments mete the tide that ebbs and flows, composing Time

Across four-season shorelines rolls the rhythm of its rhyme

Ahoy, the joy of boyhood bliss must soon become a man

We who shower their cheeks with kisses should do all we can

To train and equip hearts and hands for childhood’s aftermath

As morn imparts momentous sands pouring to life’s footpath

To make the most of here and now is all that we can do

To waken senses to the ‘wow’ of Today, always new

To take our thankful place in the embrace of common task

And trust God for the grace that He will give us if we ask

The lily garb of innocence we all wore in our youth

Is handed down to those who trust us to teach them the truth

Then pray we look to He who is the Way, the Truth and Life

Before the Child must leave sweet play to face time’s tides of strife

© Janet Martin

Deut.11:18-20

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; 

tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

 19Teach them to your children, speaking about them 

when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road,

 when you lie down and when you get up. 

20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,…

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, 

bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, 

so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen,

 and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live.

 Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children

and speak of them when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road, 

when you lie down and when you get up.

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children, 

but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD 

and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

Psalm 78:6
that the coming generation would know them--

even children yet to be born--

to arise and tell their own children

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, 

and when he is old he will not depart from it

Oh Thou Whose Glory Earth and Sky Declares For All To See...

Inspired in part by

Isa.55

He loves righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Ps.33:5

Facebook flowed with photos of  last night's glorious sunset

that at our house, we can only glimpse the outer fringes of...

But what a metaphor for faith,

 as the outer fringes of his works

rouse a wild desire to 'see in full'

When Jim called this morning to ask what's new, do you know what I said?

I said 'nothing'! Nothing at all? he asked and I repeated 'nothing'.

And then I said 'wait a minute! how can I say 'nothing' after reading Isa. 55?!!

and I shared with him some of the glorious pleas, reminders, invitations and promises

from this beautiful chapter and I shared the poem

inspired by the manifold majesties of the sunset-artist!

God's mercies are new every morning.

Lam.3:22-23

Hallelujah!

Oh, thou whose glory earth and sky declares for all to see

Day after day, night after night exhibits majesty (Ps. 19:1-2)

Since the creation of the world Evidence streams, profuse (Rom.1:20)

Without a word (so all may know and be without excuse)

Majestic is your name, oh Lord, our Lord, in all the earth (Ps.8:1)

No wealth of mortal can afford Goodness and Mercy’s worth

Without money you bid us come to freely drink and eat (Isa.55:1)

You vow to satisfy the humble soul with joy complete

Thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory without end (Matt.6:13)

Your thoughts and ways a tower whose height none comprehend (Isa.55:9)

Forgive us when we doubt because we cannot understand

How pitiful we are without faith in Your righteous Hand (Isa.29:19)

How easily our eyes can blind us by the things we see

How proudly want can bind us to the lure of luxury

How greatly, what/Who is hidden waits to rend denial’s veil

And leave us wholly/holy smitten with Thy love that cannot fail

How terrible to wait to call until it is too late (Rev.6:16)

Love’s kindest beckoning of all (Isa.55:6) transcends time’s mortal state

Oh, Thou whose glory earth and sky declares for all to see

May we unite to magnify Thy Name eternally

© Janet Martin

So, cling to His Hand/Word 

and He will help us cling to our marriages;

He whose glory we behold but outer fringes (Job 26:14)  of has said,

What He has joined let no man put asunder/separate.(Mark 10:9)

Cling to his Hand/Word 

and he will guide us through dark channels of conflict.(Isa.41:10)

Cling to his Hand/Word 

and He will calm the storms of fear. (Matt.14:31)

Cling to His Hand/Word 

and let His truth thwart lies from the enemy (Ephes.6:14)

The list of benefits is endless 

when we cling to His Hand/Word! 

(Eph.3:20)  (1 Tim.1:14) (Psalm 23)

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

When I Am Tempted to Despair

An impending announcement this morning

on further restrictions

could truly cause Ontario-ans to despair...😭 

God, make us more faithful in prayer🙏

Today's window-font is frost-crisp silver and gold gilt!

(we were only at -18 this morning so rather balmy compared to

temperatures out west of around -40!)

When I am tempted to despair

Beneath life’s weight of woe

Lord, let your power by faith’s prayer

Doubt’s conflict overthrow

Lead me in paths of righteousness

For your name’s sake, (not mine)

Rekindle utter thankfulness

For grace and love divine

Let wisdom be the wealth I seek

Your wonders never cease

Then let the thoughts I choose to speak

Reflect hope, joy and peace

Lord, let truth purify my prayer

Until your law is chief

When I am tempted to despair

Lord, help mine unbelief

Half-truths will set a deadly snare

Lord, purify my fear

When I am tempted to despair

Let me Your law revere

For thou wilt keep in perfect peace

The mind, kind-stayed on Thee

Your increase sires the decrease

That births humility

When I am tempted to despair

Beneath care’s dread design

Stir in me Gethsemane’s prayer

Lord, not my will but thine

And make my chief delight your law

Lord, purify my love

Until its most despairing flaw

Is ‘never quite enough’

When I am tempted to despair

Lord, purify my plea

With an image beyond compare

The cross of Calvary

The price of pride no lie can foil

With clanging flattery

How brutal is the bitter spoil

Of Self-first clarity

When I am tempted to despair

Lord, purify my goal

And lift my eyes beyond earth's care

To the home of the soul

© Janet Martin

It's easy to become disillusioned by what we see...

Oh, may it never be

we lose our way/faith 

and are tempted to despair...

I had a craving to listen to this oldie this morning...

Home of the Soul

Jer.10

Lest we forget God's Sovereignty 

(Click link above for full chapter)

Below a few excerpts...

Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by signs in the heavens,

though the nations are terrified by them.

3For the practices of the peoples are worthless;

they cut a tree out of the forest,

and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

4They adorn it with silver and gold;

they fasten it with hammer and nails

so it will not totter.

5Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,

their idols cannot speak;

they must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them;

they can do no harm

nor can they do any good.”

6No one is like you, Lord;

you are great,

and your name is mighty in power.

7Who should not fear you,

King of the nations?

This is your due.

Among all the wise leaders of the nations

and in all their kingdoms,

there is no one like you...

..the Lord is the true God;

he is the living God, the eternal King.

When he is angry, the earth trembles;

the nations cannot endure his wrath..

12But God made the earth by his power;

he founded the world by his wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

13When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses...

23Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;

it is not for them to direct their steps.

24Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—

not in your anger,

or you will reduce me to nothing.

The Humble Sum of Shoes (An Old-to-New Year Poem)

Happy New Year!

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 

(2 Pet. 1:2)

The old year ran out before I was able to finish

its final post...

Hello and welcome, 2022!

Momentous carousel of gray and gold,

green, blush and blue...

May we weather with hope renewed 

each day as it is lent

and leave behind when it is through 

a year of love well spent...

The above verse is a brief contemplation

Below an ambling stroll through a garden of thoughts

...and a few snapshots of the end of the old 

a visit to the neighbour's farm...

Harbour view after returning middle daughter to her home (away from home)

and beginning of the new...

Tendrils of day-to-day like vines entwine

Where green shoots gild weather-beaten remains

And hope rekindles bittersweet refrains

On thoroughfares of four-season design

Where what was new a year ago is old

And what is new runs rife with life’s unknowns

And what is old is framed in grins and groans

That only eyes of retrospect behold

Yet, as we peer ahead no one can see

What waits to climb time’s gates to history

For all that changes some things never do

Nothing estranges takers from the Hands

That give to each its score of numbered sands

Nothing can thwart the truth, forever true

Nothing can bar faith’s humble prayer from He

Who knows what waits to be, oh, blissful thought

No matter what is lent to mortal lot

Nothing usurps Divine Authority

Do not despair, but bless God; do not curse

His goodness, steadfast through better or worse

The vines that climb the arbor of a year

Soon disappear, or so we dare to think

But though moments are over in a wink

So much abides beneath Bequeathed Veneer

Where words and deeds like seeds scattered behind

May seem to sleep, like gardens heaped with snow

But in the course of time the fruit will show

This is the way all nature is designed

He is not mocked who ordains time and place

And stocks each season with mercy and grace

The new to the old grafts with seamless ease

Thresholds meld to cold gravestones of the past

Daybreak fuels dusk’s purple shadow-cast

The rise and fall of footstep-symphonies

Like waves; a mighty force that disappears

How sacred then, commonplace steps become

When from shorelines we view the humble sum

Of shoes outgrown or outliving man’s years

How humbly then we stoop to tie the strings

Of faith in God for what the new year brings

The highs and lows of joys and woes compose

The dust and ash that tears and laughter spill 

Where morning hoists Mercy's faithful refill

From He who crowns the thorn-stem with a rose

As north, south, east or west our steps deplete

The Path hinged to endless eternity

And no one knows how near or far will be

The sacred transport from time's trampled beat 

As we are borne beyond the humble sum 

Of shoes and such, into the world to come

© Janet Martin

From me to precious you,

Wishes for a

A blessed and joyful New Year!

The Greatest of These Is Love

Love never fails.

1 Cor.13:8

The greatest of these is love.

1 Cor.13:13

But what a battleground love bestows...

Matt.22:36-40

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God 

with all your heart 

and with all your soul 

and with all your mind.’[a] 

38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 

39 And the second is like it:

 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The challenge...1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world 

or the things in the world. 

If anyone loves the world, 

the love of the Father is not in him. 

16For all that is in the world—

the lust of the flesh, 

the lust of the eyes, 

and the pride of life—

is not of the Father but is of the world.

  17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; 

but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Love is always a daunting topic to try to tackle

and tame into ink-jots...

But love forgives love's shortcomings and stumbles/fumbles

Love is patient and kind.

Love is life's greatest joy and sorrow~

Esp. a mother's love...

This poem by Helen Steiner Rice captures it so eloquently...

So, here's to another day of learning to love!

Yesterday a few friends/moms gathered

around a beautiful table set with tea and treats and

shared among many things

 some heart-to-heart hopes and hurts of love.

I could kick myself for not getting a picture

of her thoughtfully, beautifully laid table!

I did get a few pictures of her pretty windows though.

Love breaks barriers, mends bridges

Lends a willing, helping hand

Wakes us to mercies God gives us

Fits us for each day’s demand

Startles us with sweet contentment

When gratitude conquers greed

Surrenders futile resentment

In the light of fellow-need

Love gives life its fullest fortune

Overflowing treasure stores

That will be unveiled in heaven

After earth closes its doors

Love is a double-edged saber

Sparking duals constantly

Is it ‘God first then my neighbor’

If I test love honestly?

Love is foolproof faith in action

The fulfillment of God’s call

Proving its foremost attraction

By who we serve first of all

Love is patient, kind and humble

Love is not vile and uncouth

Love does not delight in evil

But rejoices in the truth

Love is not a careless pledger

Not given to reckless mirth

Love is conscious of a ledger

That records our days on earth

Thus, Love oft must test thought’s impulse

Probe beneath first-glance façade

To the heart of motive’s scruples

Love of self or love of God

© Janet Martin

New Year Happiness Anticipation

 Ageless hopes for a Happy New Year!

A kiss on Child’s soft, chubby cheek

Or on down-crown of golden curls

Daybreak, all gold and purple chic

And great big hugs from little girls

A brook, earth’s most enchanting crease

A book to feed word wanderlust

A nook in nature’s masterpiece

To worship God with love-awed trust

A winter’s morn, fluffy and white

A shock of corn, forlorn, forgot

Dusk’s friendly fireside delight

Hot soup to ladle from a pot

Crumbs after buttered toast is gone

The yawn and hum of the mundane

The short answer to a question 

Tiny tap dancers made of rain 

Ageless thrills of discovery

The carousel of season-tide

Spring's bud-untethered filigree

Excitement of Here-comes-the-bride

A way to get from here to there

A new Today untried, untrod

Blue heavens to capture our stare

And draw our gaze upward to God

Warm slippers, sweaters, blankets, smiles

Such simple pleasure-treasures, oh

Coffee, clean, folded laundry piles

Gardens asleep beneath the snow

God’s Word to cheer and teach and guide

Unaltered by the change time brings

Beauty's pastoral countryside

To make us feels as rich as kings

Unwalled woodland sabbaticals

A perch beneath trees lofty tress

The happiness that animals

Bring to a world of peopled-ness

The joy that birds and flowers birth

As we behold God’s creature care

The purity of guiltless mirth

The surety of answered prayer

The wealth of family and friends

The hope beyond love’s groans and sighs

Unbeaten path that dips and wends

Wonders to take us by surprise

Two tots for tea, a turquoise sea

The payoff view after the climb

Mist-grist of unpenned poetry

The felling fist of Father Time

And for earth’s very careworn road

Faith’s very Heaven-glorious goal

Because Christ paid the debt we owed

And saved The Very Deathless soul

© Janet Martin

Today's Prayer

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ 

will enter the kingdom of heaven, 

but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus~

Matt.7:21

Almost Persuaded-Josh Turner

Four years ago I shared the song below on this post:

No Mere Existence This

as we mourned the loss of a young man in our community

God loves us all, so poor, needy and broken without Him,

He is mankind's Healer, Deliverer and Savior!

He is love

For all who have not heard or trusted God, so good and kind

I pray today unveils the way that only faith can find

Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord, heaven’s passport will win

But only those who do the will of God will enter in

For all who have not yet bowed heads to repent and believe

I pray today the Truth will reveal doubt's lies that deceive

That eyes once blind will see and hearts once hard will yield to He

Who is not mocked; but is the Saviour of humanity

For all who have not understood the gravity of life

I pray today they find the peace that surpasses all strife

Before it is too late, I pray they roam earth’s futile sod

Until they turn from self and sin to want the love of God

© Janet Martin

Today's Bible Love Note:

Cultural Conformity

2 Pet.3:3

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come,

 scoffing and following their own evil desires.

John 12:48
There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words:

 The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith 

to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

2 Timothy 3:2
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,

 boastful, arrogant, abusive, 

disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Jude 1:16
These men are discontented grumblers, 

following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance;

 they flatter others for their own advantage.

Awesome Overtures or Moment-ous Ink

The gold of moments molds mementos we cannot hold in our hands

It composes strange concertos from the sum of settled sands

Eventide’s subtle rebuttal eases the brunt of day’s death

With skylines where pink-gold-purple teases eyes and steals our breath

The gold of moments molds mementos we cannot hold in our hands

It composes strange concertos from the sum/thrum of settled sands

Nothing in the world can alter the momentum of the clock

Soon the Flare of Now will falter on the wick of tick and tock

Look, the lane once fringed with daisies wears a chain of snowflake stars

What once drove desire crazy decks the halls of yester-bars

Let’s not take today for granted; let’s make it a work of art

For its echo soon is planted in the garden of the heart

The ink of ten thousand oceans sweeps shorelines of Bygone’s grave

While we wrangle into Poem the sun-sparkles on its wave

Lyrics of lament and laughter sealed in stanzas set to rhyme

Before soon pours into After; where After hoards ash of Time

Ever-afters last forever hinged to morning's virgin yawn

After and before are tethered to a weathered on-and-on

Where endings beget beginnings destined to augment Past's stash

As twilight collects its winnings; dust-to-dust and ash to ash  

Eventide’s subtle rebuttal eases the brunt of day’s death

With skylines where pink-gold-purple teases eyes and steals our breath

Thievery like this is common when wonder fulfills its charge

Where we bear witness to awesome overtures of God at large

© Janet Martin