More Contemplations on Love

Love, be glorious as a sunrise

Beauty void of vanity...

Love, be glorious as a sunrise

Beauty void of vanity

Newness in spite of spent ages

Hope's gentle humility

Love, be lovely as a flower

Broken bud to beaming laud

Blooming where our feet are planted

Giving all glory to God

Love, be like a ship, seaworthy

Fit to weather stormy gale

Trust the Captain for the journey

He is good and will not fail

Love, be like a lilting fountain

Love be like a joyful song

Love be like the One who suffered

Though He committed no wrong

Love, be like a fearless soldier

Love, be like a warrior’s shield

Like a vineyard or an orchard

Gleaming with opulent yield

Love, be sobriety's laughter

Not the wino's loosened tongue

Be a role model, trustworthy

A kind mother to the young

Love, be like a mighty ocean

Love, be like a little seed

Stun us with the potent power

Of small scattered word and deed

Love, be like an earnest offering

On the altar of today

Labour not for acquisitions

That in death will fade away

Love, do not become disheartened

When the call would cast thee down

Remember the One who showed us

First the cross and then the crown

© Janet Martin

Phil.2:1-4

Therefore if you have any encouragement 

from being united with Christ, 

if any comfort from his love,

 if any common sharing in the Spirit,

 if any tenderness and compassion, 

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, 

having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 

  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

  not looking to your own interests 

but each of you to the interests of the others.

Today Spring has Come True...

*Where nature's hidden hold 

Begins to drip and spill

As sweetest wealth of Maple Gold

Gives young and old a thrill... 

 Find your tasty Maple 'treasures' and treats here!

Winding Road Maple Products

I didn't have the opportunity to post a first day of spring poem yesterday

so let's celebrate its arrival today!

And though we know somewhere

The last snowfall still taunts

With bolder happiness we dare

To dream of flowered haunts...

We revel in the afternoon

Of leafless gold, sun-kissed...

Today spring has come true

The sun climbs a blue hill

Strewing a golden residue

To earth, still stark and chill

And though we know somewhere

The last snowfall still taunts

With bolder happiness we dare

To dream of flowered haunts

The robin sings for rain

Bird-warbling hails the morn

Across the melt-and-mud terrain

The killdeer’s cry is borne

…and though the bud’s cocoon

Is a clenched, maroon fist

We revel in the afternoon

Of leafless gold, sun-kissed

*Where nature's hidden hold 

Begins to drip and spill

As sweetest wealth of Maple Gold

Gives young and old a thrill  

 

A promised land of green

Starts to break winter's spell

Where once a whitewashed world had been

And frigid shadows fell

We sense time’s discipline

That no hand can undo

And smile the smile of youth again

For Today Spring came true

© Janet Martin

Oh, Glorious Pangs of Love

So many of us have loved ones not within arms or quick car-ride's reach...

Oh, what a gift to love enough to suffer its glorious pangs!

Our grand-kiddos other set of grandparents live an airplane flight away

so needless to say, they suffer the kind of pangs

possible only by beautiful love!

We miss our Nova Scotia family too💕

The 'other gramma' has become a dear friend of mine

so this poem was inspired by the Afterward of her recent visit💖💘

(Pics used with permission. photo credit: Emily Curry)

Oh, glorious pangs of love

No sorrow is so sweet

The heart is like a treasure trove

As smiles and tears compete

Where, though our paths may part

It holds in its embrace

Love’s everlasting works of art

That nothing can erase

Oh, glorious pangs of love

What tender weight to bear

The bitter-sweetest banter of

Echoes upon the air

Where once upon a day

The joy of you and me

Became what none can steal away

A cherished memory

Oh, glorious pangs of love

May we all be so blessed

As to never get quite enough

Time with those we love best

Then, though farewells must be

As you and I must part

May memory’s kind company

Soothe sorrow’s stinging smart

How oft it warms my heart

To picture God above

And how He too must ache and smart

With glorious pangs of love

While counting down The Toll

That draws us through the Door

Where He unveils love’s sweetest goal

Together Evermore

© Janet Martin

Let It Be...(an easier-said-than-done-outpouring)

This weekend Grandsonny and granddaughter

experienced the joy of lending a helping hand...

(work before play 😄)

and reaping some delightful rewards!

 

...the happiness of Maple-taffy-cone sweet thank-yous 

Where can you get a sweet thank-you treat too?!! Here!

Winding Road Maple Products

...the thrill of a ride in Grandpa's big truck

We are all children in a sense, earning a recompense of reward...

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,

 but in deed and in truth.

After a few recent devotions and yesterday's message

 I have once again been soundly challenged

 to weigh my love in the scales of His Word and choices I make

 to see if my love for God and fellowman is found wanting!

Lord, let it be Thy love for me that satisfies my want and need

Lord, let it be my love for Thee that shines Thy light in word and deed

Lord, let the witness of Thy love be more than Sunday morning rite

Lord, let the fruit of the tree prove Thy love to be my chief delight

Lord, let it be my faith in Thee (not what I see) that keeps me strong

And let my humble honor be to help a fellowman along

And let my joy forever spring from a Fount that cannot run dry

Thy love, Lord exceeds everything that my thought attempts to descry

Lord, let it be Thy love for me that crowns the motive of my will

And let the light of Thy love be like a city set on a hill

Lord, let goodness and mercy be a messenger in hands and feet

Thy love for me, my love for Thee to make life’s journey to Thee sweet

Lord, let it be my hope in Thee that reminds me how great thou art

Remind me of love’s sympathy that broke Thy body and Thy heart

Then, as I see Thy love for me let nothing hide Thy lovely face

The backdrop of a bloodstained tree, forbid, some lesser loves replace

Lord, though the storms of life increase, Lord bid the demons of dread flee

For thou wilt keep in perfect peace, the mind that is transfixed on Thee

And let it be Thy love for me that grants the courage to proceed

And let it be my love for Thee that helps a fellowman in need

© Janet Martin

No one can help everyone but we who are blessed to have

can all help someone who does not have!!

Love's Sweet Assurance

I enjoy watching golf, partly because it's so easy

to get emotionally connected to the highs and lows

of those little white balls and the drivers behind them...

I also find so many metaphors for life in the game

with its challenging courses, 

the exhilaration of an eagle, 

and the frustration of the bogie

What a competition it was last week

 for all who participated in the Players Championship 

finally completed on Monday!

And of course, tears at both ends of the emotional spectrum;

Anhirban Lahiri's tears of disappointment in loss...

and Cameron Smith's tears of joy in victory!

(Big hug from mom)

Cameron Smith, when interviewed, told reporters that the

joy of the win is secondary to the joy of being able to see

his mom and sister face to face for the first time in two years

due to covid restrictions.(he now lives in Florida)

 (smiles and tears from girlfriend, sister and mother)

His mother and sister flew in from Australia a few hours earlier

to share what turned out to be a celebration with the Champion!

Isn't it wonderful to have love's sweet assurance no matter 

what the results of a day's effort brings?

Love shares in both highs and lows of life💓💔

Here's to all our personal 'Sawgrass 17th holes' 

We are all in a Challenge with very grave stakes...

Imagine if we put the time and passion/effort into training like top athletes do!

And for the victor, oh the joy of that face to face meeting at last!

This life of highs and lows composes opportunity

To help us stop to smell the roses midst adversity

To let our words and meditation honor He who grants

His gift of grace, salvation, to the sinner who repents

This life of hope and heartache is a course of down-and-up

One copes with loss and heartbreak while one hoists the winner’s cup

But all of us are equal in the eyes of He who holds

Soul’s very sacred sequel to Time’s very temp’ral molds

This life of want and wonder thunders with faith’s wait-and-see

Time’s little haunt of hunger harbours immortality

Where the gift of salvation is no temporary prize

But seals our vindication through Lamb’s blood that justifies

This life of Good misunderstood and dreams never come true

Could drive us to despair and would faith’s quest for Best undo

Without love's sweet assurance proclaimed by Jesus, our Lord

All who run with endurance will receive Endless Reward

© Janet Martin

Heb.12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, 

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Blessed Assurance

The Answer to My Favorite Question...Why?

Why? asked the little boy beside me 

where I was just finishing touch-ups to a poem when he arrived!

Why do you do this?

Ah! my favorite question! I smiled to myself

while replying simply that its good for my heart and head because

making a poem makes them work (and pray) very, very hard!🙏

and because it helps me remember pieces of life I love...like you!

I do it to unlatch a door that else would seal forevermore

In verdicts of access denied as day is snuffed by eventide

…to forge from filament of time a sentimental bit o’ rhyme

And to capture the subtle toll of seasons winnowing the soul

…to create from a swollen brook impressions of a picture book

With clouds adrift on listless seas above a copse of leafless trees

I do it to attempt to find treasures cherished and underlined

To seize spring’s youthfulness that plays in melting snows and longer days

…to bind, though we are far apart, the tender tendrils of the heart

And make each other feel at home in the kind kinship of a poem

…to carve a keepsake from the fray of gorgeous glints of yesterday

To waken from forsaken veldt how mother’s smooth, starched apron smelled

I do it to embrace the way the hand of time turns tresses gray

To learn the purity of joy taught by a little girl or boy

To try to frame, poetry-kissed, beauty, never wasted, oft missed

To make the most of now and here before its sparkles disappear

To snare in syllable, the hue of pictures time cannot undo 

Of blush and blue, green-gold run rife in mementos of love and life

To clasp the hemline of a robe that trails through ages of this globe

And with whispers of poetry hear Someone ask, 'did you touch Me?'

© Janet Martin

Dancing Shoes (or something like it)

Sometimes instead of picturing Time as a task master 

shouting marching orders

it's nice to picture Time as a tutor 

to we, wearing dancing shoes

in a ballroom called Today.

From Bud...

To Bloom...

To Flare and Fade...

to Fall

...in what often feels like not much time at all!!

Wishing us all more fly than fall

in whatever our dance-lessons bring us today!

Time takes its students by the arm

Resolute rigor, cheeky charm

Across the ballroom of today

It sweeps and twirls each hour away

Some struggle with new steps and fall

Some barely touch the floor at all

Time does not miss a moment’s beat

An instructor with tireless feet

This Choreographer of years

Composes songs with smiles and tears

Where it is up to us to choose

How we will wear our dancing shoes

Time grants the chance and melody

The dance is up to you and me

To make the most of Now to Then

And if we trip, to try again

Rather than simply sit and yearn

When there is still so much to learn

Time, diligent in its demise

Rends night's velvet veils with sunrise

That disappear into the blue

Above a mottled avenue

Of stars and amateurs that meet

To try new bars beneath their feet 

Time scrawls its seasons on our skin

In time, it tames the beast within

A scribe of sacred, high degree

Brought to naught by eternity

It teaches faith to leap and fly

Through hoops of hello and goodbye

© Janet Martin

See then that you walk [e]circumspectly,

 not as fools but as wise,

 16redeeming the time,

 because the days are evil.

Eph.5:15-16

Life's Little Luxuries

Matt.11:28-29

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

 and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;

 for I am meek and lowly in heart: 

and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

As our heavy-laden hearts pour out to God 

as we think of those suffering sorrows 

of war, sickness and death, 

suddenly our eyes are opened to innumerable luxuries...

This poem could quite easily quadruple in length!

(but due to six 'little luxuries' arriving any moment

this is it for now!)😉

God bless you as you thank Him for your

own version of life's little luxuries

Life’s little luxuries can be easy to overlook

Like fresh-brewed cups of coffee, dream-delights of a cook-book...

The everyday enchantment of God’s poetry run wild

(WOW! did it EVER run wild yesterday!!)

The heaven-ness of Happy, kissed with laughter of a child...

The pitter-pat of little feet becoming big too fast...

Complimentary masterpieces, sun and shadow cast...

Life’s little luxuries can be easy to overlook

Like fresh-brewed cups of coffee, dream-delights of a cook-book

The everyday enchantment of God’s poetry run wild

The heaven-ness of Happy, kissed with laughter of a child

The pitter-pat of little feet becoming big too fast

Complimentary masterpieces, sun-and-shadow cast

An afternoon when overhead March sunbeams melt the sky

Into impressions of a sea with cloud-ships drifting by

Life’s little luxuries abound in every shape and size

To sweeten Struggle’s common ground and take us by surprise

While we weather the ups and downs that it seems, needs must be

To hone the hurts and hopes of love into humility

To make us more aware of what today would like to teach

And wake our wandering wants to wonder-fountains within reach

And to pay earnest heed to what we discount, far too oft

Before the brunt of moments turns to mist where echoes waft

Life’s little luxuries cannot be recognized in haste

Slow down, slow down, the hour groans with so much joy to taste

Where He who helps us carry cares is ever undeterred

He hears our prayers and gives us rest as we lean on His Word

And then our eyes are opened to the beauties of the hour

That spills to Duty’s common cup a smile, a child, a flow’r

His love none can exceed; each morn His renewed mercies brim

He knows exactly what we need before we ask of Him

Life’s little luxuries like sufficient strength for the day

Like bird-song in the garden as the dark is drawn away

Like knowing, no matter what is or was or lies before

Nothing is too hard for the God we worship and adore

Like finding the gold lining, you, in overcoats of gray

Then letting the sheer happiness of Us drive gloom away

Makes what may at first glance appear like commonalities

A wellspring overflowing with life’s little luxuries

© Janet Martin

Below, the verse to which I cling, as

I lift (some years-long) requests to our God.

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.

 Is there anything too hard for Me?

Jer.32:27

Like finding the gold lining, you, in overcoats of gray

Then letting the sheer happiness of Us drive gloom away...

(used with permission)