Monday, May 23, 2022

Once Upon A Wistful Morrow (demands full attention now)


Woods are reinvigorated
Garbed in nature’s purest hues...



In Ontario we are in the thick of that swift and sacred planting season!

Hard work but so worth it as seeds and seedlings start to grow!

This plot doesn't look like much yet 
but hopefully in a few months it will be a vibrant dahlia garden!


The deluge of rain on Saturday halted my work before I got the stone-paths done...
One thing every bloom has in common:
it was planted!




The slacker does not plow in season; 
at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

It's that simple:
If we do not plant in planting season, 
there can be no goodly harvest

That is life's most solemn truth both literally and metaphorically!
Planting season is precious and fleeting!
Dear mothers, young parents, take heart as you till the soil of a tender soul!
Behold your sacred charge!
This is love's planting season!
Beyond the sweat and toil of tough love and training
waits the harvest!
And every day, entrust your cares
to your Heavenly Father 
who knows exactly what we need
and grants strength for the day.
No. There is no instant gratification
in planting.
It takes time and patience to grow a seed
to its full potential.
But, by the grace God gives,
endure!


Once-upon-a-wistful morrow
Brings no sweat upon the brow
Look; our feet stand on the furrow
Planting time is here and now

Sometimes as I admire someone's autumn garden
I will say, oh! I wish I would have remembered to plant
 such and such in the spring
but because I didn't I cannot harvest its fruit in the fall!

At almost 56 years old, I find myself in the autumn of life,
sometimes wishing for something I didn't plant in the 'spring',
but we look at the the spring of earth's season and are reminded of
a God of forgiveness and redemption
granting planting season once again! 
And we plant, even in the fall of life,
seeds for the harvest still to come! 


Woods are reinvigorated
Garbed in nature’s purest hues
Green in glory unabated
Saturates long-listless views

Once-upon-a-wistful-morrow
Demands full attention now
For dreams do not plant a furrow
Wishing does not push the plow

Morning spills momentous jewels
Awes us with mercies renewed
After slumber’s rest refuels
Diligence and gratitude

…and we beseech today’s Giver
For fresh fervor for life’s toil
For the field will soon deliver
Planting season’s foolproof spoil

Joy and sorrow’s measures mingle
Where birth’s showcase steals our breath
Where our zealous senses tingle
With the imminence of death

While we wonder at the favors
Of flower-font bound to fray
While we savor fleeting flavors
On earth’s bittersweet buffet

Where soon hues of first green languish
Where soon dues of planting chime
Where soon love and labour’s anguish
Turn to hues of harvest time

Once-upon-a-wistful morrow
Brings no sweat upon the brow
Look; our feet stand on the furrow
Planting time is here and now

© Janet Martin

Once upon a wistful morrow
this will be  flower garden!


Once upon a wistful morrow...
the planting dust will settle

 and
and they will be women and men

Friday, May 20, 2022

Of Westward Slopes...(and juxtapositions)



I started this poem yesterday morning before Cutie-duty began
...and just like that the westward slope claimed its faithful prey



Now it's off to do some more planting...

Where bitter gall and sweet surprise mingle within life’s glass
And no one knows as daybreak glows what waits to come to pass...



The westward slope of daybreak draws the sun across the sky
The duel between dark and light fuels charge and reply
Duty resumes the rivalry of age-old no and yes
Beauty bestows its rose to crown the woes of brokenness
Where each of us is faced toward the Place from whence we came
Today’s debut, like none before and yet so much the same
A gift from He whose promises forevermore endure
To span the rift twixt man adrift and hope’s anchor secure

The happiness of hope is not a Thing money can buy
But faith’s unswaying confidence in ‘more than meets the eye’
Where bitter gall and sweet surprise mingle within life’s glass
And no one knows as daybreak glows what waits to come to pass
To aggregate the ebb and flow of delight and despair
Where Doubt, the Eden-sired foe still seeks to sets its snare
Where pride still goes before the fall and love still never fails
Where, when repentance bows the head, the grace of God prevails

The wrongs of time will be made right for all eternity
The mysteries of God will be revealed for all to see
The glass we peer through now is darkly, but then, face to face
As we behold The Fulness we received; grace upon grace
Where whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly too
God is not mocked; He grants the seeds we run our fingers through
Where want and wonder war as time pours out heartache and hope
While we are drawn toward the low’ring Door on westward slope

© Janet Martin


At first only one party sacrificed their turn on the swing,
the other not swayed in the least my the fact that sharing is caring...
but quite content in the temporary satisfaction of serving Self!
eventually everyone was persuaded to be a cheerful giver
even if it was only turns on a swing!

This passage is good to read from time to time
because 'planting season' is so brief!

2 Cor.9:6-11
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
 and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, 
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, 
so that in all things at all times, 
having all that you need, 
you will abound in every good work. 
9 As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food 
will also supply and increase your store of seed a
nd will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, 
and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.











Thursday, May 19, 2022

May Day



These are the days that disappear into thin air in what feels like no time at all!
A glimpse at today's sparkle of bliss...

This morning's air was a bit cool and drizzle-dazzled. 
This afternoon the sun's warmth and 'bright, blue skies' returned in fine friendliness
immediately making me feel very busy and a bit behind!
Worked in the garden until it was too dark to see...(no pics)😐

this morning every bloom was frosted with diamonds!

New Grandson's first visit to Grandma's house...
Happy 1 week old!
He has a very keen and cute admirer!



Pumpkin-Raisin muffin snack...


Picked a pot o' posies...


These are the days winter-dreams are made of
Green grass beneath and bright blue sky above
Afternoon air flares with happiest joys/noise
Birdsong and chat of carefree girls and boys
Flowers flaunt glitter of raindrop rhinestones
Bowers a-twitter with myriad tones
Apple tree blushes, blossom-ecstasy
Lilacs burst into a star-symphony
Gardens are playgrounds for dreams and bare feet
Duty is sacred and labour is sweet
Hope is a river that runs through the heart
Each day of May like a work of fine art
Nature's inheritance humbles the meek
These are the days of God's kiss on earth's cheek 

© Janet Martin


Female rose-breasted Grosbeak (identified by my Birder-friends on FB)

This male caught my eye (it's okay. it's a bird) 😅😉
because its back-feathers seemed more variegated than some
Turns out its cause he's young!😇






Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Petal-Mettle

 

Mainly I keep this apple tree
to enjoy the delight of its 'petal-mettle'💗





Sometimes I like to linger where
Whisper of blossoms tease the air
To lie beneath its sigh and drink
The lullaby of petal pink

To marvel at the loyal flow
Of nature’s royal color-show
Cupped in each bud and seed until
God’s tug unfolds its miracle

Sometimes the pen is not equipped
To spell the swell of looms, pink-tipped
The lyrics of first bloom, breeze-stirred
Eloquent without woo of word

I sense, where blossoms gleam and nod
Love letters, handwritten by God
Where soon its flower-ink will be
Showers of petal confetti

Sometimes I sing and leap and laugh
At the joy of God’s autograph
For earth and its fulness thereof
Runs rife with signatures of love


© Janet Martin




Of Wizened Ways...and Innocence

 

"I love it!' squealed the Little One
as she delighted in our weedy, flowery lawn...


...where, pray we never get too 'wise'
To see the world through little eyes
Or ever get too old to reach
For lessons only children teach...



We rise and take our place once more
Where morning breaks and seasons pour
The ink of poetry and such
Before our eyes, beneath our touch

…to steal our breath and test faith’s ‘yes’
Of heartache riddled happiness
Where 'nothing new under the sun'
Vexes a new generation

…and stuns us with the wizened way
Of whispers weaving yesterday
Of cares and prayers oft intertwined
Of ultimatums, God-designed

…where, by the granting of His grace
In the crook of mercy’s embrace
We take our place to do our bit
To honor the Giver of it

…where morning breaks through darksome bars
And rends night’s noose dazzled with stars
The heavens like a bud that spills
A garden above fields and hills

…where innocence and Wizened Way
Compose a baffling interplay
Where roles of teacher-student switch
Until we don’t know which is which

...where, pray we never get too 'wise/wizened'
To see the world through little eyes
Or ever get too old to reach
For lessons only children teach  


© Janet Martin

a little like a bud that spills...



a garden above fields and hills...



Psalm 100:2-5

Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.




Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Bitty Worship Ditty

 




How grand to stand and gaze firsthand upon a land washed clean
Lackluster lea and tree reclad in filigree of green
How lovely to drink in the view renewed by hues, God-spun
And worship He whose majesty will never be outdone

© Janet Martin

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, 
to receive glory and honor and power, 
for you created all things, 
and by your will they existed and were created.”



Bitty ditty today because to-do list keeps growing...
May has the most time-sensitive task list of all the months, I think!
...and i didn't put 'snuggle new baby' on the list because that's not a task😍💖






Monday, May 16, 2022

Earth's Exhibition of Glimpses...


Hate, war, sickness, sorrow,
greed, pain, apathy,
hearts hardened against God,
could destroy all hope of  present joy
but for the hope of the home of the soul
and the greatness of He within we who believe
so much greater than he that is in the world!

We cherish each gift of present joy
(like a foreshadowing of eternal joy)
 to balance love's ever-present sorrow)


My daughter just sent me the above photo of big brother's
good morning kisses to baby brother.
(and I weep as I pray for the families afflicted by war)

Earth's beauty (be it babies, birds or blooms)
 without Heaven's hope is futile.

Birds continue to delight...today,
a very rare and special visitor, a bluebird/indigo bunting? 

...and goldfinch


...and our resident downy or hairy woodpecker (absent for a while)

we are still thrilling to see the orioles
(sometimes our place seems to just be a pitstop on their way)



and a mediocre shot of a rose-breasted grosbeak
who eats his supper each evening around the same time we do


Chipping sparrow...


Song Sparrow...

mourning doves...


We rejoice to receive a much-needed rain!




The beauty of the earth exhibits Heaven’s Majesty
The work and word of God is man’s Supreme Authority
Nothing exists but what His favor fashions and allows
Surely at the sheer thought of this our haughty boasting bows

…Faith looks toward a rich reward beyond kingdoms of dust
Bestowed by He who shed His crown and gave His life for us
And wove Redemption’s royal robes with love’s bloodstreams outpoured
Not from goats, rams and bullocks but from Jesus Christ our Lord

There is no common cure for hearts hardened against God’s grace
Against the loving kindness of Jesus who took our place
Though sinless, to become sin’s sacrifice once and for all
The King of kings shed His own blood; no common animal

Sweet consolation for life’s tribulation, who could find
Without the goodness of God who is faithful, just and kind
Without hearts softened as belief begets wonder and joy
Without His promises that no enemy can destroy

Each desperate heart-cry would be too much to bear, but for
Faith’s hope, after salvation opens eyes to so much more
Where earth’s beauty exhibits but a small glimpse of the whole
As we press on until we see the Saviour of the soul

...until we behold He who held us through the storm and strife
Until once and forevermore we pass through death to life
Until The One to whom we pray and pray and pray and pray
Unveils His face, where, by His grace, all tears are wiped away 


© Janet Martin

Heb.4:11-13
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, 
so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 
13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; 
everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him 
to whom we must give account.…